Dundee United chaos, Lens back in the big time: Six big stories from the 22/23 European season
From feel-good stories of clubs defying the odds to qualify for the Champions League to tales of relegation, off-field drama, and 9-0 defeats; here are six of the 2022/23 season’s biggest storylines.
Union Berlin – Football Manager in real life
In 2018/19, Union Berlin missed out on automatic promotion from the 2. Bundesliga on goal difference, meaning they had to come out on top in the play-offs to earn a maiden season in the Bundesliga. They did just that, sending Stuttgart down in the process. This was only the sixth time since it was introduced in 1982 that the second-tier club beat the 16th-placed Bundesliga team in the promotion play-off.
Since their promotion four years ago, Union Berlin have gone from strength to strength, qualifying for the inaugural Europa Conference League in their second campaign in the top flight. They bettered that in 21/22, qualifying for the Europa League. Amazingly, a fourth-place finish this year means they will be in next season’s Champions League. Honestly, this is the sort of stuff you see on Football Manager.
Union’s rise has been astronomical. They have been relegated twice this century and played in the fifth tier of German football in 2006. Seventeen years later, they are going to be playing in the Champions League. Luton Town, eat your heart out.
Dundee United – From European football to Queens Park away
22/23 was nothing short of a disaster for Dundee United, who were relegated from the Scottish Premiership as local rivals, Dundee, swapped places with them by winning the Championship, beating Owen Coyle’s Queens Park on the final day of the season to secure a place among Scotland’s elite for 12 months before they are relegated again.
Having led the Tangerines to fourth last season, manager Tam Courts left for Budapest Honved in what was a pretty bizarre switch. Courts lasted a grand total of 131 days in the Hungarian capital, while his replacement at Tannadice, ex-Sunderland boss Jack Ross, managed to better that by taking charge of seven games between June 20 and August 30 before losing his job. Ross’ final game was a 9-0 home defeat to Celtic, his fourth loss in a row in the league.
Assistant manager Liam Fox, who replaced Ross, surprisingly got the gig having only managed Cowdenbeath, where he won six, drew four, and lost 20 of his 30 matches in charge. Unsurprisingly, this did not go to plan and he was replaced by Jim Goodwin on March 1. Goodwin had recently lost his job at Aberdeen having been knocked out of the Scottish Cup by non-league Darvel in arguably the biggest shock in the competition’s history. With three wins from 12, Goodwin could not save United, who lost all five of their post-split matches against the other bottom-half teams.
It is crazy to think that United’s second competitive fixture of the season was in the Europa Conference League against eventual semi-finalists AZ Alkmaar. Better yet, they won the first leg 1-0. The second leg in the Netherlands was…not as successful. United lost 7-0 in what was a sign of things to come.
The highlight of the Tangerines’ season was when sporting director Tony Asghar left the club in February, which says all you need to know. Asghar failed to replace key duo Callum Butcher and Benjamin Siegrist, while the incoming signings and January business left United short and played a huge part in their relegation. The incompetence of the club’s board created massive tension and strained the relationship with the fans, who all rejoiced when Asghar finally dipped – ableit too late.
FC Groningen – Their worst-ever season
Dutch side Groningen were crowned KNVB Cup champions in 2015, which saw them qualify for the Europa League group stage. This was their first major honour and the return of Arjen Robben out of retirement in 2020 was another positive during a great period.
Those days are well and truly behind them. 22/23 was the worst season in Groningen’s history. Four wins from 34 Eredivisie matches meant they finished rock bottom, but this was not the most humiliating part. In January, they were knocked out of the KNVB Cup by amateur side Spakenburg, who were actually 3-0 up with 20 minutes to go in Groningen’s home, ultimately winning 3-2.
In fairness, Spakenburg defied the odds to reach the last four of the competition and were only beaten 2-1 by PSV, who went on to win it under Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Anger from the Groningen fans reached boiling point in May, when a game against Ajax had to be abandoned after nine minutes due to fireworks being thrown onto the pitch.
It has not just been a shambles on the pitch. During that match versus Ajax, a fan ran on the pitch holding a banner urging the board to resign. Groningen’s director of football, Mark-Jan Fledderus, was sacked in February, and two board members left their roles due to suspicions of fraud.
Despite receiving over €20m in player sales last summer, including the club-record fee brought in for Jorgen Strand Larsen, Groningen only spent €4.48m on new recruits.
RC Lens – Back in the Champions League
Similar to the story of Union Berlin, RC Lens have earned a spot in the Champions League having been a second-tier club very recently. In fact, they only finished a single point behind 22/23 Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain having lost four league games all season – three fewer than the Parisiens.
Lens were promoted in 2020 when the French domestic season prematurely came to an end due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They were second in Ligue 2 at the time but proved they belonged in the top flight by finishing seventh in 20/21 and 21/22.
A lot of The Blood and Gold’s success this season is thanks to Belgian striker Luis Openda, who scored 21 goals in the French top flight having cost a measly €9.8million last July. Unfortunately, Openda is reportedly close to agreeing a move to RB Leipzig, in what should be a characteristically shrewd bit of business from the German villains, who are set to lose Christopher Nkunku to Chelsea.
Next season will be the club’s third appearance in the Champions League and it will be interesting to see how they attack the summer transfer window. Having finished on 84 points, one behind filthy-rich PSG, there is reason to dream at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis. PSG has been a complete and utter circus ever since they were bought by Qatar Sports Investments and with another managerial change on the cards, while Kylian Mbappe’s future will be a constant talking point until the summer of 2024, Lens have the chance to dethrone the juggernauts of Paris.
FC Schalke 04 and Hertha BSC – Relegated to 2. Bundesliga
Hertha have been a solid Bundesliga team since earning promotion in 2013, even finishing as high as sixth in 16/17. It has been a bit bleaker more recently, however. The Berliners have flirted with the idea of relegation before eventually taking the plunge by finishing bottom of the German top flight this term, despite having Premier League legends Stevan Jovetic, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Jonjoe Kenny in their ranks.
Joining Hertha in the 2. Bundesliga next season will be Schalke, who are turning into a yo-yo club despite being Champions League regulars not so long ago. On that note, failing to qualify for the Europa League was deemed a failure in the early to mid-2010s. Now, the club’s hierarchy will bite your hand off to avoid relegation. One positive is their 31-point haul in 22/23 was significantly better than the 16 points they accumulated when relegated two years ago. Same outcome, mind.
Schalke have had their fair share of financial issues this decade, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine seeing their sponsorship deal with Gazprom come to an end, which has not helped proceedings. Bankruptcy was a real possibility during the Covid pandemic despite being ranked the 14th-richest football club in the world by Forbes in May 2019.
Royal Antwerp – Belgian champions again
You likely saw this plastered all over social media on Sunday, but Antwerp won the Belgian Pro League thanks to an injury-time belter from ex-Tottenham defender Toby Alderweireld.
It was a dramatic final day in Belgium, where the end-of-season format is very questionable. Every club play each other twice, but unlike the Bundesliga, for example, the champions are not crowned on matchday 34. The top four clubs face off in the playoffs, which was won by Antwerp at the death.
Alderweireld always promised to return to his boyhood club Antwerp and his equaliser against Genk won them their first league title since 1957.
