Arabic version: بي بي سي سبورت تسمي أبرز العمالقة النائمين في أوروبا

According to BBC News, Europe’s current football “sleeping giants” are clubs outside their domestic top flights that retain a combination of history, heritage, fanbase and stadium potential. The assessment excludes sides whose success was too recent and notes that a major city or large ground alone is not enough to qualify.

Bursaspor are ranked 10th after their 2009-10 Turkish title, which led to Champions League matches against Manchester United and Rangers. The club, based in a city of about 2.5 million people, play at the 43,361-capacity, crocodile-shaped Centennial Ataturk Stadium and are in Turkey’s second tier. Dynamo Dresden, eighth, won eight East German titles and seven domestic cups, while Kaiserslautern, seventh, remain the only club to win the Bundesliga immediately after promotion.

Sheffield Wednesday are placed seventh in the ranking after relegation to League One last season. The Owls have four league titles, won the League Cup in 1991 and play at 39,732-capacity Hillsborough. Hertha BSC, ranked sixth, continue to attract crowds of more than 50,000 at Berlin’s Olympiastadion while playing in the second tier. Bordeaux are fifth after financial problems led to their demotion to the regional sixth tier; the six-time French champions were bought by US investment fund Park Bench for one euro.

FC Nuremberg, ranked fourth, have nine league titles, a 50,000-seat stadium and Miroslav Klose as head coach. Real Zaragoza are third, with six domestic cups and the 1994-95 Cup Winners’ Cup among their achievements. The Spanish club are in the third tier and developing a projected 43,114-capacity stadium for the 2030 World Cup. Saint-Etienne take second place, having won 10 French league titles and reached the 1976 European Cup final.