FC Sheriff Tiraspol

Take a look at the teams competing in the 2021-22 edition of the champions league and there's one name that few will have come across. FC Sheriff Tiraspol the moldovan national champions have defied all the odds to become their nation's first ever side to qualify for Europe's premier competition, beating the likes of Red Star belgrade and Dinamo Zagreb on route. Now this achievement cannot be understated according to UEFA'S coefficient. The Moldovan league ranks 41st out of its 55 members while it only features eight teams in total. Sheriff have won the title a staggering 19 times in their 27 year history though have never before converted that domination into a spot in the champions league.

Now they have featured in the Europa league proper on four occasions but have always failed to progress beyond the group stage but now Glory waits with trips to the San Siro and bonobo to face Ac Milan and Real Madrid their award along with a tough away day to Shakhtar Donetsk. In an intriguing twist the city of Tirispol is located in a breakaway region of Moldova called transnisteria which harbours ambitions of unification with Russia.

Transnistria still holds the hammer and sickle in the corner of their flag. So, while not everyone in Moldova will be cheering sheriff along against Europe's elite there should still be a huge source of pride for a club that has come so far in a very little time.

Brentford

Brentford are without doubt the feel-good story of the 2021-22 premier league season. Whilst Norwich are playing their 10th season of premier league football having relegated a joint record five times and Watford their seventh the bees are experiencing their first campaign in the big time. It's certainly been quite a journey, playing in the fourth tier as recently as 1999 the club bounced around league one and two before finally achieving promotion to the championship in 2014.

Despite consistently losing their best players their intelligent recruitment strategy ensured they punched above their weight. Never finishing in the bottom half before finally securing promotion in 2021. A year after wembley heartbreak at the hands of their rivals Fulham, owned by Matthew Benham who has a controlling stake in danish side fc Mittiyan, the club has a distinctly scandinavian feel. Co-sporting directors Rasmus Ankerson and Phil Giles are wedded to the idea of stats-based recruitment, which has allowed them to scout worldwide for hidden gems and develop them for profits.

There is an ever expanding list of top talent that has passed through west London including ollie watkins syed benrama neil mopey esri concert and james tarkovsky never afraid to make the hard calls as shown by their decision to close their academy in 2016 in favor of creating a b team brentford have certainly done things their own way and with a clearly defined style of play vociferous home support and an incredibly likable and tactically astute manager in thomas frank many pundits and are reversing their preseason predictions which touted the bees for the drop just before we move on to our next tiny side punching above their weight just a reminder to like and subscribe to euro football daily with that notification bell switched on the likes really boosts these videos up the algorithm so please hit that now three

SD Eibar

Spanish minnows Eibat may have been relegated from la liga last term but the fact they were even there in the first place is a story that needs to be cherished. Eibar seats just shy of 8200 people, enough to hold almost a third of the local town's 27 000 person population. But the stadium isn't the only thing that's small about Eibar. Ever since achieving promotion to la liga in 2014-15 for the first time in their now 80 year history, the club's financial power has paled in comparison to their rivals.

Just for context in their first top flight campaign los Armados operated on a measly 13.5 million euro per year budget. 37 times smaller than the half a billion euros Barcelona were playing with. In fact, so small were Eibar the club had to increase their social capital by 1.7 million euros in order to be granted a license to compete in la liga.

Gripped by their David vs Goliath story, the global football community responded generating Eibar over 11 000 shareholders from 65 countries. Life in the top tier over the next six seasons brought inevitable change to the gunsmiths. They built their first official club shop developed an online store and upgraded much of their existing infrastructure. To date their most expensive transfer is edu Exposito, signed in the summer of 2019 for 4 million euros from Deportivo la corona by which time their annual budget had swollen to 47 million euros.

However, despite all the allure of wealth and power Eibar's community spirit has never faded. Debt-free to this day shares are capped at a maximum value of 100 000 euros so to avoid any individual takeover. Last season they were just one of two la liga clubs to have a female president and the first to employ a female sporting director. In fact 36 percent of the fans attending the iporus stadium are women, six percent above la liga's average.

Sadly 2021 saw Eibar come crashing down to earth, relegated after 20th place finished. But with Garadino back in the dugout, the man who helped them achieve promotion in the first place, the future is bright for spain's plucky underdogs.

Leicester City

A 3-2 victory against Everton on december 19th meant Leicester city topped the premier league table on christmas day. While 13 goals in 11 straight games saw Jamie Vardy break rude Van nistelroy's record of goals in 10 consecutive pl matches. By April the 10th champions league qualification was secure but the foxes weren't done yet. Tottenham Hotspur emerged as their only credible challenge. Though, a draw to Chelsea in what was dubbed the battle of the bridge handed Leicester city the most unlikely of titles finishing ith 81 points.

Having shocked the world of sport, Leicester city have continued to muscle the way into the premier league elite. Consecutive fifth place finishes and last season's FA cup victory is testament to that fact. Today Leicester are an established force but what they achieved back in 2016 can never be forgotten.