Achieving the Champions League title just 9 years after the team's founding.
Sabah FK (Azerbaijan) will be the youngest team ever to appear in the prestigious Champions League. They were founded just 9 years ago. After being promoted, Sabah FK won their first national championship last season. To reach the "big stage," Sabah FK had to overcome all three qualifying rounds before playing a play-off match against Israeli opponent Hapoel Be'er Sheva, which they had to defeat to complete their journey to the next round.
Yaya Toure is the first African coach to manage a team in the Champions League.
PHOTO: AFP
Also in the recent play-off round, a shocking surprise occurred. Celtic, despite winning 3-0 against Austrian opponent LASK at home and leading 1-0 with just over an hour left in the second leg, ultimately lost 4-5 on aggregate.
Last season, Bodo/Glimt ( Norway ) was the most pleasant surprise from a small team. They advanced through the "league" stage, then beat runners-up Inter Milan to reach the round of 16. This year, Bodo/Glimt has once again qualified and is ready to compete in the Champions League. Besides Bodo/Glimt, another Norwegian football team that recently qualified for the Champions League is Viking. The Norwegian national team made a strong impression at the 2026 World Cup (eliminating Brazil), and now they are reaffirming their position as the number one footballing nation in Scandinavia.
Just two months after starting his coaching career (his first time as head coach), former football star Yaya Toure led Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) through the play-off round and made history. He will be the first African coach to lead a team in the Champions League. Toure previously made a name for himself playing for Barcelona , Manchester City, and the Ivory Coast national team.
Finally, there was the highest-quality match in the play-off round. Lyon – the team that had won the French Ligue 1 seven times in a row (a record) – lost to Fenerbahce of Turkey. Thus, among the five major footballing nations, France became the first to suffer a squad injury even before the Champions League began.
N "DARK HORSES" WORTH SEEING
Como (Italy), Real Betis ( Spain ), and Fenerbahce (Turkey) could be the new forces that spring pleasant surprises this season. They may not have the strength to challenge for the top spot, but they certainly can't be content with just qualifying for the competition. Most notably, Como is one of the "newcomers" to the Champions League.
Como's participation in this year's tournament is a striking detail reflecting the decline of Calcio – a footballing nation that has been absent from the last three World Cups. In last season's Serie A, Como finished fourth, securing the final Champions League spot behind Inter, Napoli, and AS Roma . This marks a historic milestone: for the first time, both Italian football giants, Juventus and AC Milan, are absent from the Champions League this season.
Como is currently managed by former Spanish football legend Cesc Fabregas. Therefore, people are less interested in watching Como play and more interested in Fabregas' coaching abilities. Seven years ago, Como was playing in Serie D, the fourth tier of Italian football. One noteworthy detail when looking back at Como's success last season is that the team hardly used any Italian players!
Fenerbahce is noteworthy for the fact that they overcame Lyon in the play-off round, as mentioned earlier. Many experienced and talented players have been brought in by Fenerbahce this summer: N'golo Kante, Nathan Ake, Romelu Lukaku … Mason Greenwood – a former Manchester United player – has also just joined Fenerbahce.
In La Liga, Betis is quietly rising as a new force, alongside established powerhouses like Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid. Betis is led by veteran coach Manuel Pellegrini, a figure with a deep understanding of European football in general and the Champions League in particular. And of course, simply representing Spanish football is enough to command respect from opponents, even though their own international reputation is relatively small.