After this weekend, all of the top five leagues in European football have officially kicked off the 2025/26 season, which means the Champions League campaign is right around the corner with the playoff stages wrapping up within the week to finalize the teams in the league phase.
That league phase will begin in mid-September, and while PSG are going to be the favorites after winning the Champions League last season in their first year without Kylian Mbappe up top, the reality is that the rest of a new season brings with it a totally wide open field.
We haven’t seen a true, honest-to-good darkhorse team win the Champions League since FC Porto in 2003/04, but I guess the 2020/21 Chelsea triumph over Manchester City – and Real Madrid in the semifinals before that – counts since few thought they’d win it all at the start of the season.
And when it comes to teams that made it all the way to the Final, Inter Milan (twice in the last three seasons), Borussia Dortmund in the previous season, and Tottenham in 2018/19 are three prime examples of teams coming agonizingly close while beating expert opinion.
Then there’s the historical Cinderellas who didn’t make it to the Final but made plenty of noise in the knockouts. The Monaco, Malaga, and Ajax sides of the 2010s come to mind here.
Before the 2025/26 Champions League season begins, let’s go through each of European football’s top five leagues and pick out a team from each country that could outpace expectations this year.
Premier League: Chelsea
Tottenham would be more of a true darkhorse since they were 17th in the Premier League last season, but I think Chelsea still qualify as a darkhorse since Liverpool are the defending champions and Champions League favorites in England, Manchester City have been consistent contenders over the past few seasons, and Arsenal reached last season’s semifinal.
But as Chelsea’s blowout win over PSG in the Club World Cup Final reminded everyone, the Blues have come to play and are a very different outfit than the one stuck in the mid-table of the Premier League in the early seasons of the Todd Boehly takeover.
Now the vision is coming together, and Chelsea are stronger than they were last year with another productive transfer window that includes an exciting new winger pairing of Estevao Willian and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, as well as a better striker situation with Liam Delap and Joao Pedro remaining in the Premier League.
Chelsea have question marks in their defense, and that could hold them back from going as far as the semifinals. But with a strong midfield anchor and a deep set of backups behind them, Chelsea have solidity and an exciting, fluid attack led by Ballon d’Or contender Cole Palmer, the best player at the summer’s Club World Cup.
La Liga: Villarreal
There are a few candidates for darkhorse honors in Spain, though I hestiate to consider Atletico Madrid in that bracket since they are not only a consistent Champions League outfit, but they also made it to the Final in the 2010s and have high expectations after consecutive summers of investment.
Villarreal, meanwhile, lost one of their best players to Atleti this summer in Alex Baena, arguably the best chance creator in La Liga last season. They also sold breakout striker Thierno Barry to Everton.
However, Villarreal still have a good group of attacking players. Veteran Gerard Moreno can be one of Europe’s best if he stays fit, Nicolas Pepe has shown flashes of brilliant resurgence in yellow colors, Yeremy Pino is a legitimate top talent, and young striker Etta Eyong is one to watch.
Villarreal have always been stronger than the sum of their parts. They have a good mix of veterans and young, high potential players in their squad. They can grind out tough defensive games like most Spanish sides but still have that technical and creative flair that is a hallmark of the Yellow Submarine.
A run to the Champions League semifinals is pretty much out of the question, but if players like Pepe and Moreno get hot, they could be a real threat in the knockotus and a team nobody wants to face.
Serie A: Napoli
It’s hard to pick out a true darkhorse in Serie. Everyone knows the name of Juventus and they haven’t lived up to their billing in ages, Inter Milan have been regulars in the Champions League Final lately, and Atalanta would normally be a candidate but have been hemorrhaging talent this summer after already losing their savant in charge Gian Piero Gasperini to Roma.
So it comes down to Antonio Conte-led Napoli, who showed more heart and guts than Inter Milan in swiping the Scudetto away from a team looking to be Italy’s first back-to-back winners since Juventus in 2018/19 and 2019/20.
Napoli added Champions League veteran Kevin De Bruyne to a mix that already includes Romelu Lukaku, though Inter fans will say less about his record in Champions League games.
Under Conte, Napoli have shown more grit than ever before, and they are capable of playing more pragmatic, defensive football. There isn’t much excitement in the squad compared to what the Partenopei are usually known for, but that might actually be a better thing when it comes to outlasting more stacked rosters in the Champions League.
Bundesliga: Eintracht Frankfurt
My money would be on Eintracht Frankfurt to capture the most hearts in European football with a magical Champions League campaign. They don’t quite have the top-end talent to win it all or truly come close, but they might surprise some people and look like the true darkhorse of the tournament this year.
Right now, everyone knows Frankfurt as the club that’s really good at developing, packing, and selling elite attacking talent for massive prices around Europe. Sebastien Haller, Luka Jovic, Ante Rebic, Filip Kostic, Randal Kolo Muani, Omar Marmoush, Andre Silva, and Hugo Ekitke are some of the high-profile players the Eagles have sold to big clubs around Europe over the past several years.
Well, after selling both Ekitike and Marmoush to Liverpool and Manchester City, respectively, Frankfurt are already loaded back up and arguably better than before because they are deeper and more versatile.
Ritsu Doan and Jonathan Burkardt are established Bundesliga standouts, while Can Uzun and Jean-Matteo Bahoya promise to be the next big things after leading the way in a 4-1 blowout of Werder Bremen in their Bundesliga opener.
They have an underrated midfield, led by Hugo Larsson, and a deep defense with ascending young talents who are on the cusp of stardom, like Rasmus Kristensen and Nnamdi Collins.
Eintracht have the team chemistry, fluidity, great coaching under Dino Toppmoller, and clear identity to gel together and threaten just about anyone in the Champions League. Not even Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG, or Liverpool will want to go against a Frankfurt side on their day and in full flow.
Ligue 1: Monaco
Monaco made headlines this summer transfer window by signing some pretty big names in European football who have seen better days in the past, such as Paul Pogba and Ansu Fati.
But make no mistake, Monaco are still every bit a club built around stars of the future, and they have quite a few of them in 2025/26. Lamine Camara is one of the best young center midfielders in European football despite getting a fraction of the credit, and if Maghnes Akliouche stays in Monaco, the Ligue 1 side will have quite the attacking one-two punch between him and the free-scoring striker Mika Biereth up top.
Biereth tagged Ligue 1 sides for 13 goals in just 16 games in a half-season work after signing from Champions League side Sturm Graz, and he is the great equalizer in a forward group that also includes another young gem in Eliesse Ben Seghir, as well as two established veterans in Aleksandr Golovin and Takuma Minamino bridging the attacking midfield.
With more talents in defense, like Vanderson and the even more underrated Christian Mawissa, Monaco could be plotting their latest fairytale Champions League run since they last did it with future global stars like Kylian Mbappe and Bernardo Silva in the mid-2010s. Sleep on them at your own risk.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2011. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has contributed to sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. Joe’s work has appeared in ESPN, Bleacher Report, and Sports Illustrated. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling, respectively.