The first entry on this blog was on May 10, 2004. Safe to say, it was a very different world 20 years ago. It wasn't a simpler time or crisis free world but lack of smart phones certainly helped in keeping the insanity down a few notches. However, instead of focusing on the political, social or economic differences over the last 2 decades, I want to focus on soccer differences because the first 4 points in this blog were about football/soccer:
1) Valencia crowned Liga Champions after an astonishing collapse by Real. Nothing fake about the win there -- pure hardwork.
2) Arsenal remained unbeaten after 37 games. Thanks to Reyes -- the Spanish connection.
3) Werder Bremen won the Bundesliga in the best possible manner, a
3-1 win away to defending champs, Bayern Munich. The result left no
doubt about the best team in Germany.
4) Milan & Roma take dives. But will it be enough for Perugia?
La Liga / Spanish League
In 2004, Valencia won the Spanish League title, their last of 6 overall titles. Since 2004, only 3 teams have won La Liga:
Real Madrid: 7
Atlético Madrid: 2
It is hard to see any team other than these 3 capable of winning the league although Girona gave it a go this year.
Premier League
Arsenal went through the entire 2004 Premier League season unbeaten, a feat that has not been repeated since then. Although, Arsenal have not won the League title since then either but tried their best in 2023 and 2024 and finished second against the financially doped Man City team. The influx of money that started with Chelsea in 2003 has only increased exponentially over last two decades and Man City are swimming in endless money. Safe to say, it is hard to imagine any other team winning the title again.
Over the last 20 years, title has been won by these teams:
Man City: 8
Chelsea: 5
Man Utd: 5
Liverpool: 1
Leicester City: 1
Bundesliga / German League
Werder Bremen won the Bundesliga in 2004, their last of 4 total titles. It is hard to imagine that given how Bayern Munich have dominated the last two decades including winning 11 straight titles. Bayern were finally stopped in 2024 after a historic unbeaten season by Bayer Leverkusen who finally won their first ever Bundesliga title.
Over last 20 years, Bayern have dominated the league:
Bayern Munich: 15
Borussia Dortmund: 2
VfB Stuttgart: 1
VfL Wolfsburg: 1
Bayer Leverkusen: 1
Serie A / Italian League
AC Milan won Serie A in 2004 and Roma finished second but Italian football went through major changes in 2006 with Calciopoli. The results of the investigations meant Juventus got relegated and there were points deduction for AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina. As a result, Inter Milan dominated initially by winning 5 straight titles from 2006-2010. Once Juventus were back to their old self, they won 9 straight Serie A titles from 2012-2020. The last few years have seen an actual title race even though Napoli dominated 2023 and Inter did the same in 2024.
Titles won by teams between 2004 - 2024:
Juventus: 9
Inter Milan: 7
AC Milan: 2
Napoli: 1
No title awarded in 2004-05 as Juventus had their title taken away due to Calciopoli.
20 Years on
The last two decades of European football have been dominated by just a few teams winning their domestic league titles. This was covered in two earlier posts, one around the failed European Super League while the other post looked at how just fewer teams can actually win the Champions League. The actual on-field game has sped up and become exciting in some leagues but the lack of different winners means most competitions are predictable affairs.
