5 teams with most consecutive league titles in Europe
One of the hardest things to achieve in football is the complete dominance of a domestic league. It takes a great deal of planning and execution to be able to dominate a league.
This is because most leagues require teams to play 30 games or more in a season, and it is quite possible that fatigue and injuries will impact teams.
Despite how challenging league football is, some teams have managed to consistently dominate their leagues. Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City side, for example, won their fourth English top-flight title in five years at the weekend.
This kind of dominance is indeed special. Without further ado, here is a list of five teams with most consecutive titles in Europe's top five leagues.
#5 Manchester United (Three titles: 1999-2001; 2007-2009)
Before Manchester City, the last team to utterly dominate the Premier League was Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United. Under Ferguson, the Red Devils enjoyed unprecedented success domestically and on the continent.
Manchester United remain the side with the highest number of league titles in English football.
Sir Alex's men won the EPL in three successive seasons from 1998-99 to 2000-01 before Arsenal ended their stranglehold on the division. The Red Devils repeated the feat once more between the 2006-07 season and the 2008-09 season, winning the league thrice before Chelsea dethroned them.
Manchester United have won the Premier League a record 20 times, with 13 of them having come under Sir Alex. In contrast to their performances in recent years, the Red Devils were once the strongest team in English football.
#4 Real Madrid (Five titles: 1986-1990)
Real Madrid is Spain's biggest and most successful club, and has been for decades. The Spanish giants have won La Liga twice in the past three years but tasted their greatest success in the competition between 1986 and 1990 when they won it five consecutive times.
Los Blancos were managed by Luis Molowny Arbelo when they claimed the title in the 1985-86 season, Leo Beenhakker between 1986-87 and 1988-89, and John Toshack in 1989-90.
Their title in 1986 came after they dethroned rivals FC Barcelona, who had won the league the previous season. Their reign came to an end in 1991 when Johan Cruyff led Barcelona to La Liga glory.
Real Madrid enjoyed the inputs of Emilio Butragueno, Hugo Sanchez, and Manolo Sanchis in all five title-winning seasons. Sanchis even went on to captain the club. Real Madrid have won 35 league titles, the most for any Spanish side ever.
#3 Olympique Lyonnais (Seven titles: 2002-2008)
In the 2010s and 2020s, Paris Saint-Germain were recognised as the alpha club of French football due to the side's continued dominance of the top-flight. Before them, however, Olympique Lyonnais dominated Ligue 1 thoroughly.
They won the Ligue 1 title for seven consecutive seasons between 2001-02 and 2007-08. While dominating France, Olympique Lyonnais had four different managers, all of whom tasted domestic success with the club.
Jacques Santini led the side to the trophy in 2001-02 before Paul Le Guen took over and won the league in 2002-03, 2003-04, and 2004-05.
Gérard Houllier led the side to Ligue 1 glory in 2005-06 and 2006-07 before Alain Perrin won the title in 2007-08, his only season in charge of the club. Their reign atop French football was ended by Bordeaux in the 2008-09 season.
Lyon claiming their seventh successive Ligue 1 title as they continually dominated France, 2008. #FRA https://t.co/pcfSvjiO2U
Olympique Lyonnais' teams in their dominant era had several established and upcoming stars, including Juninho, Karim Benzema, Sidney Govou, and Michael Essien, among others. The club have failed to win Ligue 1 since their historic streak was brought to an end in 2009.
#2 Juventus (Nine titles: 2012-2020)
After getting relegated for their part in the Calciopoli scandal of 2006, Juventus embarked on a rebuild after a number of their top players chose to leave the club. They did not win the Scudetto until 2012 after the appointment of Antonio Conte as the side's manager.
From 2012, Juventus maintained a stranglehold on the Italian top-flight. They won nine consecutive times, following their appointment of Conte as manager.
Conte won the first three of their nine titles before leaving the club, and his replacement, Massimiliano Allegri, won the title five times. Maurizio Sarri won the side their ninth consecutive title in the 2019-20 season.
Juventus' era of dominance was characterised by stars like Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini, and Leonardo Bonucci, among others. The Bianconeri have been Serie A champions 36 times in their history.
#1 Bayern Munich (10 times: 2013-2022)
Bayern Munich have successfully created a winning machine in the German Bundesliga and have won the title every season for the past 10 seasons. The Bavarian giants have won 11 of the last 13 editions of the competition, only failing to win in 2010-11 and 2011-12 when Borussia Dortmund emerged as champions.
Bayern Munich have had several managers over the course of their decade-long dominance of German football. Top managers such as Jupp Heynckes, Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti, Niko Kovac, Hansi Flick, and Julian Nagelsmann have each led Bayern to Bundesliga glory.
Bayern Munich have won 10 Bundesliga titles in a row! 👏 🏆 https://t.co/QXFieir9Ic
Bayern Munich have had several top stars during their dominance. Players like Thomas Muller and Manuel Neuer have been with the club for many years and managed to win all 10 titles.