Seven hipster clubs to watch across Europe’s top five leagues this season

Football is full of different strata of clubs: elite sides, big sides, sleeping giants, minnows, etc. – but the most modern categorisation is the hipster club.

When you hear hipster club, you instantly know the type of club being mentioned. They can’t be an elite side, but they can’t be a minnow either. The mid-table is usually their home, but always with a stylistic twist that sets them apart. Maybe they have a adventurous manager, cult heroes on the playing staff, or maybe their kit is stunning. Sometimes all three!

With that in mind we here at Squawka have had a look at football’s most hipster-y clubs and come up with a list of seven from Europe’s top five leagues that you should be keeping an eye on this season.

Borussia Dortmund

They’re back! The club that kicked off the modern-day hipster boom, Borussia Dortmund, has finally found their niche again this season. For a while their hipsterdom was so strong they became a genuinely elite side. Then they middled around as just sort of not very good, but now with hipster king Lucian Favre in charge, they’re back in the saddle!

Dortmund are a truly thrilling side to watch. Marco Reus, Shinji Kagawa, Nuri Sahin, Lukas Piszczek and Marcel Schmelzer are the mainstays from the Klopp days, oh, and Mario Gotze too! The little genius who flopped in a big way at Bayern (even though he won Germany the World Cup) and is now back where it all began, hoping to re-find his joy.

In addition to the veterans? We have youngsters. Oh so many promising youngsters. Burgeoning young talents that would thrill anyone. Obviously they’ll develop and leave Dortmund (as Ousmane Dembélé did) but they will still thrill us in black and yellow. American sensation Christian Pulisic (19 years-old) and England’s wing wonder Jadon Sancho (18 years-old) are the standouts, with Sancho’s bold decision to leave Manchester City in search of more minutes looking smarter by the second. His development is a delight.

With Favre’s 4-3-3 powering things, Dortmund are back to being undisputed hipster kings of football.

Parma

This one’s for the older hipsters among us, those who remember Parma’s glory days two decades ago when they had the likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Lilian Thuram, Juan Sebastian Veron and Hernan Crespo playing for them. This current team isn’t that stacked, but they’re still worth your love.

After myriad financial troubles, the club declared bankruptcy back in 2014 and re-formed way down in Serie D. Three successive promotions (two overseen by current coach Roberto D’Aversa) has seen them rise from the ashes back into Serie A as fast as possible. Their side is a ragtag group but manages to feature Portuguese hardman Bruno Alves, hairline legend Gervinho and the blazingly quick French winger Jonathan Biabiany back for his third spell!

Brighton

The vast amounts of money on offer in the Premier League mean that genuine hipster sides don’t tend to be “a thing” in England, but Brighton are as delightfully hipstery as they come. Bold and adventurous, Chris Hughton’s side play in a fashionable city with a positive intent; they know how to mix it up but have made key signings to improve.

Alireza Jahanbaksh from Iran (Eredivisie top scorer last season), Mathew Ryan from Australia, Gaetan Bong from Cameroon, Pascal Groß from Germany (the statistically most creative man in the Bundesliga the season before joined), Florin Andone from Romania, and even Martin Montoya (a former Barcelona man) from Spain. Hughton’s squad is cosmopolitan and committed and worthy of your support; just look at what they did to Mourinho’s Manchester United!

Stade de Reims

Reims won Ligue 2 last season and got promoted to Ligue 1, and then they began the season in brilliant form, beating previous hipster faves Nice and then the genuinely good Lyon, complete with a colossal display from goalkeeper Edouard Mendy. This would all be impressive enough but that they did it carrying the name Stade de Reims, one of the two sides to play in the first-ever European Cup final (and the first-team after Los Blancos to play in it twice).

The club of Raymond Kopa doesn’t currently have any cult heroes on the playing staff, but head coach David Guion has had a truly hipster rise to power. Beginning as head of youth in 2012. He guided the Reims youngsters as well as the Reims B-team, showing his worth. A short caretaker spell in 2016 was his audition, and starting last season he was first-team boss. In his first season, he got them into Ligue 1. Can his second season replicate the magic and bring “champagne football” to France’s top division? Don’t count him out!

Lazio

This kit.

That’s all.

Yes, even with the sponsor.

Alright fine, they also have wonderful players like Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (he hasn’t gone mainstream quite yet!) and Ciro Immobile and they’re also managed by Simone Inzaghi. And being managed by the less impressive brother of a footballing legend (who has become a much better coach than his brother) is just hipster gold.

Real Betis

Real Betis have had serious hipster vibes for a while now, and whilst you would expect such energy to dissipate – especially because for two summers in a row Betis have lost their young homegrown dynamic midfield genius – the side from Sevilla are still going strong. Their kit is better than ever and their squad is looking just as delightful.

Andres Guardado is pure hipsterism and he is the veteran presence alongside Joaquin, an absolute icon of the club and a delightful wing wizard who genuinely still has “it” in small bursts. Ryad Boudebouz, Cristian Tello, Marc Bartra, William Carvalho, one-time wonderkid Sergio Canales and World Cup legend Takashi Inui.

Betis even have two advantages on most hipster sides: they’ve already been the victim of an absurd defeat where they had all the ball, all the play, and got cut to ribbons on the break by a pragmatic side with one tricky winger. And they’re in the Europa League, which is the hipster’s UEFA competition of choice.

Villarreal

The Yellow Submarine were hipster before being hipster was officially christened a “thing” by Dortmund. They reached Champions League quarter and semi-finals whilst resuscitating the careers of footballing legends like Juan Roman Riquelme and Diego Forlan whilst introducing the world to Santi Cazorla; not to mention propelling Manuel Pellegrini into the spotlight as one of the world’s finest coaches.

Now with Javier Calleja in charge, this tiny town that’s got a population around the size of Macclesfield will again see their club mix it with the brilliant Barcelona, the regal Real Madrid and the awesome Atleti. The squad has so many promising players like Santiago Caseres and Manu Morlanes, the young midfielders who could form a fabulous partnership in midfield.

Villarreal also have the promising Gerard Moreno as well as hipster mainstays like Miguel Layún, Manu Trigueiros and the nicest (or second-nicest after Juan Mata) man in football: Santi Carzorla; who they re-unveiled with a magic tricky because of course that’s what they did.

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