The 2016-17 season is fast becoming a distant memory but which teams were relegated from Europe’s top five leagues and who were promoted?
Here is the exhaustive list of teams went down or came up in the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga.
Premier League
Relegated:
Hull City
Manager: N/A
Top goalscorer: Robert Snodgrass (7)
Final position: 18th
Hull City rallied in the second half of the season following Marco Silva’s appointment but were consigned to relegation on the penultimate game of the season.
Middlesbrough
Manager: Steve Agnew
Top goalscorer: Alvaro Negredo (9)
Final position: 19th
Boro’s struggles in front of goal compromised their efforts to stay in the division while they only managed five wins throughout the season.
Sunderland
Manager: N/A
Top goalscorer: Jermain Defoe (15)
Final position: 20th
Jermain Defoe’s goals were not enough to keep Sunderland in the division as they eventually slipped into the Championship following years of near-misses.
Promoted:
Newcastle United
Manager: Rafa Benitez
Top goalscorer: Dwight Gayle (23)
Final position: 1st
Job done as far as Newcastle United and Rafa Benitez were concerned as they secured promotion at the first time of asking following relegation. The title was the cherry on top of the cake.
righton & Hove Albion
Manager: Chris Hughton
Top goalscorer: Glenn Murray (23)
Final position: 2nd
Brighton achieved promotion after narrowly missing out last season. The Seagulls occupied a position in the top two for virtually the entire campaign but frustratingly ceded 1st place in injury time on the final game.
Huddersfield Town
Manager: David Wagner
Top goalscorer: Elias Kachunga (13)
Final position: 5th
David Wagner performed miracles to lead Huddersfield Town to the Premier League for the first time in their history. Could they be the biggest unknown quantity in the top-flight since Blackpool?
La Liga
Relegated:
Sporting Gijon
Manager: Rubi
Top goalscorer: Duje Cop (9)
Final position: 18th
Sporting finished four points adrift of Leganes in 17th.
Osasuna
Manager: Petar Vasiljević
Top goalscorer: Sergio León Limones (10)
Final position: 19th
Osasuna’s porous defence proved to be their downfall as they shipped a staggering 94 goals in 38 league games, a total that was worse than every other club in Europe’s top five leagues. All 97 of them.
Granada
Manager: Jose Luis Oltra
Top goalscorer: Artem Kravets (5)
Final position: 20th
Arsenal’s legendary former captain Tony Adams was brought in to try and salvage Granada’s season but he found it an impossible challenge as the club finished rock bottom in the table.
Promoted:
Levante
Manager: Juan Ramón López Muñiz
Top goalscorer: Roger Marti (22)
Final position: 1st
Just like Newcastle United, Levante bounced back straight away after suffering relegation from La Liga in 2015-16.
Girona
Manager: Pablo Machin
Top goalscorer: Samuele Longo (14)
Final position: 2nd
A 0-0 draw against Real Zaragoza in their final game was enough for Girona to seal promotion to La Liga for the first time in their history.
*The third promoted team is yet to be confirmed.
Serie A
Relegated:
Empoli
Manager: Giovanni Martusciello
Top goalscorer: Levan Mchedlidze (6)
League position: 18th
Empoli slipped out of the division on the final day of the season with Crotone clambering out of the bottom three at their expense.
Palermo
Manager: Diego Bortoluzzi
Top goalscorer: Ilija Nestorovski (11)
League position: 19th
A second relegation for Palermo in five years was on the cards for a while after numerous managerial changes failed to result in upturn in results.
Pescara
Manager: Zdeněk Zeman
Top goalscorer: Gianluca Caprari (9)
League position: 20th
Pescara suffered a truly wretched campaign, winning just three league matches in total.
Promoted:
S.P.A.L
Manager: Leonardo Semplici
Top goalscorer: Mirko Antenucci (18)
League position: 1st
Former Leeds United striker Mirko Antenucci was the hero as S.P.A.L achieved promotion to Serie A for the first time in 49 years.
Hellas Verona
Manager: Fabio Pecchia
Top goalscorer: Giampaolo Pazzini (23)
League position: 2nd
Another team to spend just a year outside of the top-flight, Verona’s journeyman captain Giampaolo Pazzini’s goalscoring exploits were pivotal to them finishing 2nd.
Benevento
Manager: Marco Baroni
Top goalscorer: Fabio Ceravalo (20)
League position: 5th
Victory over Carpi in the promotion play-off final means Benevento will be a Serie A side for the first time in their 88-year history.
Bundesliga
Relegated:
Ingolstadt
Manager: Maik Walpurgis
Top goalscorer: Almog Cohen (7)
League position: 17th
A failure to win any of their first ten league matches ultimately cost Ingolstadt.
SV Darmstadt
Manager: Torsten Frings
Top goalscorer: Mario Vrancic & Antonio-Mirko Colak (4 goals)
League position: 18th
Darmstadt ended well adrift of safety, finishing 12 points behind 16th placed Wolfsburg.
VFB Stuttgart
Manager: Hannes Wolf
Top goalscorer: Simon Terodde (25)
League position: 1st
The 2007 Bundesliga champions are back in the big-time following a year away.
Hannover 96
Manager: Andre Breitenreiter
Top goalscorer: Martin Harnik (17)
League position: 2nd
Like Stuttgart, Hannover 96 avenged their relegation the season before by achieving promotion.
Ligue 1
Relegated:
FC Lorient
Manager: N/A
Top goalscorer: Benjamin Moukandjo (13)
League position: 18th
Lorient had the opportunity to save themselves by competing in a play-off with Ligue 2 side Troyes, but they were defeated 2-1 on aggregate.
AS Nancy
Manager: Pablo Correa
Top goalscorer: Issiar Dia (8)
League position: 19th
Only Lorient (22) lost more games than Nancy (21) in Ligue 1.
Bastia
Manager: Rui Almeida
Top goalscorer: Enzo Crivelli (10)
League position: 20th
Alongside Nancy, Bastia were the lowest scorers in Ligue 1, scoring just 29 times.
Promoted:
RC Strasbourg
Manager: Thierry Laurey
Top goalscorer: Khalid Boutaïb (20)
League position: 1st
Strasbourg won a fiercely competitive Ligue 2 division on the final day of the season, confirming their place in Ligue 1 for the first time in nine years.
Amiens SC
Manager: Christophe Pellissier
Top goalscorer: Aboubakar Kamara (10)
League position: 2nd
Amiens SC sneaked into 2nd place courtesy of having a superior goal difference to 3rd place Troyes.
Troyes AC
Manager: Jean-Louis Garcia
Top goalscorer: Adama Niane (23)
League position: 3rd
Troyes were relegated from Ligue 1 in 2015-16 but the goals of Adama Niane helped them return to France’s top-tier straight away.
Comments
Post a Comment