One of the Premier League’s most famous faces departed, a new wonderkid emerged on to the international scene to European Championship-winning effect and a leaked video led to one of the game’s highest-profile referees getting the sack.
So much has happened on and off the pitch in 2024. We tasked Nick Miller, Adam Crafton, Caoimhe O’Neill, Carl Anka, Michael Bailey and Paul Tenorio with reflecting on the past 12 months and coming up with their best and worst moments — and plenty in between.
Describe football in 2024 in 24 words (or fewer)
Nick Miller: Difficult to get enthusiastic about, exhilarating, relentless, exhausting, life-affirming, hideous and then sometimes it reminds you it’s the greatest thing in the world.
Adam Crafton: This is The Athletic. I require 2,400 words. But…. Euros, AFCON, Klopp, Slot, Salah, INEOS, Lineker, Coote, Rodri, Mbappe, Nuno, the West Ham way.
Caoimhe O’Neill: Goodbye Jurgen. Hello Arne. Nearly Gareth. Golden Hayes. Lamine Yamal. Barbra Banda. Not too Xabi. Look, man. Scratchy Pep. Marta forever and always. Mate.
Carl Anka: Three excellent international tournaments and expanded European competitions push football closer to total burnout. The bubble is yet to burst, but for how long?
Michael Bailey: Argentina, Bayer, Copa, De (la Fuente), Euros, Full (schedule), Girona, Hayes, Ivory (Coast), Jurgen, Klopp, Yamal, Marta, Nuno, Olympics, Pochettino, Qatar, Rodri, Spain, Tuchel, Unai (Emery), Vinicius (Junior), Wirtz, Yamal. (I had to cut X and Z for obvious reasons, sorry.)
Paul Tenorio: Thrilling summer tournaments. Shocking coaching changes and appointments. The fall of Man City, the rise of Lamine Yamal. A looming feel of change.
The best footballing achievement of 2024 was…
Miller: Jordan are up there. Given their proximity to war and the impact that’s had on most aspects of their society, the country hasn’t had much positive going on in the past year. But their national team getting to the Asian Cup final, considering they didn’t manage to beat Tajikistan in their penultimate game before the tournament, was a phenomenal achievement on a football and societal level.
Crafton: Arne Slot’s seamless transition into life as a Liverpool manager. There were lots of reasons why it may not have gone so well: an invisible transfer window, expiring contracts, stepping up from the Dutch league and previous Premier League case studies of replacing legendary managers. And so top of the Premier League and the Champions League, with a near flawless record, is a significant achievement. Honorable mention: Aston Villa making the Champions League and taking to the competition so impressively.
O’Neill: The world’s lowest-ranked men’s international team, San Marino, won a game of football for the first time in 20 years. They followed their 1-0 home victory over Liechtenstein in September with a 3-1 away win in November, meaning they won more games (one) that month than Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City managed (none).
Anka: Bayer Leverkusen going unbeaten to win their first Bundesliga title was tremendous. Imagine being a fan, watching near-miss after near-miss and going without silverware for 30 years, only for Xabi Alonso’s side to pull off a domestic double in 2023-24 featuring a bevvy of last-minute goals. Delirious dopamine.
Bailey: This takes discipline for me to write, but Ipswich Town did something hugely impressive in securing back-to-back promotions from English football’s third tier to the Premier League; the first club to do so in 12 years. From a culture of mediocrity and with limited funds, Kieran McKenna coached his squad over the line twice, ending Ipswich’s 22-year top-flight exile.
Ipswich fans celebrate promotion with their players in May (Stephen Pond/Getty Images)
Tenorio: I’d vote for Leverkusen’s unbeaten run, but Carl got their first. I’ll point to a rare achievement in South American futbol. For more than 30 years, Bolivia failed to win a World Cup qualifier away from their home altitude advantage. A win away to Chile in September snapped that streak. With the expanded World Cup, Bolivia now have a shout at their first qualification since 1994.
What was your favourite football storyline of 2024?
Miller: In the end he only made two substitute appearances and missed a penalty in a shootout against Portugal, but the fact Josip Ilicic was even in the Slovenia squad at Euro 2024 to do all that was unbelievable. Ilicic effectively left football twice because of significant mental health problems, and at the start of last season wasn’t even getting in the Maribor side. But he recovered, scored in a pre-tournament friendly and, implausibly, made the final squad.
Crafton: Manchester United, the continuous sitcom-drama-fantasy-horror story, depending on your affiliation. Regardless, it remains compelling. I’m surprised they didn’t get their own BBC Christmas special like Eastenders or Gavin and Stacey.
O’Neill: Marta’s mother, Tereza Vieira de Sa, wrapped up from the cold at the CPKC Stadium in Kansas City while watching her daughter win the NWSL play-offs final with Orlando Pride. It was the first time she had seen her daughter play live in the U.S. and she brought luck as the Pride claimed their first championship. It was also the year in which Marta sadly retired from international football, having scored 119 goals in 185 games for Brazil. It didn’t end in gold at the Olympics but was golden all the same as she ended the year by winning the inaugural Marta award (naturally) at the FIFA Best ceremony in recognition of her goal against Jamaica.
Anka: AFCON 2023 had it all. A delicious group stage in which multiple storied nations were eliminated. A ludicrous knockout phase with last-minute goals, penalty shootouts and brilliant football. And a winner in Ivory Coast who sacked their manager mid-tournament, survived a Group of Death and then beat the favourites Nigeria with one of the best goals you will see this year. I will be talking about this tournament for the rest of my life.
Bailey: This year has been the breakthrough of Yamal. It began with whispers of a prodigy from La Masia, then his influence continued to grow on a dysfunctional Barcelona, and who can forget those incredible moments for Spain at Euro 2024 — including a sensational goal that left Kylian Mbappe shaking his head? There was the emergence of that photo with Lionel Messi and a trademark trivela people couldn’t stop. Hopefully this storyline will extend into a long and fruitful series.
Tenorio: The struggles of Manchester City. One of the most fascinating parts of sport is the construction of a dynasty. It gives fans an evil empire to root against, and every other team something to chase. More captivating is when those dynasties start to fall apart. Is City’s form a temporary blip? Will it be a more lasting change? Will they rebuild completely? Will Pep stay through it all?
Most surprising moment of the year
Miller: Even though it actually seems to be going quite well, I still can’t get my head around Vincent Kompany getting Burnley relegated and then getting the Bayern Munich job off the back of it.
Crafton: Chelsea hiring Enzo Maresca was pretty out-of-the-box, considering the end-of-season form under Mauricio Pochettino and the manner in which Leicester stumbled over the line in the Championship.
Also — almost every Manchester City game since the end of October.
O’Neill: Klopp announcing he was leaving Liverpool and then actually leaving Liverpool — it was one of those ‘where were you when you heard the news?’ days. Although currently, Slot looks right at home as his replacement.
Anka: I am fascinated by Mbappe’s odd year. A broken nose against Austria led to a strange Euro 2024 and he’s having teething problems at Real Madrid. One of the richest players in the world doesn’t appear to have improved much in the past two years. What happens next?
Bailey: In recent months, my young son has really discovered football. For the first time, he asked to watch a live Premier League game on TV. I sat with him for the second half of the Manchester derby, before leaving him on 85 minutes to watch its inevitable 1-0 conclusion. Nothing has surprised me more this year than what he relayed to me 10 minutes later.
Tenorio: The U.S. men’s national team hiring Mauricio Pochettino. It was one thing to have the ambition to chase some of the sport’s biggest names, but to actually land a coach with the stature of the Argentinian was a shock, both here in the U.S. and around the world. Can he find success in his first foray into international football?
The biggest injustice was…
Miller: Apologies for being flippant with this one, but Jaden Philogene being nominated for the Puskas award for what was effectively a cross that took a deflection. Lovely rabona, sure, but come on.
Crafton: Real Madrid collectively losing the plot so spectacularly that it deflected the attention away from the brilliant Rodri winning a Ballon d’Or. Not to mention their own coach, Carlo Ancelotti, missing the occasion to take part in the weird performative boycott.
O’Neill: That women working in football continue to be discriminated against in the year 2024. A survey conducted by Women in Football and released in May found 89 per cent of women (885 surveyed) have been discriminated against while working in football. This mirrors a wider societal issue. Let’s be the change we want to see.
Anka: In March, Vinicius Junior broke down in tears during a press conference describing the racist abuse he regularly encounters, only for certain agitators to say he brings it on himself due to his behaviour. La Liga — and European football as a whole — needs to get better at dealing with overt and covert forms of racism in the sport.
Bailey: Speak to an Indian football fan and they would say the following event happened in June: India led Qatar 1-0 in a 2026 World Cup qualifier in Doha, on the brink of a historic appearance in the third qualifying round. Then in the 73rd minute, goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu made a save before the ball appeared to roll out for a corner behind his back – only for Hashmi Al Hussain to drag it back into play and Yousef Aymen to equalise. TV replays were inconclusive, Qatar went on to win 2-1 and the All India Football Federation called for a “thorough investigation… to address the injustice”. Little has been said since.
Tenorio: I have a hard time getting worked up about it, but there was frustration about Inter Miami being awarded the host spot for the 2025 Club World Cup. Miami won the Supporters’ Shield in MLS this season for finishing top of the table after the regular season, setting a record for most points ever. But they didn’t win MLS Cup and they weren’t the highest-ranked American team in the CONCACAF rankings. That would have been the Columbus Crew. Messi and co. got the invite, however, which will most definitely put more butts in seats.
Hero of the year
Miller: It’s difficult to ignore Alonso for not only going unbeaten in the Bundesliga and toppling Bayern, but also having the confidence to turn down the big and lucrative offers that came his way, because he knew he wasn’t ready for them.
Crafton: Not a player, but I watched this video on Christmas Day of six-year-old Liverpool fan Isaac, who lives with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, where he met his Liverpool idols at the club’s training ground. It was a reminder how, for all the times this sport makes us tear our hair out, it still has an incomparable capacity to bring people together.
O’Neill: We know exactly what Emma Hayes is about by now, but her achievement of winning the Olympics — her first tournament as United States Women’s National Team boss — was a brilliant result. Even if her final season at Chelsea did not end with all of the silverware Hayes envisioned (that European crown proved elusive again), her team bounced back after an end-of-season slip to clinch the Women’s Super League title (their seventh), which was pretty heroic.
Emma Hayes wasted no time in achieving success with the USWNT (Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
Anka: Ademola Lookman’s hat-trick in the Europa League final crowned a stellar season for a wonderful footballer. The 27-year-old has found his footballing home at Atalanta, has just won CAF Footballer of the Year, and he is taking the world by storm.
Bailey: It was a goal for the ages. Sebastien Haller flicked home Ivory Coast’s late winner against Nigeria in Abidjan. As The Athletic’s Jay Harris wrote at the time, it was the moment Haller would have been dreaming about 18 months earlier, when he was in hospital receiving treatment to remove a testicular tumour. It won the hosts their third AFCON title.
Tenorio: Marta. She didn’t get the Olympic gold in the end, falling just short for the fourth time in a global final before retiring from the international game, but she played a key role in the Orlando Pride winning the NWSL crown in November, including scoring a great goal in the semi-final. A hero not just for the year, but for the sport across her timeless career.
Villain of the year
Miller: Marc Guehi for not only daubing ‘I love Jesus’ and ‘Jesus loves you’ on his rainbow armband during Stonewall’s recent anti-homophobia campaign, but then claiming it was simply his own message of inclusivity.
Crafton: The person who leaked David Coote’s misdemeanours. Coote had to go, but with friends like that, who needs enemies?
O’Neill: The ghosts at Swindon Town’s training ground.
Anka: Sir Jim Ratcliffe saying he’s a salt-of-the-earth Mancunian before ushering in a period of mass lay-offs for Manchester United employees and then making derisory comments about the women’s team. Forced returns to the office, a cancelled Christmas party and nixed Christmas bonuses for employees. The billionaire says someone needs to make “hard decisions”, but a rise in ticket prices leaves a sour taste.
Bailey: Am I allowed to say David Coote? I certainly wish him peace moving forward but at a time when agendas and conspiracies are eroding supporters’ trust in officials, Coote’s contribution to that discourse is as damaging as any in recent memory.
Tenorio: FIFA. From the manner in which the Club World Cup has been pushed through to the process for awarding the 2030 and 2034 World Cups, it feels now as much as ever before that there are few checks and balances on power at the organization and in global football.
The best goal I saw
Miller: Arda Guler’s top-corner rocket for Turkey against Georgia at Euro 2024. The perfect combination of power and finesse, enhanced by the biblical rain in Dortmund.
Crafton: Lamine Yamal’s long-range strike for Spain to equalise the semi-final of the Euros. His age (SIXTEEN!), the occasion, the quality of the goal; it will go down in folklore.
O’Neill: The goal I’ve picked is from Luton Town’s tremendously mad 4-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League in January. It was scored by Republic of Ireland winger Chiedozie Ogbene in a swift rounding of the goalkeeper. It doubled Luton’s lead in the third minute after Elijah Adebayo had scored after 18 seconds. It was less about the goal, which was very good, and more about the speed with which Luton welcomed Tom Lockyer back to Kenilworth Road. Their captain suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch the month before and this was all raucously for him.
Anka: Jude Bellingham versus Slovakia brought the nation, and Gareth Southgate, back from the brink. It was an odd/disappointing/frustrating European Championship campaign for England, but that goal reminded you what is possible when it all comes together.
Bailey: The best thing about this bit is getting to watch it again. Several times. At various speeds. Cole Palmer received the ball, sorted his feet, nutmegged Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite, produced a back-heel flick for a one-two with Nicolas Jackson, then side-footed home first-time with his left foot from outside the penalty box. England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, at full stretch, had no chance. That was his 20th goal of last season in May. An unstoppable goal from a brilliant talent.
Tenorio: It may not have been the best goal I saw, but I had to pick it because it’s the most bizarre goals I’ve witnessed. In the 10th minute of stoppage time between Chicago Fire and CF Montreal, with the game tied 3-3, the hosts’ Kellyn Acosta sent a tall, looping ball toward the opposing box from three yards inside his own half of the field. With the game being played in March in Chicago, a whipping wind off of Lake Michigan caught hold of the ball and turned it toward goal, and Montreal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois was surprised by the wind-aided trajectory. He got two hands on it, but that only aided the ball in finding the back of the net in a wild 4-3 Chicago win.
Favourite quote
Miller: “This is the best day in the life of Georgians. We just made history.” Seeing Kvara Kvaratskhelia in person and being absolutely enchanted by him might be my personal in-stadium highlight of 2024, but seeing him so overjoyed at qualifying for the Euros knockouts was amazing too.
Crafton: We head to the fifth tier of English football and Barnet, who end this calendar year top of the National League. Yet in the second week of September, their manager, Dean Brennan, whose side lost three of their opening eight league games, turned his fire on the club’s supporters. Most managers spend their lives pandering to fans — often with good reason — but this time, Brennan said what most managers must often be feeling.
Here’s a flavour of it, speaking to the club’s in-house media platform — including a warning not to edit out lines.
“I’ve got young lads reading social media. I’ve got stuff on social media going against my goalkeeper. Does that help, does it? All geniuses now. You know what happens in life? When you’re in tough times, you see the real characters, the real people. That’s what I’m looking for. Character in this group. Character! I want the fans to come with us with it. There’s a message for you. Do not edit that, by the way. I want that to go out because that’s very important. Just relax. I know what I’m doing. I took this team over, bottom of the table. Have a look where you are. There’s a lot of other teams below us. That’s how I feel about it. I’m very angry and frustrated. Any fan who wants to come see me, my door is open. Have a cup of tea with me and I’ll explain where we’re at, who’s injured and what’s happening. So I want us to get behind our players. Not moan at them. I want us to be a proper football club. All I ever hear is moaning, moaning about the chairman. The beer is not good enough. That’s not good enough. Come on, man. Get behind the team. There were only 900-odd fans here tonight. It was announced as 1,200. But there were 900 here. Yeah, we’re a big club, aren’t we?”
O’Neill: “You asked would you feel comfortable holding the hand of your partner and I wouldn’t at all. The world can be a scary place to be LGBTQ+ and in a way it is even more heightened in a football ground. I deserve to be a supporter of Ipswich Town as much as the next person but that doesn’t always feel the case when your right to exist or right to live your life are being debated by the whole of the internet. There should be a feeling of community at football but why does my community and belonging not suddenly matter?”
Powerful stuff from an Ipswich fan who wanted to remain anonymous when speaking to me about the Rainbow Laces controversy earlier this month.
Anka: Noni Madueke’s 48 hours in Wolverhampton in late August saw him post the words “everything about this place is s***” to his Instagram account before going on to score a hat-trick against Gary O’Neil’s side to rub salt in the wound. One of those things that’s a bit mean, a bit funny, and so bizarre it bubbles back into my brain now and then when I’m brushing my teeth.
Bailey: “It’s yet another ridiculous performance from the referee… Maybe the thought process is, ‘They won’t be long in this division and I might be refereeing the other team next year’. I’ve been to see the referee and told him that. One of his assistants was eating a sandwich, which I thought was a complete lack of respect. Hopefully he enjoyed his sandwich while he was talking to a Premier League manager.” — Chris Wilder on referee Tony Harrington and his officiating team following Sheffield United’s defeat against Crystal Palace. Wilder and United, who were relegated last season, could be promoted back to the Premier League come May.
Tenorio: “God can be a Timbers fan, but God doesn’t exist for me.”
Because of the bizarre nature of MLS scheduling, the Vancouver Whitecaps’ home playoff game couldn’t be played at home. Instead, they had to go on the road to play their opponent, Portland Timbers. Timbers head coach Phil Neville extolled the good fortune in his pre-game press conference, saying, “God is a Timbers fan.” Vancouver subsequently dismantled the Timbers, winning 5-0 to advance in the playoffs. After the win, then-Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who has proudly discussed his atheism, produced this memorable retort.
A bold prediction for 2025 that might just happen
Miller: Thomas Tuchel will not be England manager this time next year. You can see him arguing with the wrong person/being hounded out by elements of the media who are already on his back, and he hasn’t even started the job yet.
Crafton: Manchester City to win the Champions League. If I’m wrong, I blame my colleague Rory Smith, who made the case eloquently on The Athletic FC podcast earlier this month and convinced me City’s players may return to form and fitness at just the right time.
O’Neill: Chelsea to win the Women’s Super League and the Premier League. It was the first thing I could think of and will make me look really good if it happens. One half absolutely will. And if the other half doesn’t, who among you will even remember?
Anka: I am looking at La Liga’s table right now and putting a shiny penny on Diego Simeone achieving a trio of surprising title wins.
Bailey: Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood to win the Premier League Golden Boot in May. Go on, Chris.
Tenorio: One of the bigger names of the USMNT will sign an inflated contract to play in MLS ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
