5 predictions for world football in 2017

As one calendar year is chalked off the board in world football, another arrives, bringing with it a renewed sense of opportunity for clubs and national teams across the planet.

Here are five predictions for world football in 2017:

Chelsea will win the Premier League in April

When April ends and May begins, there will be three matchdays remaining in the Premier League season. By that point, however, a champion will already have been crowned.

Chelsea entered 2017 on a 13-match winning streak and boasting a six-point lead on Liverpool in the standings. Given the Blues' phenomenal form, it feels beyond reasonable to assume the club will claim its fifth Premier League title at some point in April. Antonio Conte's side will only need to find itself 10 points ahead of the second-place team to do so, and if the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, and Tottenham Hotspur fail to keep pace, Chelsea could even conquer the top flight in the first half of April.

For comparison's sake, Arsenal's Invincibles won the 2003-04 Premier League with four games remaining.

No Spanish clubs in the Champions League final

For the first time since Bayern Munich triumphed over Borussia Dortmund in the 2012-13 Champions League final, European football's most distinguished competition will be won by a non-Spanish club. Not only that, but the final of the tournament won't even feature a team from Spain.

No club can claim to have successfully defended its crown since AC Milan did so in 1989-90, and Real Madrid will be suffering from exhaustion by the end of a campaign that involved a trip to Japan for the Club World Cup. Barcelona, meanwhile, demonstrated in the group stage that its squad can be outplayed by Manchester City. As for Atletico Madrid, something just isn't right at the Vicente Calderon.

Atletico Nacional will succesfully defend its Copa Libertadores title

Normally, a club that conquers the Copa Libertadores is destined for hardship. A consequence of its success, the champion is forced to watch as its squad is picked apart by European vultures who snatch up the best players.

But, somehow, Atletico Nacional, is managing to avoid a fate suffered by so many of South America's biggest clubs.

After winning the Copa Libertadores in 2016 and losing an integral part of its conquest in Marlos Moreno, Nacional held on to a number of key players such as Miguel Borja, as well as its manager, Reinaldo Rueda. There was a sense of continuity, and the club went on to reach the Copa Sudamericana final and win the Copa Colombia.

Who says Nacional isn't capable of becoming the first club to defend its Copa Libertadores title since Boca Juniors did so in 2001?

Colombia will miss out on the 2018 World Cup

The two-year roller coaster that is 2018 World Cup qualifying in South America will come to a close in October, and one of the continent's six representatives at the 2014 World Cup won't be travelling to Russia.

Brazil, Uruguay, Ecuador, and Chile occupy the top four spots in the standings, which guarantee automatic qualification. Argentina is fifth, which guarantees a winnable play-off against a national team from Oceania. Colombia is sixth, a position that means watching the World Cup from the discomfort of a couch.

Only five points separate second from sixth, and there are six matchdays yet to be played, meaning there's loads of time for the standings to alter. However, Colombia, on the outside looking in, isn't playing the spectacular football that brought so much happiness at the 2014 World Cup and is quite possibly the weakest of the bunch.

A new Ballon d'Or winner

In a year where club football appears to be lacking an unbeatable overlord and where international football lacks a large competition, there will be a chance for those just beneath the realm of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to make a claim for the Ballon d'Or.

If Antoine Griezmann, Neymar, Luis Suarez, Gareth Bale, or Manuel Neuer can produce an impressive calendar year, while Ronaldo and Messi show no glaring signs of improvement from 2016, it may be enough for the Ballon d'Or to find a new home.