Tense Relegation Battles Are Shaping Up All Across Europe

Most of the title races around Europe's top leagues are either done or on the verge of being complete, but the relegation battles are fierce heading into the home stretch.

Author:
90 Min
Publish date:
Apr 10, 2018

As 2017/18 domestic leagues across Europe head into the final stretch of the season, the battle for league titles is not the only thing people are talking about.

The ongoing battles at the bottom are just as important, with teams in countries all over the continent desperately fighting for their top flight status.

La Liga doesn't really have a relegation battle this season, with Deportivo, Las Palmas and Malaga already cut well adrift of the rest. However, Spain is the anomaly rather than the rule, as these seven relegation battles elsewhere can attest...

Swiss Super League

Only one team is relegated from the Swiss Super League due to the small size of the division, but at the moment that could be any one of five clubs, with only four points separating the whole of the bottom half of the table. Lugano are in freefall after losing six games in a row.


Pos	Club	Pld	GD	Pts
6th	Grasshopper	28	-5	32
7th	Thun	28	-11	31
8th	Lausanne	28	-13	31
9th	Lugano	28	-16	31
10th	Sion	28	-8	28

Ligue 1

Caen have started losing at the wrong time of the season and are six points above the relegation zone in France's Ligue 1 after four straight defeats. That might just about be enough of a gap if they can stop the rot, but 2010/11 champions Lille are in a very perilous position.


Pos	Club	Pld	GD	Pts
15th	Caen	32	-19	35
16th	Strasbourg	32	-19	34
17th	Toulouse	32	-15	30
18th	Troyes	32	-21	29
19th	Lille	32	-21	28
20th	Metz	32	-34	22

Bundesliga

In Germany, Hamburg and Koln will need a miracle in the final weeks of the season to avoid relegation to the second tier. But Mainz, who currently occupy the relegation playoff place, are still within touching distance of both Wolfsburg and Freiburg.

Whoever finishes in that 16th place will have to face the third place team from 2.Bundesliga.


Pos	Club	Pld	GD	Pts
14th	Freiburg	29	-22	30
15th	Wolfsburg	29	-7	29
16th	Mainz	29	-17	27
17th	Hamburg	29	-23	22
18th	Koln	29	-28	21

Russian Premier League

Things are very tight in the Russian Premier League this season, with the whole bottom half of the table not currently safe from the threat of relegation - just six points separate 9th place Ural from second bottom Tosno.

Only the bottom two are automatically relegated, but 13th and 14th must contest playoffs.


Pos	Club	Pld	GD	Pts
9th	Ural	25	0	30
10th	Amkar Perm	24	-6	28
11th	Akhmat Grozny	24	-9	27
12th	Dinamo Moscow	23	0	27
13th	Rostov	25	-4	27
14th	Anzhi Makachkala	25	-18	24
15th	Tosno	25	-20	24
16th	SKA-Khabarovsk	25	-28	13

Primeira Liga

Only five points separate the bottom six clubs in Portugal this season, and only two points separate the bottom four. Just two clubs will drop into the second tier, but at this point it could still potentially be any two of those in danger.


Pos	Club	Pld	GD	Pts
13th	Vitoria Setubal	29	-17	28
14th	Pacos de Ferreira	29	-19	28
15th	Desportivo Aves	29	-16	25
16th	Moreirense	29	-18	25
17th	Feirense	29	-17	24
18th	Estoril Praia	29	-32	23

Premier League

West Ham put a little more breathing room between themselves and the Premier League relegation zone at the weekend after holding Chelsea to a draw. As things stand, Crystal Palace are the most vulnerable of those clubs who are not currently in the bottom three.


Pos	Club	Pld	GD	Pts
14th	West Ham	32	-18	34
15th	Swansea	32	-19	32
16th	Huddersfield	33	-28	32
17th	Crystal Palace	32	-19	31
18th	Southampton	32	-19	28
19th	Stoke	33	-33	27
20th	West Brom	33	-26	21

Serie A

Benevento are already dead and buried in Serie A after scraping together just 13 points from 31 games, but the battle ahead of them is very much on. Even Udinese, who are currently six points above the drop in 13th are being sucked in after losing their last eight games in a row.


Pos	Club	Pld	GD	Pts
13th	Udinese	31	-9	33
14th	Sassuolo	31	-30	30
15th	Chievo Verona	31	-22	29
16th	Cagliari	31	-23	29
17th	SPAL	31	-22	27
18th	Crotone	31	-27	27
19th	Hellas Verona	31	-36	25
20th	Benevento	31	-47	13