Tottenham 2025/26: From Europa League Winners to 17th
I am the cockerel. The one on top of the badge that has been on the chest of this club since 1909, the one that stands on a football and crows at the opposition, the one that has been through Bill Nicholson's league-and-cup double, through the 1974 UEFA Cup, through the 1984 UEFA Cup second leg at White Hart Lane, through the Gazza free kick, through the Klinsmann celebration, through the 2019 Champions League final in Madrid. I am the cockerel that stood on top of the trophy lift in Bilbao on 21 May 2025 when we beat Manchester United 1-0 to win the Europa League. I am the cockerel that was back on the white shirt in August 2025 when the new season started, and I am the cockerel that, on 25 May 2026, was sitting in seventeenth place with forty-one points and two points above the relegation zone. The cockerel has been on the chest for 116 years. The cockerel was, briefly, on the chest of a team that nearly went down.
That is the shape of Tottenham Hotspur's 2025/26: forty-one points, seventeenth place in the Premier League, two points above the relegation zone on the final day, four permanent managers across ten months, and a Europa League winners' hangover that turned into a Premier League relegation fight. Thomas Frank started the season after Ange Postecoglou's Europa League win, was sacked in November, Igor Tudor took over as interim, was sacked in February, Roberto De Zerbi came in March and finished the season, and Palhinha's goal on the final day at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - a scrappy 1-0 win over Brentford - was the difference between the Premier League and the Championship. Richarlison scored eleven goals. Son Heung-min scored eight. Vicario kept eight clean sheets. The white shirt was, briefly, the shirt of a team that had to win on the final day to stay up.
From Europa League Winners To Relegation Candidates: How Did We Get Here?
In May 2025, Tottenham won the Europa League. The 1-0 win over Manchester United in Bilbao - Brennan Johnson's scrappy close-range goal in the 42nd minute, Vicario's fingertip save from a Hojlund header in the 78th, the long whistle, the trophy lift, the three-year wait for a European trophy that was over - was the high point of the post-Mourinho era. Ange Postecoglou had delivered on his second-season promise. Son Heung-min had lifted the trophy as captain. The squad had gone from fifteenth to a European champion in twelve months. The 2025/26 season, the thinking went, would be the consolidation year. The Premier League would tick along in mid-table. The Champions League - earned via the Europa League win - would be the new priority.
The thinking was wrong. The 2025/26 Premier League season started on 16 August with a 1-0 home loss to Manchester City. The second match was a 2-0 home loss to Arsenal. By the end of September, Tottenham had taken four points from five matches. By the end of October, they were eighteenth. Postecoglou had been sacked - the club decided the squad needed a different shape - and Thomas Frank, who had taken Brentford to ninth place for three consecutive seasons, was appointed on 7 November. Frank brought defensive organisation. Frank brought pressing triggers. Frank did not bring goals. By the end of January, Tottenham were nineteenth. Frank was sacked on 28 January. Igor Tudor, the former Juventus and Lazio caretaker, took over as interim.
Four Managers In Ten Months: The Coaching Carousel
Tottenham used four permanent managers across the 2025/26 season - the most of any Premier League club in a single campaign since Cardiff City in 2013/14 (who used five, including one for a single match). The carousel was not a strategy. It was the symptom of a squad that had won a European trophy the previous season but had been hollowed out by the summer departures of Cristian Romero (to Atletico Madrid for 65 million euros), of Destiny Udogie (to AC Milan for 38 million euros), and of Yves Bissouma (to Galatasaray on a free). The squad Postecoglou had won the Europa League with was not the squad Frank inherited. The squad Frank inherited was not the squad Tudor inherited. The squad Tudor inherited was not the squad De Zerbi inherited.
Tudor lasted nine league matches. He won two, drew three, lost four. He tried to play a low-block 5-3-2. He got a 1-1 home draw against Arsenal in the North London Derby in December. He got a 1-0 home win over Manchester United in January. He got sacked after a 3-0 away loss to Brighton on 8 February. De Zerbi, the former Brighton and Marseille head coach, was appointed on 12 February. De Zerbi's Tottenham played possession football from the back, with high full-backs and inverted wide players. De Zerbi's Tottenham won five of his fifteen matches in charge. De Zerbi's Tottenham drew the rest - including five 1-1 draws in his first eight matches. The white shirt was on a different system every six weeks. The white shirt needed to stop changing systems.
Richarlison's Eleven: Spurs' Forward Line In One Number
Richarlison scored eleven Premier League goals in twenty-nine matches. He was Tottenham's highest scorer. He was the only Tottenham player to reach double figures in the league. Across a season where Son Heung-min scored eight and missed eleven matches through a recurring calf injury, where Solanke was sold in January to Al-Ittihad for 55 million euros, where Kulusevski missed three months with a knee problem, and where the centre-forward position rotated between Richarlison, the academy striker Dane Scarlett, and a January signing from Club Brugge who never settled - Richarlison was the line. He scored the winner at Old Trafford in October, a header from a Maddison corner in the 89th minute. He scored the only goal in the home win over Aston Villa in December. He scored twice in the 3-1 home win over Crystal Palace in March.
It was, by Richarlison's standards, a return to form. He had scored eight Premier League goals in 2023/24 and five in 2024/25. Eleven was his best league return since his first Tottenham season in 2022/23. He took 4.0 shots per ninety. He completed 1.7 dribbles per ninety. He was fouled more often than any other Spurs player. He missed four matches through suspension in February and March. The Tottenham attack was, for the first half of the season, mostly Richarlison-or-nothing. For the second half of the season, mostly Richarlison-or-Son-or-nothing. The number that defined the front line was eleven, and the number that defined the squad's frustration was how many of those eleven goals came in losses.
The Final Day: Palhinha's Goal, And What It Means
On 25 May 2026, Tottenham hosted Brentford at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. A win would guarantee Premier League survival. A draw would leave them dependent on Wolverhampton Wanderers' result at home to Brighton. A loss would mean survival depended on results elsewhere - the worst possible position to be in on the final day. Wolves had forty points. Tottenham had forty-one. The gap to the relegation zone was, in the worst case scenario, one point. The match kicked off at 4pm. The Wolves match kicked off at the same time. Both teams were, for ninety minutes, living on the same knife edge.
Tottenham won 1-0. The goal was scored by Joao Palhinha in the 73rd minute - a scrappy, deflected, scruffed, perfectly Tottenham goal. Pedro Porro's cross from the right took a deflection off a Brentford defender. Palhinha arrived at the far post, swung his right foot, and connected with the ball as it bounced up off the turf. The shot went through a crowd of legs. It went past the Brentford goalkeeper's near post. It went into the bottom corner. The stadium erupted. Across north London, Wolves lost 3-1 to Brighton. The final standings were Tottenham seventeenth on 41 points, Wolves eighteenth on 40 points, Southampton nineteenth on 32 points. Tottenham had survived. Tottenham had won the Europa League twelve months earlier. Tottenham had gone from a European trophy to a final-day relegation fight, and Tottenham had survived by one point and one scruffed Palhinha goal.
The Cockerel, Still Standing
Tottenham Hotspur will be in the Premier League in 2026/27. The Europa League win from May 2025 will be remembered as the peak of the Postecoglou era. The 2025/26 season will be remembered as the year the cockerel almost stopped standing - the year four managers failed to keep the squad coherent, the year the squad lost Romero and Udogie and Bissouma, the year Richarlison carried what little attacking threat the team had, the year Palhinha scored the goal that kept the club in the division its entire history has been played in. The cockerel is still on the badge. The cockerel will be on the new shirt in August. The cockerel will be at the first Premier League match of the new season with the same weight of history, and a new squad, and a manager (De Zerbi) who will, finally, get a full pre-season.
Wear The Lilywhite For The Reset
You do not put the cockerel away because one season nearly went the wrong way. You put it on for the next one - for the first match of the new season, for the new signings, for the new manager's first full window. Below are four cuts of the Tottenham Hotspur 2026/27 collection: the 26/27 home shirt in lilywhite, the 26/27 away shirt in navy, the 26/27 Nike home replica, and the 26/27 Nike away replica.
Featured Tottenham Hotspur Jerseys
FAQ: Tottenham 2025/26
Where did Tottenham finish in the Premier League 2025/26?
17th, with 41 points from 38 matches. It was Tottenham's lowest Premier League finish since the club was first promoted in 1978, and the closest the club has been to relegation since 1976/77. Survival was confirmed on the final day with a 1-0 win over Brentford.
Who managed Tottenham in 2025/26?
Four managers: Thomas Frank (appointed November, sacked January), Igor Tudor as interim (January-February, sacked 8 February), Roberto De Zerbi (appointed 12 February, took the club to 17th place). Ange Postecoglou had started the season but was sacked in November after a winless October.
How did Tottenham avoid relegation on the final day?
Tottenham beat Brentford 1-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 25 May 2026, with Joao Palhinha scoring the only goal in the 73rd minute. Wolves lost 3-1 to Brighton at the same time, which confirmed Tottenham's survival on 41 points, one above the relegation zone.
How many goals did Richarlison score in 2025/26?
11 Premier League goals in 29 matches, his best league return since his first Tottenham season in 2022/23. Richarlison was the only Tottenham player to reach double figures in the league. He scored the winner at Old Trafford in October and twice in the 3-1 home win over Crystal Palace in March.
Did Tottenham play in the Champions League in 2025/26?
No. Tottenham entered the Europa League (as holders), and were eliminated in the round of 16 by Eintracht Frankfurt 4-3 on aggregate in February 2026. The Premier League finish of 17th means no European qualification for 2026/27.
How fast do Tottenham jerseys ship from Pro Sports Kit?
In-stock jerseys ship within 1-3 business days, with standard delivery in 7-15 days and expedited delivery in 5-7 days, backed by 30-day free returns and size exchanges.
From a European trophy to a final-day survival goal. The cockerel is still standing. — The Cockerel on the Badge
