Football on Superbru: The 2021/22 Season

It hasn't been too long since the Euros and Copa America came to an end, and a few players still haven't had an end of season break yet as they're in action at the Tokyo Games, but the 2021/22 football season is about to begin meaning it's time to start thinking about club action again!

On Superbru, we'll have each of the football games we ran last season available for you to join again for this campaign with our most popular of those, the Premier League Predictor, now just a couple of weeks away. Our Odds-based fantasy Premier League game is also already live and available to join.

Before we reach that August 14th weekend though (which also sees the start of the Bundesliga and LaLiga), there are some other tournaments getting underway in the meantime. Here's a chronological look at each of the leagues we'll be running predictor games for along with a very brief preview of what to expect.

July 31: Scottish Premiership

After denying Celtic a 10th consecutive title last season, Steven Gerrard's Rangers now go into this campaign as the bookies favourite to retain their Premiership crown. It'll be interesting to see if Rangers can replicate what was a truly excellent 2020/21 season and they'll be kicking-off the 2021/22 action with a home fixture against Livingston on Saturday.

After missing out on 10 in a row, Celtic have now appointed former Australia National Team manager Ange Postecoglou so it will be worth keeping a close eye on the changes he makes and how they start the season.

As has been the case for numerous tournaments now, it might be worth checking on restrictions relating to stadium capacity ahead of each of these football tournaments starting. As an example, Rangers have given an update on the national roadmap and said they'll only be allowed 17,000 fans in Saturday's opening fixture but that they expect to be back to having a full house at Ibrox by August 10th.

2020/21 Champions: Rangers
2020/21 Top Scorer: Odsonne Edouard - 18 goals (Celtic)
Newly promoted teams: Hearts and Dundee
Bookie favourite for the title: Rangers

August 6: Championship

The EFL Championship gets underway the following weekend so get ready for another season of 46 chaotic rounds and the eventual play-offs. The Championship is of course famously unpredictable and in most rounds on Superbru, 6/12 correct results or better is often a pretty decent effort!

Norwich won the league last year and have been promoted to the Premier League alongside Watford and play-off winners Brentford. Replacing them in this year's campaign are Fulham, West Brom and Sheffield United who were relegated from the PL while Hull, Peterborough and Blackpool have come up from League 1.

It's never easy to pick a favourite ahead of the season but the three clubs relegated from last season's Premier League are naturally among those considered to be most likely to earn promotion back to the top flight while the likes of Bournemouth and Cardiff will be eager to return to the big time themselves after missing out on promotion earlier this year.

2020/21 Champions: Norwich
2020/21 Top Scorer: Ivan Toney - 33 (Brentford). Given that Brentford have been promoted, it's worth noting that Adam Armstrong (Blackburn) was second with 28.
Newly promoted teams: Hull, Peterborough, Blackpool
Bookie favourite for the title: Fulham

August 13: Bundesliga

Germany's top flight returns on Friday the 13th when champions Bayern Munich visit Borussia Monchengladbach. Even by their own standards, Bayern are enjoying a particularly dominant period in Germany at the moment and are aiming for a 10th consecutive Bundesliga crown this season.

Though RB Leipzig were runners-up in the 2020/21 campaign, Borussia Dortmund are the most likely to be the team challenging Bayern (if anyone can), particularly if they hold on to striker Erling Haaland for another season. Leipzig have lost centre backs Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konate to Bayern and Liverpool respectively. Clubs in Germany are expected to be able to have at least some fans from the start of the season, though capacities in the opening rounds are unlikely to be greater than 50%.

2020/21 Champions: Bayern Munich
2020/21 Top Scorer: Robert Lewandowski - a ridiculous 41 (Bayern)
Newly promoted teams: VfL Bochum and Greuther Furth
Bookie favourite for the title: Bayern Munich

August 13: Premier League

Just half an hour after the Bundesliga kicks off, the new Premier League season will get underway with newly promoted Brentford making their PL debut against Arsenal in a London derby. The opening round is quite a big one as that match is followed by Manchester United vs. Leeds on Saturday while Spurs face Manchester City on Sunday.

It appears that we will be returning to a more 'normal' PL schedule this season with a greater number of matches back in the usual Saturday 3pm kick-off slot now that fans can go to games again, rather than each game having it's own KO time for TV purposes. This means we're likely to have fewer Premier League daily Odds-based fantasy rounds this season and the Saturday rounds will have a far greater number of teams in action.

Champions Manchester City are probably favourites heading into this fresh campaign but each of last season's top four are expected to be strong with Chelsea coming into this season as champions of Europe, Liverpool likely to have their squad back to full fitness including Virgil van Dijk, and Manchester United improved by what is shaping up to be a very strong transfer window as Jadon Sancho has already arrived and the signing of Raphael Varane from Real Madrid is set to be completed very soon.

There are also many manager changes to keep on an eye on with Nuno Santos now at Spurs, Patrick Vieira at Crystal Palace, Rafael Benitez at Everton and Bruno Lage at Wolves.

2020/21 Champions: Manchester City
2020/21 Top Scorer: Harry Kane - 23 (Tottenham)
Newly promoted teams: Norwich, Watford, Brentford
Bookie favourite for the title: Manchester City

August 13: LaLiga

Over to Spain then and we're set for an intriguing season as Atletico Madrid look to retain their 2020/21 title against the financially wounded giants that are Barcelona and Real Madrid. It looks as if Barcelona will hang on to Lionel Messi but they're going to have to raise a lot funds from other players in order to do so - Messi is technically a free agent at the moment but is expected to be an official Barca player again soon once the club are able to announce the deal without breaking financial rules in Spain.

Real Madrid don't appear to be in quite that much difficulty with money but are open to selling players (such as Varane) as they continue to try and raise funds for their next star player with Kylian Mbappe the man numerous outlets are reporting that Florentino Perez is waiting for. David Alaba has arrived from Bayern as an excellent replacement for Sergio Ramos but most other transfer talk for this window relates to players reportedly leaving the Bernabeu as opposed to new stars arriving. Carlo Ancelotti, who has returned to Real following Zidane's decision to leave the club, is likely to be tasked with getting the likes of Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale back to their best as a result.

There is of course still plenty of time in the window and much can change before the season kick-off so it's worth keeping an eye on how squads shape up before Valencia and Getafe kick things off on the 13th. After their Europa League victory over Manchester United in last season's final, Villarreal are another team to look out for and they'll be facing Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup on August 11th in Belfast.

2020/21 Champions: Atletico Madrid
2020/21 Top Scorer: Lionel Messi - 30 (Barcelona)
Newly promoted teams: Espanyol, Mallorca, Rayo Vallecano
Bookie favourite for the title: Barcelona

Weekend of August 22: Serie A

Finally, a week after those other major European leagues, things get underway in Italy. Personally, this is the league I'm most excited for at the moment due to the unbelievable number of manager changes that will make so many different teams interesting to watch. It's a real shame that Antonio Conte has departed Inter and won't be around for their attempt to retain the Scudetto but Simone Inzaghi, his replacement, did really well at Lazio so that's the first new appointment to watch out for. On top of that, you have Max Allegri back at Juve and he'll be tasked with getting the club back to where he left it, Maurizio Sarri taking Inzaghi's place at Lazio, Luciano Spalletti at Napoli and the small matter of Jose Mourinho at Roma.

Given the departure of Antonio Conte from Inter, as well as right-back Achraf Hakimi, it's understandable that Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus are currently considered favourites to get back to the top of Serie A this season under the returning Allegri. Everything is far from certain though and since many other teams including Atalanta, Napoli, Milan, Roma and Lazio all have the potential to compete strongly this term, we could have another real battle for Champions League qualification in Italy this season after Juventus themselves only just managed a top four place by the skin of their teeth in 2020/21.

2020/21 Champions: Inter
2020/21 Top Scorer: Cristiano Ronaldo - 29 (Juventus)
Newly promoted teams: Empoli, Salernitana, Venezia
Bookie favourite for the title: Juventus



In addition to the above leagues, South Africa's DStv Premiership is expected to start next month and once opening fixtures are confirmed, we'll have a predictor tournament live for you to join. Our A-League predictor game is another 2021/22 tournament that we'll be running, though Australia's new season is a few months away yet.

Also, we will of course have the Champions League returning in September but both our predictor and fantasy games for that tournament won't be live until the group stage draw has taken place in late August.

Good luck to all in this upcoming campaign in whichever tournaments you are playing!