Champions League Futures: Manchester City Favored to Repeat as Champions in 2023-24

Every club in Europe dreams of competing in the Champions League but there are only a select few who are legitimately capable of competing for the ultimate prize each and every season. Taking a look at the early 2023-24 Champions League futures, title-holders Manchester City are the frontrunner to repeat next June under Pep Guardiola, while Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, and PSG are also expected to contend for the most prestigious piece of silverware on the continent.

Manchester City

What a campaign for the Sky Blues. Pep’s men completed the treble, winning the Premier League, FA Cup, and the Champions League for the first time in their history after years of disappointment on the big stage.

While there are likely going to be a few changes at the Etihad this summer with Ilkay Gundogan heading to Barcelona and Bernardo Silva rumored to be leaving the club, they’re set to replenish with Mateo Kovacic joining from Chelsea and perhaps even Declan Rice, who City have entered the race for alongside Arsenal.

At the moment, the Cityzens are favored at +200 at 888sport. With such a potent attack with Erling Haaland leading the way, there is no question Man City will be in the mix in the UCL knockout stages next season. 

Real Madrid

How can you count out the 14-time champions? Madrid might’ve bowed out in the semifinals at the hands of City, but you simply cannot ignore a club of this quality in the Champions League.

However, they did just lose legendary striker Karim Benzema, who ended his career in Europe and jumped ship for a big money offer from the Saudi Pro League. That puts a lot of the scoring pressure on the shoulders of Vinicius Junior, who scored 17 goals across all competitions in 2022-23.

But, there are rumors that Los Blancos could pounce on Kylian Mbappe this summer and meet PSG’s enormous asking price since he does plan to leave in 2024. If the Frenchman joins Real, it’s game over. Plus, the LaLiga giants just signed Jude Bellingham as well, one of the best young midfielders in the world.

Bayern Munich

Bayern did manage to win the Bundesliga once again in 2022-23, but they were disappointing in the Champions League, getting waxed in the quarterfinals by you guessed it, Man City. The departure of Robert Lewandowski did seem to hurt the Bavarians because Sadio Mane struggled to produce in his debut season due to injuries and inconsistent play.

That being said, Serge Gnabry undoubtedly proved his worth, bagging a team-best 14 goals in league action and also adding a pair of tallies and three assists in the UCL. The squad probably won’t change much this summer and with Thomas Tuchel heading into his first full campaign in charge, there will be no shortage of positivity in Munich. Bayern is one of the Champions League frontrunners at most soccer betting sites for a reason. They’re the epitome of success and did win the title in 2020.