Barely 3 weeks for the European club football to start. As the clubs prepare with pre-season games and busy with planning their transfer moves, we shed light on four new entrants in the ‘big five’ leagues who are either first timers in the top division football or returning back after a long time. These clubs have been chosen from the fourteen promotions in 24/25 season based on their uniqueness. Rest of the other clubs have been a part of top tier on a fairly on & off basis
Each of these four new clubs have a valiant story
- Ipswich Town FC returns back to the Premier League after 22 years securing back-to-back promotions
- Como 1907 has won promotion to Serie A on a dramatic final match day in Italy’s second division, marking the club’s return to the top flight for the first time in twenty-one years following a comeback from bankruptcy
- Holstein Kiel or KSV Holstein have been promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time in the club’s history. Nicknamed ‘The Storks’, the club has been teasing a Bundesliga return since 2017/18 when they lost the play-offs to VfL Wolfsburg before they finally made it to the big stage
- The other German club, FC St. Pauli from Hamburg secured its return to the Bundesliga after 13 years by winning the second division. The club’s self-styled description – “FC St. Pauli is a way of life.” In contrast to the rise of violent hooliganism in other parts of Europe, this club’s booming fan scene focused on social issues and political activism
Preparation for the Battle: On-field
A part of preparation is estimated from the transfer market activity. Of the four clubs in spotlight, only two clubs, Ipswich Town FC and Como 1907 are active in the transfer market till now having incurred €72.4mn and €20.5mn respectively. Each of these two clubs have displayed contrasting strategies in terms of player investment. While Ipswich Town has concentrated on youth, Como 1907 have chosen experience over youth. On the other hand, both the German clubs have been quiet with respect to transfer investment so far
The transfer investment also adds to the squad market value. Since the beginning of July, it has increased by 89% and 41% respectively for Ipswich Town FC and Como 1907. For the German clubs, it is more or less same
Off-field Developments
In this regard, Como 1907 stands out prominently. From signing Adidas as kit partner to Uber as front of shirt sponsor, they have got premium brands on board. Como also boasts a high-profile new ownership group with soccer legends such as Thierry Henry and Cesc Fabregas serving as minority shareholders.
Such high profile names could be one of the reason for a 117% jump in social media following (primary channels of Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X/Twitter and TikTok) in just 13 days. For Ipswich Town, Ed Sheeran has been the shirt sponsor from 21/22 to 23/24 and has indicated to continue the sponsorship in 24/25 too. This promotion means a lot to the area too
Such high profile names could be one of the reason for a 117% jump in social media following (primary channels of Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X/Twitter and TikTok) in just 13 days. For Ipswich Town, Ed Sheeran has been the shirt sponsor from 21/22 to 23/24 and has indicated to continue the sponsorship in 24/25 too. This promotion means a lot to the area too as a local business leader indicates ‘this could ensure somewhere between £500 and £600 million worth of economic benefit to the area’
Social media followers increase in 13 day period can be seen for Holstein Kiel too where the total followers have jumped by 85% to reach 0.37mn
Waiting for Action
It is always exciting to see such clubs get promoted to the top league. Now, possibly avoiding relegation would be the next step to establish themselves. As Football Benchmark points out, over the past five years 38% of promoted clubs in the “Big Five” have been relegated immediately, while last year, half of them were unable to survive their first season. With lofty ambitions and subsequent planning, they would look to make their mark
Wishing them all the very best!
