Football/Ligue 1. PSG crowned, Ajaccio makes the lift, Nice misses Europe… CIES delivers its forecasts

Like every year, the Football Observatory of the International Center for Sports Studies (CIES) has ventured into the game of predictions to try to predict the final classification of 23 European championships. The study was published on Monday by the institute, which bases its conclusions on “a statistical model including team performance over the previous two seasons, the experience capital of players in the current squad and spending on the transfers”.

According to the CIES, it is the PSG which would be crowned again at the end of the season, and would thus win the 11th French championship in its history. The Parisians – sparkling during the first three days – would be ahead of AS Monaco, which is struggling to start its season, and Olympique de Marseille. Olympique Lyonnais would fail at the foot of the podium (4th), while OGC Nice, which is currently trying to snatch its place in the Europa League Conference, would miss the European places by finishing in 8th position.

Few changes at the top

In the second part of the classification, the promoted Toulouse (13th) and Auxerre (16th) would remain, unlike AC Ajaccio. The Corsicans would finish last in the 2022-202 financial year and would be accompanied in their descent into the second division by Clermont (19th), Troyes (18th) and Angers (17th).

In the other major championships of the Old Continent, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich would also retain their title of national champion. Only AC Milan would be dethroned in Italy by the internal rival. Moreover, despite its sumptuous transfer window, FC Barcelona would only finish 3rd in the Spanish championship, also ahead of Atlético Madrid.

And, in England, beyond the new anticipated crowning of the Citizens, nothing would change in the first seven positions compared to last year. Which would mean that Manchester United – bottom of the English championship after two days – would again miss the Champions League by finishing the season 6th in the Premier League.