Albania’s image is changing from one that gets a bad reputation for corruption and mafia-related stories to an Adriatic beach holiday destination.

The capital Tirana recently hosted the Europa Conference League final between Roma and Feyenoord.

In football, the rise of the national team is amplified by the growing club football scene.

This season was the comeback of all comebacks by Partizani who had a five points deficit on their arch-rivals and reigning champions FK Tirana.

Tirana won the first derby of the season 2-0 in the away fixture before Partizani returned the favour with a 1-0 win at Tirana’s stadium.

In the second half of the season, Partizani once again beat their rivals 2-0 which gave them a better head-to-head record in the season thus far.

Both teams had exchanged top spot throughout and after Partizani were first in March Tirana took over going into the final seven games.

Back-to-back 1-0 wins meant they could keep Partizani at bay.

However, in the 32nd game week, a loss to Teuta Durres coupled with a win for Partizani had the rivals only two points apart ahead of the final derby of the season.

That game finished 1-1 which gave the advantage to Partizani as they had the better head-to-head record.

A win for Tirana would have certainly sealed the title as they only dropped points one more time in the penultimate game.

Partizani would win all their remaining games and become champions for the 17th time in their history level on points with Tirana.

Ever thought about how you would like your team to win their first-ever title?

How about beating the giants of the league in the title race starting from six points behind in the final stretch sitting in third place?

That is exactly what Aris Limassol did, finishing three points clear of APOEL Nicosia.

In Cyprus the league is split in two after 26 games and the top six go into a championship round, much like in Scotland.

However, they will play each team a further two times to get a further ten games in total during this final stretch.

APOEL were in the lead heading into the separation.

The 28 times champions of Cyprus were looking for a return to the top after a brief period without winning the title.

They got off to a poor start, drawing their first two games including the derby against Omonia.

Aris Limassol on the other hand demolished AEK Larnaca in the second game 4-0 overtaking the team in second place.

Aris would then beat Apollon in the Limassol derby with APOEL drawing for a third game in a row, causing panic on the yellow side of Nicosia.

APOEL failed to win any of the next four games including a 0-0 draw against Aris Limassol.

Aris took over the top of the league, they eventually won it all on the penultimate game beating Omonia whilst Apollon beat APOEL 3-2.

Even an entertaining 4-3 loss to APOEL in the final game of the season was only a minor inconvenience.

The streets of Limassol were painted in Aris green to crown the greatest moment in the club’s history.

Nordsjaelland will be kicking themselves, the best opportunity they have had to win a league title in over ten years.

However, they let FC Copenhagen come straight back in from a very unfavourable position.

The Tigers were top for most of the season whilst The Lions had been languishing in mid-table before crawling back into second place before the league split.

On the first weekend of the championship round, Copenhagen beat Nordsjaelland to start the race in the top position.

They proceeded to exchange the top position in the next few weeks four times before Copenhagen settled in first place.

With four games remaining the Tigers beat Copenhagen 3-2 to go top one last time but lost their position one week later.

A draw against AGF, the club from Aarhus, whilst Copenhagen won the derby against Brondby gave way for the Lions return to the top.

They never looked back, and Copenhagen completed their comeback title win in the penultimate week beating Viborg whilst Brondby thrashed Nordsjaelland 5-1.

A close race all the way to the end finishing with Copenhagen winning their 15th title, the joint record in the history of Danish football.

Another title race and another comeback.

Panathinaikos have not been champions of Greece since 2010 whilst AEK Athens finally broke their own long wait for a title in 2018.

Panathinaikos were ahead for the whole season, except for a couple of weeks in the middle, the Greens hogged the top spot gleefully.

AEK made sure to keep within touching distance heading into the championship round with Olympiacos and PAOK Thessaloniki hanging on.

Seven points separated the top four, and two points separated the top two, with Panathinaikos in control.

The Yellow-Blacks and the Greens shared two 0-0 draws in the run-in but a loss and three more draws for Panathinaikos allowed for AEK to take the first place with two weeks to go.

The loss in the eternal derby against arch-rivals Olympiacos cost Panathinaikos the title ultimately.

In the final game of the season, the Greens drew at home once more and AEK beat Volos to confirm the title.

Panathinaikos are now searching for a first league championship in more than 13 years.

Whereas AEK will be pleased that they are back on top stopping the ongoing domination of arch-nemesis Olympiacos.

Slovan Bratislava are behemoths of Slovak and formerly of Czechoslovak football.

They have many rivalries with clubs from across the country and even Austria, Czechia and Hungary.

One rivalry that is less known is against lowly DAC 1904, also known as DAC Dunajska Streda.

In 2023, the two battled it out for the title once again.

DAC is known for being very pro-Hungarian even singing their national anthem, to the dismay of Slovakian politicians, the vast majority of which support Slovan Bratislava.

DAC finished runners-up to their illustrious rivals in 2019 and 2021, but this season they wanted a first-ever league title over their enemies.

They went into the split one point ahead of Slovan, even grabbing a four-point lead in the first week of the championship round as they won and Slovan lost.

In the third week, it became six points difference as Slovan drew.

However, fortunes changed in the fourth week as Slovan beat DAC 2-1 coming from behind with three goals in the space of five minutes.

Both teams would win their next games before DAC dropped two points in the sixth week.

Slovan were back within a point with four games left.

Then DAC lost the next game.

Advantage Slovan heading into the final three games as they moved two points ahead.

Slovan completed the second-half double against DAC with yet another comeback, 1-0 down they made it 2-1 only for DAC to equalise this time.

In the dying seconds Vladimir Weiss scored a last-minute penalty and gets himself sent off and Slovan won 3-2 to go five points ahead.

In the penultimate game, Slovan won it all to claim their fifth title in a row.

They finished two points ahead of dejected Dunajska Streda who have to wait another year before attempting to win their Holy Grail.