ASTON Villa comfortably won their first European trophy since 1982 when they beat Germany’s Freiburg 3-0 in Istanbul. Coach Unai Emery won the competition for the fifth time, delivering Villa their first trophy of any kind since 1996. Excellent goals from Youri Tielemens, Emiliano Buendia and World Cup hopeful Morgan Rogers underlined the gulf between the two finalists. Villa have had a great season, having already qualified for the UEFA Champions League 2026-27. It is not out of the question that England could scoop all three UEFA competitions; Arsenal face PSG in the Champions League final in Budapest on May 30 and Crystal Palace play Rayo Vallecano in Leipzig in the Conference League final on May 27.
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Scotland: Inevitable outcome in the Premiership
ALTHOUGH the final reckoning was predictable, Heart of Midlothian’s bold effort to win their first league title in 66 years lit up Scottish football in 2025-26 and certainly made the campaign more interesting. Scotland needed a non-Old Firm champion for the first time since 1985, but it was not to be. Celtic won the decisive game by 3-1 and for the second successive game, they benefitted from a late goal. It happened at Motherwell in midweek and with three minutes to go at Celtic Park, a goal from Daizen Maeda gave them a 2-1 lead. A draw would have been enough for Hearts to win the title. Finally, a breakaway third goal well and truly settled the game. Celtic fans invaded the pitch and there was mayhem as the match came to an end. Most of Scottish football wept for Hearts, but once more, the power of the big club came to the fore.
FA Cup final: Poor game for Guardiola’s parting shot
FA CUP finals have become something of a trial of endurance for fans and this year’s was no exception. A dire game was decided by a flash of brilliance by Manchester City’s Antoine Semenyo with 18 minutes to go, which was enough to beat Chelsea and give City their fourth FA Cup since the new Wembley was built. It was the ninth 1-0 win in 20 finals since 2007. The final was played against a background of rumours and speculation that City manager Pep Guardiola was about to leave the club after a decade in charge. Within a few days, City’s hopes of securing the double were dashed as they drew at Bournemouth, handing Arsenal their first Premier title since 2004. Thousands upon thousands of Arsenal fans headed for the Emirates Stadium to celebrate long into the night – after three consecutive runners-up spots, the Gunners, who led the way for most of the season, confounded the sceptics who called them “serial bottlers”.
Bundesliga 2: Schalke back in the top flight
AFTER three years in German football’s second tier, Schalke have won promotion back to the Bundesliga. They finished top of Bundesliga 2 with 70 points, eight more than the second-placed team. Schalke lost just one game at home and were also the best supported side in the league with an average attendance of almost 62,000. Schalke’s strength was not their goalscoring, they netted just 50 goals, it was their defence. They conceded only 31 goals in 34 games. Goalkeeper Loris Karius, who will be remembered by Liverpool fans for his unfortunate display in the 2018 Champions League final, kept 13 clean sheets. Schalke will definitely be joined by Elversberg from the Saarland, one of the smallest clubs to make it to the top flight. Paderborn could also be returning to the Bundesliga if they win their play-off against Wolfsburg.
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Coupe de France: Lens have a chance for silverware
LENS ran Paris Saint-Germain close in 2025-26 but finished the season six points short of the Ligue 1 title. But they have the opportunity to lift the Coupe de France if they can beat strugglers Nice in the final on May 22 at the Stade de France. Lens have never won the Coupe de France, unlike Nice who secured their third victory in 1997. Nice may find themselves in Ligue 2 next season if they fail to beat Saint-Étienne in the relegation play-off on May 26 and 29. They beat Les Verts in the round of 64 and also disposed of Nantes, Lorient and Strasbourg of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 side Montpellier on the way to the final. Lens, meanwhile, beat Toulouse 4-1 in the semi-final and Lyon in the last eight as well as Troyes, Sochaux and Feignies.
Hungary: ETO Györ complete a turnaround story
ETO Györ have won the Hungarian league title for the fifth time, ending an eight-year period of dominance by Ferencvaros. Györ were promoted back to the first division in 2024 and after finishing fourth in 2025, they were champions by a single point. It was Györ’s first championship since 2013 after which the club had a number of financial problems. The title race went to the final game, with Fradi beating Zalaegerszegi 3-0 and Györ winning 1-0 at Kisvárda with Nadhir Benbouali’s 14TH goal of the season. There was speculation ahead of the final round that Fradi were going to lose their manager, Robbie Keane, who has been linked with a move to Celtic.
Attendances
1: 83,337 – FA Cup final
2: 75,228 – Inter Milan v Verona
3: 75,000 – Bayern Munich v Köln
4: 74,015 – Manchester United v Nottingham Forest
5: 64,396 – Atlético Madrid v Girona
6: 62,124 – Marseille v Rennes.