“With all the talk of one-team/farmers leagues, and the modern trend for serial winners like Bayern, Ajax, Man City and PSG, I’d like to know which of Europe’s leagues is genuinely the most competitive, with the most different winners over the last 10-15 years,” writes Ben Phillips.
It’s not entirely new for a handful of clubs to dominate in one country, but most leagues were more competitive in the past. The newly formed Bundesliga, for example, had seven different winners in as many seasons between 1963-64 and 1969-70, which has approximately 0.00% chance of happening again. Nowadays, Germany is the most high-profile example of a league that has had the same winner for at least a decade: Bayern Munich are aiming for a 12th consecutive title.
Before we answer the main question, let’s look at the most competitive big leagues. We’ve split that into seven for the men (England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain) and five for the women (all of the above except Netherlands and Portugal). It should really be four, based on the Uefa coefficients, but we’re a child of the 1980s so can’t leave Serie A out of anything.
Talking of which. Right here, right now, the most competitive of the big men’s leagues is probably Serie A. There have been four different winners in the past four seasons: Juventus, Internazionale, Milan and, prompting the kind of euphoric celebration in which it was entirely normal to use a flare bomb as a cigar, Napoli. But there’s a but. Those four teams are also the only champions in the past 22 years, during which Inter (five in a row) and Juventus (nine in a row) have both had long periods of dominance.
The only other league to have four different winners in the past decade is England, thanks in part to Leicester’s miracle in 2015-16. You can add Arsenal and Manchester United in the previous decade, which gives the Premier League six winners in 20 years. That beats all the other big leagues except France, which has had seven. Bordeaux, Marseille, Montpellier and Monaco all won a single Ligue 1 apiece in that period. Lille picked up two, and Lyon and PSG hoovered up the rest.
Serie A has been the most competitive of the big women’s leagues, with five winners in the last 10 years and eight in the last 20. England is next with four in the last 10 years (Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City).
These are the number of different winners for each of those leagues over the past 10 or 20 seasons.
Men’s (20 years)
7 France
6 England
5 Germany, Netherlands
4 Italy, Spain
3 Portugal
Men’s (10 years)
4 England, Italy
3 France, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain
1 Germany
Women’s (20 years)
8 Italy
6 Spain
5 England
4 France, Germany
Women’s (10 years)
5 Italy
4 England
3 Spain
2 France, Germany
We’ve also split the main question into two convenient periods of 10 and 20 years, the latter because it takes us back to the summer in which Roman Abramovich changed football for ever.
Four European men’s leagues have had six winners in the past decade: Georgia, Iceland, Kosovo and Latvia. But only one of those has also hit double figures over the previous 20 years. Let’s hear it for the Erovnuli Liga, the top division in Georgia and Europe’s most competitive men’s league. The current champions Dinamo Tbilisi have won eight of the last 20 titles but they have been staggered, with no more than two in a row (they had won the first 10 championships after the league was launched in 1990). Here’s the full list of winners.
In the women’s game, only one league has had six winners in the past decade: Russia. And only one can reach double figures over the past 20 years: North Macedonia. That includes an early spell of dominance for ŽFK Škiponjat, who won six in a row at one stage. ŽFK Spokje 2014 also won four in five between 2014-19, when they were known as Dragon, but there have been a series of one- or two-off winners either side of that.
So, in the past 20 years the most competitive European leagues have been Georgia (men’s) and North Macedonia (women’s). We won’t bore you with the full list of over 100 leagues, but these are the ones with the most different winners.
Men’s (20 years)
10 Georgia
9 Latvia, Kosovo, Sweden
8 Finland, North Macedonia, Republic of Ireland, Romania
Men’s (10 years)
6 Georgia, Iceland, Latvia, Kosovo
5 Albania, Armenia, Belgium, North Macedonia, Romania, Sweden, Turkey (inc. four in the last four)
Women’s (20 years)
10 North Macedonia
9 Norway, Russia
8 Georgia, Italy, Moldova
Women’s (10 years)
6 Russia
5 Armenia, Finland, Georgia*, Italy, Luxembourg, Moldova, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Turkey
* Full data unavailable
And finally, a nod to the least competitive league of them all: the Bosnia and Herzegovina Women’s Premier League, where the last 21 titles have been won by SFK 2000 Sarajevo. They’ve started the new season quite well too: four games, four wins, 22 goals scored, none conceded.
How often do the northern giants all lose?
“Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United all lost on Saturday,” notes Gary Naylor. “When was the last time they all lost a game on the same day.”
Right, full disclosure. We did this manually, looking at every result, so there’s a chance we may have missed an example. But here’s what we found. The four Merseyside and Manchester giants have all lost on the same matchday on a couple of occasions in the Premier League era: in September/October 2000 (you probably remember Thierry Henry’s volley to beat Manchester United) and December 2015. But those games were spread over two or three days for television.
If you include penalty shootouts, the last time they lost on the same actual day was 3 December 2003, in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup. Everton were beaten on penalties by the eventual winners Middlesbrough after a goalless draw. The team Boro beat in that final, Bolton, won 3-2 at Anfield, while Spurs beat Manchester City 3-1 at White Hart Lane (they had a more famous cup meeting two months later) and West Brom beat Man Utd 2-0.
But if you want four defeats, on the same day, in the league, we think you have to go back to 13 November 1954. These were the results, all in the old Division One unless stated.
Everton 0-1 Blackpool
Man City 1-2 Portsmouth
Sheff Utd 3-0 Man Utd
Luton 3-2 Liverpool (Division Two)
If we’ve messed up – it’s hardly beyond the realms – we’re sure you’ll let us know.
Goalkeepers going up for corners (2)
Last week we looked at the earliest examples of goalkeepers going up for corners, with Jan Tomaszewski’s forward foray for Beerschot on 13 October 1979 the frontrunner.
Warren Lyons, Steve Williams and Tom Wright have been in touch to point out the exploits of Dutch keeper Pim Doesburg. On 6 November 1977, with Sparta Rotterdam 2-1 down against Twente Enschede, Doesburg thundered a header against a post in the final moments:
“Can you imagine Ray Clemence going up there for Liverpool?” says Brian Moore, barely keeping it together when presenting the footage to his Big Match viewers a week or two later. “I guarantee that’s something you will never ever have seen before and may never see again, particularly in first-class football.”
Goal-shy guys (3)
A few weeks ago we looked at the worst goalless starts to a season, with Mainz leading the way at 772 minutes but Cheltenham have since obliterated that record. Their 2-0 home defeat by Fleetwood on Tuesday means they have yet to score in 11 League One games, or 990 minutes. The only goal they have scored this season was in a 4-1 EFL Trophy defeat, and that was an own goal.
Knowledge archive
“Leyton Orient’s Charlie Lee got booked for the third time in our opening five games on Saturday – what’s the quickest anyone’s picked up a ban for accumulating five yellow cards?” pondered Gareth Marshall in 2017 (and Darren last week in reference to Nicolas Jackson).
Julian Unkel has a slightly left-field answer, which makes Lee look like an angel. “René Rydlewicz, then of Hansa Rostock, managed to pick up five yellow cards in the first five matches of the 2001-02 Bundesliga season,” he says. Back on home soil, Alex Gray has found another gem, offering up none other than James Perch. “While playing for Newcastle in the 2010-11 season, he was booked in each of the first five games of the season,” he reminds us. How could we forget? [2023 note – they were also his first five games for the club].
Can you help?
“Rangers legend Walter Smith was shown his first and only red card aged 61. Who is the oldest person to get a red card? And who has the longest period between their first and their latest sending off?” writes Robin Clarke.
What is the first instance of the game being "gone"? In print or broadcast meida as opposed to the impossibility of investigating chit-chat on the terraces.
— Don Berno 🏴 (@ConnahsCronc) October 3, 2023
“Manchester United have had 12 successive home draws in domestic cups,” notes Andrew Hards. “What’s the longest run of home draws in the domestic cup competitions? And what’s the longest run of away draws?”
This is very @TheKnowledge_GU, but is Brighton's current run of six consecutive games against teams who have won the European Cup/Champions League a record? Must be close
— Adam Hurrey (@FootballCliches) October 2, 2023
“Santiago Giménez took three days to complete his hat-trick after Feyenoord’s game at Ajax was abandoned and then resumed. Can anyone claim a slower hat-trick?” asks Antony.
Mail us your questions or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU.
