England
The Premier League begins with champion Manchester City playing away at Burnley, which won the second-tier Championship last season. Burnley is coached by Vincent Kompany, who is one of City’s greatest players and has a statue outside the club’s stadium in Manchester. City is coming off a treble-winning season when it collected the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League trophies. City manager Pep Guardiola said, “I don’t think it will be possible to do again what we have done last season. It’s once in a lifetime. So I said to the players, ‘Forget about it.’”
Spain
Sevilla plays host to Valencia on the opening night of the Spanish league. While Sevilla is hoping to build on last season when it won a record-extending seventh Europa League title, Valencia is facing another difficult year after Edinson Cavani, Yunus Musah and Justin Kluivert left the club. Earlier, Almeria plays host to Rayo Vallecano in the inaugural match of the new season. Rayo is managed by former Almeria coach Francisco Rodriguez, who replaced the successful Andoni Iraola after he took over Bournemouth in the Premier League.
France
The French league starts with Nice playing host to Lille.
Germany
The German Cup kicks off the new season with four first-round matches, including top-division Borussia Monchengladbach visting fifth-tier TUS Bersenbruck. Relegated Schalke takes on fellow second-division team Eintracht Braunschweig.