Sleeping Giants

'A Sleeping Giant' is a term quite regularly used to describe a side that has an illustrious history or a period of dominance, but have tailed off in recent years and find themselves in a worse situation than they were. Everyone is aware of some of the sleeping giants in England such as Newcastle United, Leeds United and Nottingham Forest to name a few, but who would be some of the sleeping giants in the rest of Europe?

Benfica

Benfica still do enjoy domestic success, but they have somewhat tailed off on the European scene from the great sides of the 60s and 70s. Last year, they became the first Portuguese side to do the domestic treble (Primeira Liga, Taca de Portugal and Taca da Liga). The Portuguese club enjoyed significant dominance in the 60s when they won two European Cups as well as countless domestic honours.

Legends from the golden era include the late and great Eusebio who remains the clubs record goal scorer with 474 goals in 15 years with the club. Upon the hero's death, the Portuguese declared three national days of mourning for the Mozambique-born Portuguese star. Star striker from the 60s and 70s, Nene currently holds the record for the most appearances with 575. The 66 times capped Portuguese international won 10 league titles, 7 Taca de Portugal trophies as well as UEFA Cup runners up in 1982/83 towards the end of his illustrious career. Today, they have won the previous 2 league campaigns and seem to be recovering domestically after a spell of domination by rival Porto.

Hajduk Split

HNK Hajduk Split is a club with lots of history. It was formed by four university students in the early 1900s in the then Croatian city of Split which was under Austro-Hungarian rule. 'Hajduk' was an adopted title as it literally meant 'freedom fighters' referencing their struggle for an independent Croatia. Split dominated the Yugoslav league in the 70s winning four league titles and finishing runners up in another one, as well as winning the Yugoslav Cup five times.

Early in the Noughties however, the club faced bankruptcy after being severely mismanaged by the board. They survived in Croatia's top division but often lost out to their fierce rivals, Dinamo Zagreb. Since 2008, the club has been improving and managed to qualify for the Europa League, the first time they qualified for a European group stage since 1994. They are still waiting for their first league victory since 2005 and have finished the last 2 seasons in 3rd. They are slowly but surely climbing back to the top of Croatian football.

Torino

Juventus are the big team in Turin, however they also share the city with Torino, a nationalist club with tragic events that sent the club into a period of mediocrity. Torino were in their pomp in the 40s when they won 5 Scudetto titles. They were one of Italy’s heavyweights and almost certainly would have been a European contender if the competition had existed. On the 4^th May 1949, all but one of the Torino squad were killed when their plane crashed into the hills of Superga, on the outskirts of Turin. The team never recovered and has endured some very hard times since. After struggling to stay in the Italian top flight for almost a decade, the side was relegated in 1959. The death of influential Italian star, Gigi Meroni, further halted the progress of the Turin side, but 9 years later, the club won their 7^th and last Scudetto under the stewardship of Luigi Radice.

The club floated between Serie A and Serie B in the 80s and 90s, and in 2005 were embroiled in financial trouble. After finishing in the playoff spot for promotion that season, the side were expelled from the league after financial irregularities. The Lodo ‘Petrucci’ law allowed ‘a new team’ to be instated into the division below the previous one based on the sports merit of the old club. I use ‘new team’ loosely as it still absorbs all the history of the old club. Today, Torino have battled back from Serie B in 2012 where they have remained since. Torino finished the 2013-14 season excelling all expectations in 7^th which allowed them a chance of playing in the Europa League, much due to the prowess of Alessio Cerci and Ciro Immobile. Immobile netted 22 times that season before being sold to Borussia Dortmund, while Cerci exited to Atletico Madrid. They weren’t able to replicate their domestic exploits last season as they finished 9^th but did reach the Round of 16 in the Europa League. It’s small steps, but Torino are showing progress of banishing the dark days behind them.

Dynamo Dresden

Dynamo Dresden were once the dominant side of East Germany, but the fall of the Berlin Wall coupled with the amalgamation of East and West Germany, saw the club tumble down the Bundesliga ladder. Sports clubs were not for-profit businesses under communist rule but rather set up as a means of socialising for state entities: CSKA for the Army, Lokomotiv for the transportation ministry and Dynamo for the secret police. The East German powerhouses enjoyed great dominance in the 70s winning 5 league titles and 2 cups. Despite not meeting recently, Berliner FC Dynamo are considered their big rivals, due to them often pipping Dresden to the East German title. They regularly competed in Europe during their hay day and into the 80s, gaining impressive victories over FC Porto, Juventus and Benfica.

The first meeting between socialist Dynamo Dresden and a capitalist West German side was in the 1973-74 European Cup against Bayern Munich, losing 7-6 on aggregate but it is the clash against West German side Bayer Uerdingen which would be more memorable. Winning the first leg 2-0 and cruising 3-1 at half time, the first choice keeper received an injury to be replaced by debutant Jens Ramme who conceded 6 goals to lose 7-3. However it was the incident in which striker Frank Lippmann escaped to the west when playing the away leg in Krefeld. As communism fell, so did Dynamo Dresden. There four years in a restructured Bundesliga saw them constantly battling relegation and when the inevitable happened in 1995, they never returned. They reached the heights of 2.Bundesliga from 2004-06 and again in 2011-14 before being relegated to the 3^rd tier where they currently remain. Dynamo Dresden is a side steeped in history, both successful and sinister, but one that they don’t look like repeating anytime soon.

HSV Hamburg

On the 29^th September 1887 Der Hohenfelder Sportclub and Wandsbeck-Marienthaler Sportclub coalesced to form SC Germania, known today as HSV Hamburg. They enjoyed their golden era in the 70s and 80s, winning 3 league titles as well as finishing second in 5 seasons. 2 DFB-Pokals were added to the collection, not to mention a European Cup Winners’ Cup, UEFA Cup, and 2 UEFA Super Cups. However the cherry on top was the European Cup victory in 1983. They beat Dynamo Berlin, Olympiacos, Dynamo Kyiv and Real Sociedad enroute to a finale against Italian giants, Juventus. Former Fulham and Bayern Munich manager, Felix Magath scored an 8^th minute winner to secure their first European Cup in their history.

They are a club that is proud of its tradition of having played in every season of the Bundesliga since its conception in 1963 and in fact every top tier of the German league since World War 1. At the Imtech Arena/Volksparkstadion they display a clock that reads how long they have been in the Bundesliga. The clock almost stopped back in June when Karlsruhe came close to toppling the former German giant in the relegation playoff. After a 1-1 draw at home, a very late equaliser from Marcelo Diaz forced extra time before Nicolai Muller scored the winner with 5 minutes of extra time left. Seemingly down and out, Karlsruher were awarded a penalty right at the end of extra time, but Rene Adler saved to keep Hamburg in the division for at least another season. Hamburg aren't the German force they used to be and that proud record is clinging by a thread.

Parma

From UEFA Cup winners in 1999, financial problems have plunged the Italian side into chaos and now ply their trade in the amateur leagues of the Italian pyramid. Parma don’t have the same stature in terms of history and theirs happens much more recently. Their first appearance in Serie A was in 1990 and they enjoyed most of their success in this timeframe, most down to the global brand Parmalat and their CEO, Calisto Tanzi. Tanzi used the football to expand his company with more eastern Europeans featuring as Parmalat expanded. Parma had world class players at their disposal including the club’s record goal scorer, Hernan Crespo, World Cup winner, Fabio Cannavaro, former Juventus star Lillian Thuram who is the most capped French defender as well as Faustino Asprilla, a part of Colombia’s golden generation and Gianfranco Zola. They had cracking players, but a league title often eluded the side. During the 90s they won 3 Coppa Italia trophies, one Italian Super Cup, 2 UEFA Cups, a European Super Cup and a Cup winners Cup. They achieved just one 2^nd place finish in the league in 1996/97.

Admitted into administration in 2004 due to the collapse of their parent company, the club operated in controlled administration until January 2007, before returning to the top division several seasons later. Previous to last season, Parma actually performed quite well. Roberto Donadoni guided the side to sixth position in the Serie A and a third consecutive top ten finish. However, their Europa League place was rescinded due to the late payment of income tax on salaries as well as incurring docked points for the following season. The club changed ownership several times with each buyer, often breaking promises of money. With several games forfeited towards the end of last season, facilities seized and players remaining unpaid, Parma succumbed and finished rock bottom of Serie A and demoted to Serie D.

Sampdoria

The last side that I will focus on is Sampdoria. The Samps enjoyed most of their success in the 1980s after being bought by oil businessman Paolo Mantovani in 1979, while in Serie B. In 1982, Sampdoria were promoted to Serie A and won their first Coppa Italia 3 years later. Their success during the 80s largely consisted of Coppa Italia victories in 1985, 1988, 1989 as well as one in 1994. They recorded a Cup Winners Cup win in 1990 while losing out to Barcelona in extra time of the 1991/1992 edition of the European Cup. Some would say their defeat against Barca was cruel, particularly as Gianluca Vialli missed three glorious chances to win before Ronald Koeman won it for the Catalan side. At the end of that season, star performers such as Vialli, Vujadin Boskov, Toninho Cerezo and Fausto Pari left the club and signalled the beginning of the decline of Sampdoria. They succumbed to relegation as quickly as 1999.

Since their exploits 30 years ago, Sampdoria have struggled to get back to the big stage. While they have regularly been in Serie A, they have never challenged for titles or the domestic cups on offer. They returned to the top flight in 2003 and finished in 8^th position thanks to the goals from Fabio Bazzani and Francesco Flachi. Two seasons later, they were on track to return to the Champions League only to be pipped to the post by Udinese in the closing games of the season. However they featured in 2007/2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup as a result of Atalanta not being granted a UEFA licence. Since returning to the league in 2013, Sampdoria have been improving at a steady rate. Docked points in their returning season for their participation in the 2011-12 Italian football season, they ended in a 14^th place finish. The previous two seasons have seen Samp finish in 7^th and 12^th respectively, the former seeing them return to European football, only for them to crash out in the third qualifying round to Serbian side, Vojvodina. This season they find themselves 6pts outside the relegation zone just above arch rivals Genoa. It’s been a rollercoaster of a ride for one of Italy’s historic giants.

These are just a few of the clubs that many deem to follow under the 'sleeping giant' bracket. Feel free to leave your thoughts on the clubs mentioned, or other clubs that I have omitted.