Beyond Barcelona: Europe's Memorable League Winners in 2011

For most soccer fans, 2011 will be remembered mostly for the dominance of FC Barcelona, as the club accumulated four major trophies through the year, including La Liga. FC Barcelona was just one of many clubs to defend their respective league titles.

However, perhaps the best stories are not always the clubs that successfully defend their league titles. In 2011, five impressive results saw different clubs achieve titles. It started with a club feature no-name stars and ended with a club winning a league title after a century. Along the way, a French club won for the first time in over half a century while a Belgian club did enough to win the league title in a special playoff.

It was not long ago that Bucharest, Romania's capital, was where the nation's best clubs played football. Between 1980 and 2007, only one club outside of Bucharest won the country's top division. Between 2008 and 2011, Romania has seen three first-time league winners from three separate regions.

None was as surprising as what unfolded at that of FC Otelul Galati. Before the 2010-11 season, FC Otelul Galati never finished higher than fourth in Romania's elite division. Two seasons earlier, the club was in first place in the premier league after four games. Galati never contended for the league title, however, and the club languished to a 12th-place finish. In the 2010-11 season, FC Otelul Galati went unbeaten at home as the club won 12 of its 17 games. That exceptional home record included 1-0 victories over Rapid Bucharest and Steaua Bucharest and a 3-3 draw with Dinamo Bucharest.

Those impressive results were impressive considering Galati had no star players on the talented roster, and the most goals scored by one player were eight. They did, however, have a former Romanian international managing the team. Romania's most capped player entered his second season with the club as the manager. By 2011, Dorinel Munteanu, a member of four major tournaments, guided Galati to unchartered waters.

The road to a league title began brilliantly with a 1-0 victory at reigning league champions CFR Cluj. It got even better on May 17 when Galati defeated Politehnica Timisoara 2-1, as the match would determine the league leader. Then Galati got more news courtesy from the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Initially, a fixture scheduled for February ended up being a 3-0 victory for Galati over CS Pandurii Targu Jiu because its opponent had unpaid debts. FC Otelul Galati won the league title and an automatic berth at the UEFA Champions League with these six points.

Ask even the most ardent fans who is the best team in the United Kingdom, and few might mention a club from Northern Ireland. This organization happens to play at Northern Ireland's historic Windsor Park, home of the national team and Linfield FC. They were the inaugural league winner of the Irish League in 1891, and 2011 saw Linfield FC win the club's 50th league title

Linfield dominated the league by winning 26 matches in 38 games, including all five during the final phase of the season against the other top five clubs. Linfield amassed a plus-51 goal differential to finish 11 points clear of Crusaders FC. Two notable lopsided games during the first phase of the season included an 8-1 of Crusaders FC on Oct. 18, 2010, and a 6-2 victory over Donegal Celtic three weeks later.

He began a second stint at the club in the previous season while on loan from Stockport County, and Peter Thompson continued to add to his scoring prowess, starting with that 8-1 drubbing. He scored 89 goals during his first stint between 2001 and 2008, and Thompson returned to the club. He scored a penalty kick in the club's title clincher at Lisburn Distillery on Linfield's second visit.

That game saw Thompson scored his 23rd goal. It would be the third time in six seasons that Thompson led the league in scoring.

Linfield lost only once at home during the season and did well on the road as well, including and two 4-0 victories away at Lisburn Distillery.

Like Otelul Galati, this winner also qualified for the Champions League as it did so in one of the club's most historic seasons, considering it went over half a century trophyless. The last time LOSC Lille Metropole won France's Ligue 1 in 1954. The World Cup, held in Switzerland, had yet to start.

After four games in the 2010-11 Ligue 1, Lille scored only two goals as the club drew its first four games, hardly a contender for the league title. But LOSC Lille Metropole won 21 matches and lost only four games throughout the 38-game season. The first victory came in one of France's historic derbies. Two-goal performances by Gervinho and Pierre-Alain Frau helped Lille at RC Lens in the Derby du Nord 4-1. A week later, Senegalese striker Moussa Sow broke a tie against Auxerre with a 90th-minute goal to guide the club to victory.

He scored the club's first goal of the season to tie the match at Rennes, which he transferred from before the season; it would be a scoring season to remember. Sow also scored a hat-trick in a 6-3 victory against Lorient on Dec. 5, 2010. With one game to spare, Lille clinched its first league title since 1954 thanks to its 2-2 draw away at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). In that match, Senegalese striker Moussa Sow scored his 22nd goal of the season, but it was his hat-trick that tormented his old team en route to finishing as the league's top goal scorer. Sow would be one of four candidates for Player of the Year in France. He lost out to another emerging teammate.

Voted France's Best Young Player in the past two seasons, Belgian international Eden Hazard added another award: that by winning the Player of the Year. He and Gervinho tied for the team lead with nine assists, and one of Hazard's signature moments came late in the season. His goal right before halftime at Nancy Lorraine put Lille on the precipice of that league title.

Before winning the league title, however, Lille had made history thanks to a Polish international. He only scored two goals during the league season, but Ludovic Obraniak had arguably one of the most important goals for the club. His 89th-minute goal against PSG gave Lille its first French Cup since 1955. In doing so, Lille achieved the club's first double.

A club could finish second in the league and win the league. In 2011, that was the case in Belgium, and the winning club won on a tiebreaker. That tiebreaker involved a halved point. Genk finished one point behind Anderlecht in Belgium's Jupiler League in 2011. Amazingly, that happened to be enough for Genk to win its first league title since 2002.

Genk managed to win the league over sixth-place Standard de Liege, despite going unbeaten in the final ten matches. How it happened was a precedent set last season. After 30 rounds, the point values for the top six clubs are halved and rounded up. The top six clubs then played another round robin. If two teams are level on points upon the conclusion of the championship phase, the next tiebreaker was whoever obtained their points rounded up. If a club had its point rounded up, that rounded up would be deducted in the tiebreaker.

Genk and Lokeren would be ahead on tiebreakers for the 2010-11 season. Perennial contenders Anderlecht, who had the lead after 30 games, collapsed substantially during the championship phase. The club lost five of the ten matches, including a 1-0 loss at Genk and a 4-3 home loss to Lokeren on the final day of the regular season. Genk's home match against Standard Liege on the season finale became the de facto league title game.

Standard Liege, sixth in the standings after 30 games, cruised en route to eight victories in the championship phase. Standard had to win this final game to win the league title and was on course for the title after Eliaquim Mangala scored a late first-half goal. With his club losing 1-0, Genk manager Frank Vercauteren made a crucial substitution that proved pivotal to salvaging a draw that the club needed. Two minutes after coming into the match, Kennedy Nwanganga scored the tying goal. Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois made the crucial saves for Genk and helped Genk secure its third league title to go with their successes in 1999 and 2002.

In Norway, Molde is a city whose nickname is the "Town of Roses." Entering its 100th year of existence, Molde FC barely enjoyed any rosy, signature moments other than 1999. That was when second-place allowed Molde FC o qualify for the UEFA Champions League playoffs. Molde FC overcame Spain's Mallorca on an away goal to reach the Champions League group stage. There, the club's notable result was overturning a 2-0 deficit to defeat Olympiacos at home.

Molde FC was often the bridesmaid but never the bride as it had finished second seven times before 2011 but never won a title. Molde FC sought to maintain its winning ways. The club finished unbeaten in the final eight games of 2010 to avoid relegation but bore one nefarious result during the season. On June 6, 2010, Molde FC enjoyed a 3-0 lead at home to Lillestrøm heading into injury time. When the game ended, Molde FC allowed three goals in stoppage time and collapsed to a 3-3 draw. The following year, Molde FC hired a former player revered in England for his role as the "Super Sub." Having played for Molde FC in two seasons, Ole Gunnar Solskjær entered his maiden season as manager in 2011.

Things did not start positively with Molde FC losing its season-opening match 3-0 at Sarpsborg 08. But after that loss and two draws, Molde FC discovered their form, winning 14 of their next 18 games. That included a June 29 match at Valerenga as Molde FC win 2-1 to top the league and eventually remain there for the season's duration.

Although Molde FC lost both games to perennial contenders Rosenborg during the season, Rosenborg struggled surprisingly. Molde FC took advantage by going unbeaten in 10 straight matches following a 3-1 loss at Rosenborg on Aug. 7. One of those games included a home game against Strømsgodset on Oct. 30: Molde FC allowed a late equalizing goal to finish 2-2. However, Rosenborg lost at home to Brann 6-3.

With two games to spare, Molde won Tippeligaen for the first time. Leading Molde FC in scoring was Senegalese striker Pape Pate Diouf with 12 goals. Diouf's best performance during the season came on July 3 when he scored four goals in a 5-2 home victory over Aalesund.

And so 2011 proved that anything could happen. Five champions gained their way to a league title and, in some respects, into the annals of footballing lore. History happened, revived, and begun all in 2011. Europe witnessed many different champions crowned among the 53 nations. But it was in Romania, Northern Ireland, France, Norway, and Belgium that the most incredible stories unfolded in a year that Barcelona dominated.