Small Football Clubs Set to Grow Over the Next 10 Years

Before the rise of the modern best European football clubs, and approximately 20 years ago when Porto won the Champions League over Monaco (if you like betting on Champions League – check champions league betting), and not to forget when Leicester lifted the EPL title in 2016 when Chelsea drew 2-2 at home against Tottenham, football was still a sport where the small football clubs could still win the most precious titles and prizes. 

But things have changed, and winning a trophy depends on how a team builds its squad, the manager’s experience and tactics and how it operates the club’s business aspects. As a result, the range of football teams that can win a trophy in any top European league has narrowed down significantly.

With the injection of a huge amount of money from rich football club owners and lucrative deals from sportsbooks and televisions, European as well as world football can be dominated by any club (read more – most undervalued and overvalued football clubs).

Many investors plan to invest in the football world since they have noticed a huge profit potential, especially when they acquire smaller clubs and inject money to help them grow.

On the other hand, fans are always happy since they know their favourite teams will become competitive in their respective leagues. And also, bettors have an easy task when placing bets since some teams are always clear favourites to win titles or finish the season among the top four.

With that in mind, here are four small football clubs set to grow and become very competitive in the coming few years. You should keep a close eye on these teams, especially if you want to become a successful bettor in the next ten years. Read on to discover more.

Football club changes in ownership don’t always offer immediate results. Newcastle is one of the smaller clubs that have undergone ownership changes recently. As a result, the team is looking forward to a brighter future.

For Newcastle, immediate success means staying in the EPL for a few years. When the Saudi Arabian consortium acquired the team, it was 19th in the EPL and had played seven matches without any win. Just a few months and Newcastle United is among the top ten and looks strong in the EPL.

A Director of Football was missing at the club during the first transfer windows after the £305 million purchase. While the team was in the downgrading zone and looking like it would go down, it acquired only three players, including Bruno Guimares, Chris Wood and Kieran Trippier, who have proven to be important players for the team. The team is looking to survive relegation and still competing for the top four spots.

The club hasn’t seen real success in its lifetime because it hasn’t lifted a domestic title since 1955. Owners and fans of Newcastle United football club are sure to see silverware in the next three or four years.

Fulham is the second team that looks to seal its spot in the English Premier League. While they were promoted in 2021 and relegated the same year, Fulham lost a few key players after its relegation from the EPL. However, the team managed to keep a stronger squad and was among the favourites for promotion.

The season was excellent for Fulham as it topped the 100-goal mark to lift the title at the end of the season. Fulham finished the Championship tournament two points and eight points ahead of Bournemouth, and Huddersfield Town, respectively.

Fulham came into the Premier League without any back-to-back campaigns since the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 seasons, which was an indication of the size of its job in the top tier.

However, after a successful campaign in the Championship, Fulham started to prepare itself, signing some great players during the summer transfer window.

As a result, the team began competing in the English Premier League strongly, and at the time of writing, it was position nine ahead of Chelsea, which had signed huge talents from different clubs.

Freiburg isn’t a household name in European soccer. The Bundesliga team has been impressive in the past few years, including top-ten finishes and sixth place last season. Freiburg was in the fifth position at the time of writing, one and five points ahead of RB Leipzig and Frankfurt, respectively.

Freiburg was established approximately 120 years ago, and its story has been a humble one over the years. The team spent most of its existence in amateur soccer before winning promotion to the next competition level in the late 1970s.

Freiburg stayed in the second Bundesliga division for fifteen seasons before finding its way to the top league in Germany.

Since then, the current performance has seen the small football club establish itself firmly as a Bundesliga side and also a team that has the ambition and ability to push further up the league table and perhaps a yearly competitor for top European trophies. The club is known to look for younger, huge talents to fill the spaces of players who leave for other clubs. 

Players who youth team graduates can’t replace have their positions filled by talented, inexpensive players brought in by a dedicated scouting department. With this type of strategy, Freiburg remains a team to watch in Europe.

RC Lens has struggled since competing for the title back in the 2001/2002 campaign, and it was powerless to prevent the Lyon side’s dominance that followed its title victory and found itself downgraded to the second tier.

Lens returned to the Ligue 1 in 2020, having performed excellently, leading to a seventh-place finish in two seasons, including the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. 

While Lens has been losing key players during transfer windows, those losses haven’t had a negative impact. The main reason is that Lens has quickly reinforced its squad in time to remain competitive.

If you are a football fan and bettor, you should add these four teams to your betting list of favourites. They are likely to become football powerhouses in the next few years.