Who Shapes the Europa League Story?

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Betting odds suggest that Aston Villa are the clear favourites for the Europa League in the 2025/2026 season. Chances are that this is probably going to happen too. But what other teams are capable of surprising runs this season? Not necessarily as a winner, but a team that could potentially make it far enough in the competition to pick up a rather healthy sum of prize money. Let’s look.

Lille

If you’re betting on Europa League, you may notice that Lille are one of the favourites to make it into the latter stages of the competition, despite the club not really being the greatest there. While they haven’t had the greatest start to the competition (at the time of writing, their hopes pretty much hang in the balance), their odds haven’t changed massively. This is because gamblers believe that Lille has one of the easiest fixture lists in the domestic league, which means that they can spend more time focusing on the competition.

Now, we don’t genuinely believe that Lille are going to win the competition. That isn’t how their story will end in the Europa League. However, we have more than enough hope that if they can make it through the qualifying rounds (which, as we said, still hangs in the balance), they have the potential to make it all the way through to the semis. 

Celtic 

Celtic are having a tough old time in the Scottish Premiership at the moment, sitting in third. Their fans are none too happy about it, either. Thankfully, they do still have the Europa League to hang onto. Again, there is little to no chance that they are going to win the whole thing, but they will have a good shout of reaching the semi-finals, and we reckon they are going to rack up a few more than decent wins along the way.

Could the Europa League story for Celtic be enough to keep the baying hordes of angry Celtic fans at bay? Probably not, but it will provide those fans with a nice distraction while Celtic continue to lose in the Scottish Premiership.

Nottingham Forest

At the start of the tournament, many people would have stuck their money on another all-English final in the Europa League. However, Nottingham Forest haven’t been performing all that well, and there is a pretty decent chance they won’t make it much further in the Europa League. Still, if they can overcome the odds, it will be a pretty decent story to tell.

Nottingham Forest is currently sitting just outside the relegation zone in the Premier League, below the likes of Fulham and Leeds,  and it seems the club’s ownership can’t quite figure out the right direction for the team at the moment. They’re already on their third manager this season.

Nottingham Forest does have some bright sparky moments happening right now. A day or so ago (at the time of writing), they showed moments of brilliance in their face-off against Liverpool, but a last-minute winner from Liverpool denied Forest the points.

If the club can gain a bit of stability, and that is beyond the whole ‘new manager bounce’ thing, then there is a pretty decent chance they can do well in the Europa League. If Forest can play against Liverpool as well as they did, and keep building on that momentum, then they are better than pretty much every other team in the Europa League.

Basically, while Nottingham Forest in their current form are probably not going to win the Europa League, we reckon that if they shape up a bit (and it needs to be quick), they have the potential to win the whole thing. That being said, it would probably reduce their chances of staying up in the Premier League, so we can’t imagine too much focus will be placed on the Europa League at the moment.

Freiburg

Freiburg are not going to win the competition. They are not going to come close. However, we reckon that they are going to put on more of a show than many people believe they will. While their wins in the Europa League haven’t been massive wins, they have shown that they have a decent amount of talent on the field. On their day, Freiburg have the potential to beat pretty much any other team in the Europa League, and if they have their ‘day’, then we could see a good run from them.

FK Crvena Zvezda

    A Serbian team is not going to win the Europa League (sorry about that, Serbia), but they have been performing well above the level I expected them to perform at. The club are currently sitting at the top of the Serbian League, and they are heading into the quarter final for the Serbian Cup, where they are the favourites to win.

    This is shaping up to be a fantastic season for FK Crvena Zvezda. They probably won’t make it that much further in the Europa League, but they have a couple more wins in them, we feel. It is just that they are nowhere near as good as some of their other competition.

    Final Thoughts 

    With the Europa League in full swing, Aston Villa are shaping up to be the clear favourites, with Roma not too far behind. We doubt it will end up any other way. But some other clubs do have the potential to be a bit of a spark in the competition, and they will carve out their own story. It just won’t be the winner’s story.