Bursaspor and Dynamo Dresden Rank Among Europe’s Sleeping Giants

What changed

A new ranking of Europe’s “sleeping giants” weighs clubs by history, heritage, fanbase, stadium and current division. Bursaspor feature at number 10, despite falling to Turkey’s fourth tier in 2024, while eight-time champions Dynamo Dresden are listed at number nine after last playing in the Bundesliga in 1995.

Why it matters

This is less a prediction of who will rise next than a snapshot of unfinished football stories. Bursaspor have already won the 2009-10 Turkish title, faced Manchester United and Rangers in the Champions League, and still have a 43,361-capacity stadium behind them. Dresden, meanwhile, carry eight league titles and seven domestic cups into Germany’s second tier.

The interesting question is what counts as a giant once recent success fades. A famous badge alone is not enough: the ranking also asks whether a club still has the ground, following and local base to make a return feel plausible. For Bursaspor, the crocodile-shaped stadium and a city of about 2.5 million people make the dormant potential easy to picture. For Dresden, the weight of the past is more visible in the honours list.