This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/soccer by /u/AnnieIWillKnow on 2025-08-03 11:30:08+00:00.
Throwback to the 2024/25 /r/soccer Predictions Survey and ‘Mark My Words’ threads
Ten months is a long time in football. Hell, this season has seen many-a-player go from world class to washed in about ten days, such is the reactivity and recency bias of football discourse these days.
Meaning, I absolutely dread to think how bad our pre-season predictions for 2024/25 have aged, from way back in August.
Hold onto your hats and reputations, because we are about to find out, with THIS - the official mod-approved review of the annual Mark My Words thread, and /r/soccer Predictions Survey. Buckle up…
Oh, and FYI… the 2025/26 Predictions Survey and Mark My Words will be posted on Tuesday 5th August!
Before we begin, here are the links to the two threads, as a refresher…
Review of Predictions Survey results
There were a total of 335 participants - which although only a small minority of the /r/soccer userbase, is a good enough sample size to draw some conclusions from.
Part 1 - the biggest prizes
The Women’s Euros
Prediction: Spain (55.5%)
Winner: England (21.5%)
Over half of /r/soccer picked the reigning World Cup winners, Spain, to win their first Euros - with England and Germany next. Spain were the smart pick - but fell to the defending champions and their “proper English” football (@ Ella Toone) on penalties, to make it back-to-back Euros for the Lionesses.
The UEFA Champions League
Prediction: Real Madrid (32.7%)
Winner: PSG
Real Madrid were /r/soccer’s pick, followed by Man City - and in the end PSG won their first ever European Cup, which only 2.1% of /r/soccer users had chosen.
The Copa Libertadores
Prediction: River Plate (30.9%)
Winner: Botafago (6.3%)
Big up to the 18 people who correctly predicted the Brazilian side would win their first ever Copa Libertadores. For reference, /r/soccer’s pick, River, lost in the semis.
The Men’s Ballon d’Or
Prediction: Vinicius Junior (52.6%)
Winner: Rodri (32.3%)
/r/soccer was as wrong about this as Florentino Perez, with Rodri winning the award ahead of the more favoured Vinicius.
The Women’s Ballon d’Or
Prediction: Bonmati (75.4%)
Winner: Bonmati
Unsurprisingly, the three-quarters who backed Bonmati were correct.
The Club World Cup
Prediction: Real Madrid (41.9%)
Winner: Chelsea (3.4%)
Well well, /r/soccer. As Cole Palmer said, “everybody’s talked a lot of shit about Chelsea this season” - but now we’re champions of the world.
Part 2 - Major European domestic leagues
The English Premier League
Prediction: Man City (43.9%)
Winner: Liverpool (7.2%)
The top 4
The four teams with the most votes were:
- Man City (98.2%)
- Arsenal (96.1%)
- Liverpool (77.0%)
- Man United (41.1%)
… Well three of the four were correct, just not in the right order.
This is probably one of the funniest of all of the predictions - and that 41.1% who voted for Man United potentially shows just what a disaster their season was, given their eventual 15th place finish. A similar chunk of 40.8% of people thought 17th-placed Spurs would finish in the top four, however.
The actual fourth place team, Chelsea, were picked by just 8.8% of voters - so maybe it wasn’t too bad a year for Boehly’s Billionaire Bottlejobs, after all.
The relegated teams
Also hilariously, Nottingham Forest were the most popular pick to be relegated - with 75.2% of people selecting them. Forest actually finished seventh, and qualified for Europe - in case anyone forgot.
We were right about Ipswich and Southampton, at least, selected by 56% and 55.1% of voters - with 43% choosing the other relegated team, Leicester.
The Golden Boot winner
Prediction: Haaland (77%)
Winner: Salah… who only seven people voted for.
La Liga
Prediction: Real Madrid (64.8%)
Winner: Barcelona (15.1%)
… and /r/soccer picked Atletico ahead of Barca, too.
The top 4
The following top 4 were chosen - correct, just in the wrong order!
- Real Madrid (98.6%)
- Atletico Madrid (98.6%)
- Barcelona (98.3%)
- Athletic Bilbao (46.4%)
The relegated teams
/r/soccer also correctly predicted two of the three relegated teams - not bad.
- Leganes (63.2%)
- Valladolid (43.7%)
- Alaves (42.9%)*
*It was Las Palmas instead, who were the next most popular pick.
The Pichichi (Golden Boot) winner
Prediction: Mbappe (74%) Winner: Mbappe
/r/soccer got this right - although some argue the Frenchman still underwhelmed.
The German Bundesliga
Prediction: Bayern Munich
Winner: Bayern Munich
66.5% correctly backed Bayern to restore the status quo in Germany.
The top 4
/r/soccer was pretty clear on who they felt would finish in the top 4 in Germany:
- Bayern Munich (98.2%)
- Bayer Leverkusen (95.5%)
- Borussia Dortmund (93.7%)
- RB Leipzig (77.2%)
The big shock according to /r/soccer was therefore RB’s 7th place finish.
The relegated teams
The complication of the relegation playoff system in Germany means that there are only two teams guaranteed to be relegated from the Bundesliga. However, /r/soccer managed to predict three teams anyway - as the second and third most popular votes were a dead heat…The two most likely, according to /r/soccer, were:
- Holstein Kiel (70%)
- Heidenheim and St Pauli (53.4%)
… and these were two of the bottom three, so maybe /r/soccer watches more German football than we thought.
The Golden Boot winner
Prediction: Harry Kane (92.7%)
Winner: Harry Kane
One of the easiest predictions, arguably.
Italian Serie A
Champions
Prediction: Inter (60%)
Winner: Napoli (2.1 %)
Nobody saw Conte (and Scott McTominay) coming… well, six people did.
The top 4
/r/soccer voted the following top 4:
- Inter (98.4%)
- Juventus (93.1%)
- Milan (87.3%)
- Napoli (37.8%)
Three of the top four were correct… Atalanta replaced Milan.
The relegated teams
The following three were voted as most likely for the drop:
- Venezia (58.1%)
- Como (50.8%)
- Lecce (41.8%)
Cesc Fabregas’ Como the most glaring error - actually finishing tenth. In the end, only one of these three were correct - Venezia.
The Capocannoniere (Golden Boot) winner
Prediction Lautaro Martinez (59.9%)
Winner: Mateo Retegui (0%)
That’s right, NOBODY predicted Retegui would be the 2024/25 Caponcannoniere
Selected other European league champions
Prediction: PSG (87.6%)
Winner: PSG
Prediction: PSV (64.8%)
Winner: PSV
Prediction: Benfica (34.7%)
Winner: Sporting (33.9%)
Prediction: Club Brugge (39.1%)
Winner: Union SG (14.6%)
Prediction: Celtic (85.9%)
Winner: Celtic
Prediction: Leeds (42.6%)
Winner: Leeds
Of note, third favourites were Luton with 10.2% of the vote… who were actually relegated, but it’s fair to say not many saw that one coming.
Part 3 - wildcard predictions
Our final section is all about some miscellaneous hot topics…
Pep Guardiola’s Man City future
Nearly two-thirds thought this season would be his last - and were wrong.
First English Premier League manager to be sacked
The top two choices were Nuno Espirito Santo (25.9%) and Enzo Maresca (23.8%) lead the way in the voting - who not only survived the season, but led both their clubs to European football. The actual first managerial sacking was Erik Ten Hag… predicted by just 4.6% of voters.
Goals scored by Kylian Mbappe, in his debut Real Madrid season)
Mbappe’s tot…
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