Football Season Guide

Real Sociedad had a memorable 2020/21, as they won a trophy by defeating Basque rivals Athletic Club in the 2019/20 Copa del Rey final, which was finally played in April of 2021 after being postponed due to COVID-19. In the league, a fifth place finish brings a second successive season in the Europa League, so that was a success as well. Not only did Real Sociedad achieve positive results last year, but they did so while playing attractive football. Coach Imanol likes them to keep the ball and play on the front foot, which has been effective for a couple of seasons now. The big news of Real Sociedad’s off-season was the fact that star striker Alexander Isak agreed a new deal. He was excellent for Sweden at Euro 2020 and there were several bigger clubs around Europe who were interested, but he is staying and that is encouraging for La Real. Continuity is the name of the game for this club, as there has been little turnover overall this summer. Apart from a change at backup goalkeeper and the addition of a couple of squad players, this is largely the same squad. There will also be new youngsters to break into the senior squad in the months ahead, as Real Sociedad boast one of the best academies in Spain. This is a club that has been working really intelligently for several years now and they should give everybody a tough game, so long as they can largely stay healthy. It’s injuries that have been their Achilles heel in the past couple of years.