Top five leagues analysed - Which clubs have had the best and worst starts to 2026?

As we all know, football doesn’t really follow the normal annual calendar. Most top flights in Europe start in August and run through to May or even June. However, despite that, the turning of the year always tends to play a significant role in every league campaign. Either due to lengthy winter breaks or some unknown or subconscious factor, football teams either see the new year as a major reset for their troubled form or when they lose grip on what had been a fantastic start to the season. And the start of 2026 has been no different.

Which clubs have had the worst start to 2026?

After taking a dive into Transfermarkt’s database and comparing the points per game of every team in Europe’s top five leagues from August to December to their corresponding form in 2026 to date, we have a definitive list of the top 20 clubs with the biggest drop-offs in form. And there are certainly some surprising names on the list. As we can see in the table above, some big clubs have seen their form drop off since New Years, such as Liverpool (-0.47 points per game compared to the first half of the season), Manchester City (-0.47), Bayer Leverkusen (-0.52) and Aston Villa (-0.80). But perhaps the biggest name near the top of the list is Tottenham Hotspur, who are currently averaging an entire point less per game than they did in the first half of the season.

However, as we can see, the team with the biggest drop off in form compared to their ability to put points on the table in 2025 are none other than LaLiga outfit Espanyol, whose form has nosedived to such an extent that they’re effectively winning 83% fewer points per match in the Spanish top-flight. They’re joined in the top five by Serie A side Cremonese, whose form has dropped by 63% since the turn of the year and Spanish minnows Elche, whose form has more than halved from 1.29 points per game in 2025 to 0.58 points per game in 2026 thus far.

Which clubs have had the best start to 2026?

When we then flip the stats over and take a look at which teams have seen the biggest upticks in form, we get a top 20 list of clubs that are well and truly celebrating the new year. Outside of the top 10 we can see several clubs that are making late moves for European qualification in their respective leagues, such as Stade Brestois (+0.36), Como (+0.46), Manchester United (+0.50) and Stuttgart (+0.52). Alongside relegation-threatened sides, such as Augsburg (+0.48) and West Ham (+0.51), who’ve made strong moves to pull themselves away from the bottom of the table.

When it comes to the top 10, we have four LaLiga clubs in Levante (+.061), Valencia (+0.64), Girona (+0.70) and Real Sociedad (+0.75), three clubs from Italy’s top-flight in Genoa (+0.64), Atalanta (+0.86) and Fiorentina (+1.01) and one sole representative from France in Monaco (+0.65). That leaves Premier League side Wolves, whose form has increased by an incredibly 191% in 2026 to 1.17 points per game and then Bundesliga outfit Mainz, whose rise in form of +1.30 points per game is the biggest uptick in form since the turn of the year across Europe’s top five leagues.