After PSG won a Champions League and Tottenham ended their trophy drought, which men’s teams are still cursed?

On a confetti-decorated pitch in Bilbao, Spain, Tottenham Hotspur midfielder James Maddison reflected on what he described as a “special” season, but he was not only talking about his team in the moments after they hoisted the UEFA Europa League. Alongside Spurs, Maddison name-dropped Crystal Palace, Bologna and even Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane, all of them winning titles after lengthy waits.

This was the season of broken curses across Europe, with Spurs ending a 17-year wait to lift silverware, Bologna winning their first Coppa Italia in 51 years, Newcastle United snapping a 56-year trophy drought with the EFL Cup, Kane winning the first title of his career with the Bundesliga and Palace lifting their first-ever trophy after winning the FA Cup. Paris Saint-Germain even joined the ranks with their blowout win in Saturday’s UEFA Champions League final, winning Europe’s top club prize for the first time after years of falling short. The results of this “special” season were inherently entertaining since it broke with several patterns across the continent, where some major titles were hoarded by a handful of teams over the years.

The weight of expectations rests for no one, though, and while this season’s title winners may no longer feel the heaviness on their shoulders, other teams are begrudgingly inheriting that pressure. Going into next season, the onus to break trophy droughts will be the responsibility of a host of new teams across Europe, a group who have suddenly become cursed themselves.

The following teams ended up on curse watch for a variety of reasons, though the foundation of their misfortune is their inherent quality. Cursed teams are those who are unlucky to be in the midst of a trophy drought but may also be the makers of their misfortune to some degree, only adding to the misery of their circumstances. Not every team with a trophy drought is inherently cursed – Palace and Bologna were not, for example, those two instead rose up to the occasion rather than falling short in years past. The cursed ones are those who are constantly in the conversation but cannot seem to get across the finish line, walking the fine line of hope and despair as one trophy after another eludes them.

The trophy droughts may not be as dramatic as the ones that were snapped this season, but the narrative of a curse is starting to become inescapable for these teams – and so is the pressure of winning titles. Here’s a look at some teams who have landed on curse watch for next season.

AC Milan

Trophy drought: 3 years

AC Milan may have won Serie A three years ago, but one of Europe’s historic giants have fallen short since – and in plenty of categories. They got close to winning titles during that stretch, finishing second in Serie A at the end of the 2023-24 campaign but were clearly second best, finishing 19 points behind rivals Inter. This season, though, they fell to eighth and cycled through two managers and squandered an opportunity to win silverware by losing to Bologna in the Coppa Italia final. The fact that the 2025 Supercoppa Italiana is their only trophy of note during this period speaks volumes – though they entertained in a come-from-behind win over Inter, this was a truncated competition that was just two knockout games rather than a demonstration of season-long excellence.

They have not made much of a dent in the Champions League over the last two seasons either, exiting in the group stage in the 2023-24 season and being knocked out by Feynoord in the knockout phase playoffs this campaign. They will not play in European competition next season, the first time since the 2019-20 season, signaling a real need to reverse course – or become the punching bag in Italy if they cannot figure out how to turn around quickly enough.

Ajax

Trophy drought: 3 years

You will notice a theme beginning to emerge here – a curse is not only defined by the length of the trophy drought but the size of the opportunity squandered, and Ajax have really underperformed in recent years. The Netherlands’ most successful team has been unable to compete with the likes of PSV and Feyenoord in recent years and just when it seemed like they were going to reverse course this season, they even threw that away. They had a nine point lead over PSV with seven games to go in the Eredivisie but Ajax won just three of their last seven, offering their rivals a perfect chance to overtake them by winning their final games. The Amsterdam-based team also had one of their worst Eredivisie seasons the previous year when they finished fifth, going out in the second round of the KNVB Cup and exiting the group stage of the Europa League.

Atletico Madrid

Trophy drought: 4 years

If any team is perennially cursed, it is Atletico Madrid. They have had the fortune of winning a pair of La Liga titles and a Copa del Rey in the last 12 years but those are outliers for a team that have long been resigned to playing third-best behind Real Madrid and Barcelona. The curse is, sadly,  their heritage, even during the ongoing Diego Simeone era that has seen the team punch above their weight on multiple occasions.

Their record in Europe stings, ranking third for most games played in the Champions League without lifting the title. Some of the most defining moments of their recent history include two trips to the Champions League final, first on the wrong side of a lopsided win in 2014 and then in a nailbiter that went to penalties in 2016. They lost to Real Madrid both times and, unfortunately true to form, did the same on a different occasion this season. They were knocked out of the Champions League round of 16 in a penalty shootout against an unimpressive version of their rivals, this one defined by Julian Alvarez’s spotkick that was disqualified for the rare double touch.

Arsenal

Trophy drought: 5 years

Much of Mikel Arteta’s tenure in charge of Arsenal has been about charting an upward trajectory, with the manager successfully taking them from middling heavyweight to title contender since taking charge in December 2019. He has one FA Cup title, three second place Premier League finishes and a semifinal finish in this season’s Champions League … but not much else. Their final four run in Europe, coming up against a PSG team they went toe-to-toe with despite losing 3-1 on aggregate, almost disguises the fact that Arsenal did not change the narrative this season but truthfully, it only increases the pressure on Arteta and his group next season. 

They will wring their hands over injuries that hindered their progress this season but after three rival clubs in London won major titles this season, it makes their shortcomings more glaring. Not only did they fail to take advantage of Manchester City’s downward turn in the Premier League this season, they rank first in an unideal category – most games played in the Champions League without winning the title. They may have been unlucky but the onus is on the Gunners to actually get things right in the campaign ahead.

Anderlecht

Trophy drought: 7 years

Few are counting on Anderlecht to win major silverware but Belgium’s most successful team have now gone seven years without winning any titles, domestic or otherwise. They have been amongst the higher-ranked teams in Belgium throughout but have not made much of a dent in any competition recently, even missing out on a spot in European competition for the first time in 56 years during that stretch. They will have to settle for a spot in the UEFA Conference League next campaign but have three qualifying rounds to go through if they want to reach the league phase, which may be easier said than done.