Supercomputer Predicts Europa League: Porto Has the Highest Probability of Winning, Tottenham Second Popular, Manchester United Third

Last week, the UEFA Champions League returned strongly, and this week the Europa League begins. A foreign statistical agency’s supercomputer made predictions for this season’s Europa League, with Porto becoming the biggest favorite, while Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur rank sixth and fourth respectively in the favorites list.

Like the Champions League, the Europa League has also adopted a new format, increasing the number of teams from 32 to 36. The schedule for the first phase of the league is similar to that of the Champions League. The most important change is that only 36 teams will participate in the Europa League, unlike previous seasons where teams that failed to qualify for the knockout stage of the Champions League would “drop down” into the Europa League, which helps maintain the integrity of the Europa League.

The supercomputer of the data statistics agency predicted the tournament by simulating calculations tens of thousands of times. Porto (championship probability 17.8%, probability of reaching the round of 16 87.6%) became the biggest favorite. Athletic Bilbao of La Liga ranked second (championship probability 10.9%), which is also because the Europa League final this season will be held at San Mamés Stadium. Slavia Prague (9.6%) surprisingly was seen as the third favorite, surpassing many teams from the top five leagues.

Tottenham Hotspur of the Premier League ranked fourth (8.6%), Roma of Serie A fifth (8.2%), Manchester United of the Premier League sixth (8.2%), and Lazio of Serie A ranked seventh (6.1%). Galatasaray of Turkey (5.2%) is the eighth favorite, Real Sociedad of La Liga (3.6%) ranks ninth, slightly ahead of Eintracht Frankfurt of the Bundesliga (3.6%) in tenth place.