The Premier League returns just 11 weeks after it
finished, while PSG kick off Ligue 1 and Juventus face Lazio in the
Super Cup in Shanghai
Football is back! After the shortest break between Premier League seasons ever (76 days), the opening game of the 2015-16 campaign at Old Trafford between Manchester United and Tottenham kicks off another 10 months of extreme drama, emotional rollercoaster rides and hyperbole.
The 24th season of the competition since its inception in 1992 could be one of the most competitive yet, with the teams that were left eating the dust of Chelsea in 2014-15 all strengthening and the Red Devils arguably bringing in bigger names than anyone else.
The arrival of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Memphis Depay and Morgan Schneiderlin should see United offer a firmer challenge than last season, but they begin their campaign against a Spurs side that had gone five league games unbeaten against the Red Devils, winning two and drawing three, before losing 3-0 at Old Trafford in March.
Elsewhere in the Premier League, new boys Norwich City, Bournemouth and Watford all kick off their quest to avoid the drop at the first attempt on Saturday afternoon, with the latter hoping that their 10 new signings (and yet another new manager) will settle quickly to aid their survival chances.
Liverpool – still haunted by their disastrous 1-6 defeat at Stoke on the final day of 2014-15 – travel to the Britannia Stadium again on Sunday, with the first fixture being the first in the league's history to be played in consecutive games at the same venue.
Chelsea kick off their title defence at Stamford Bridge against Swansea, with the added pressure of knowing that in 23 Premier League seasons, the defending champion has never lost their opening game; winning 20 and drawing three.
Fellow title hopefuls Manchester City have to wait until Monday night to start their season against West Brom at the Hawthorns. Interestingly, the eventual title-winning team has started their season on Monday night in each of the past five seasons, so be sure to tune in to Monday Night Football to see if West Brom can continue this trend.
WITH A LILLE BIT OF LUCK
The 2015-16 Ligue 1 season will kick off on Friday night in Lille, with Les Dogues entertaining reigning champions PSG, the new home of Angel Di Maria.
Human He-Man Herve Renard will lead his team into battle against the title favourites and will be buoyed by the Parisians’ poor start to recent Ligue 1 campaigns.
With PSG only winning one of their last nine opening games of a Ligue 1 season (drawing five and losing three). Laurent Blanc will be without Zlatan Ibrahimovic on Friday but Edinson Cavani is fit and available. The pair both scored more Ligue 1 goals in 2015 than any current player in the division (11 each).
Elsewhere, Lyon hope to continue their great run of being unbeaten in their last 11 opening games of a Ligue 1 season (nine won and two drawn - the best run amongst the 20 current teams in the division), while Marseille will hope to pick up where they left off in the last campaign and build on their run of four successive league victories.
Monaco start their season away at Nice, but this shouldn’t faze them considering they picked up 38 league points away from home in Ligue 1 in 2014-15 - more than any other team.
GREAT HAUL OF CHINA
Juventus and Lazio face off in the 2015 Italian Super Cup on Saturday in China’s largest city; Shanghai.
The Old Lady will be making a record-breaking 11th Supercoppa Italiana appearance, and will be looking to collect their seventh title to break another record in the competition – one which they currently share with AC Milan (six wins).
The omens look promising for Juve, with 20 of the 27 Super Cup finals played to date being won by the reigning Serie A title holders.
Confidence will be even higher in the Juventus camp with the knowledge that the four previous teams to win the domestic double have always won the Super Cup (Juventus in 1995, Lazio in 2000, Inter in 2006 & 2010).
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