Longest Title Streaks in the Top Five Leagues

Defending the league title is a feat on its own, yet when a team takes control of the division in such a way that trophies are coming one after the other, it’s truly historic. With the way Bayern Munich is performing now and the way Juventus was going strong in the recent past, we might take the longest title streaks in the top five leagues for granted. As something short of amazing and mundane, yet a look at the history books shows just how much it is rare.

We're taking into account all the championships from their original start, regardless of whether they have the current name like the Bundesliga, Serie A, or Premier League.

Ligue 1 Longest Title Streaks

An interesting league to start as it perfectly illustrates just how hard it is to actually get a notable streak going. Even in the current era when the existence of it would be perfectly understandable due to the massive disparity in finances between a single club and the 19 remaining ones.

Lyon - 7 titles from 2001/2002 to 2007/2008

Not only did Lyon get to seven titles in a row, the French side went from zero to seven at the start of the millennium.

The side started rising slowly, getting the second spot in 1995 initially, then getting the third in 1999 and 2000. The 2001 saw them get close with a -4 points difference to the winning Nantes.

The first three titles of the reign have been barely won, with the differences from the runner-up being +4, +1, and +3 points. Then the team kept finding higher gear and won the following seasons with +12, +15, and +17. While the last title showed that the team was getting caught up a bit as Bordeaux was in four points behind at the end. Before they broke the streak themselves the next year.

These seven titles in a row under the reign of President Jean-Michel Aulas remain the golden and unreachable standard in France. Regardless of the money invested.

The most Paris Saint-Germain ever got was four because even in their era of Qatar-backed domination they were cut by Monaco winning the title in the 2016/2017 season. Then, after three straight bounce-back titles, Lille got their most unexpected title.

As for the other title-winning streaks in Ligue 1, Saint-Ettiene won four between 1966/1967 and 1969/1970, while Marseille got the same between 1988/1989 and 1991/1992. They did actually get five in a row, but the 1993 championship was annulled because the side was found guilty of bribing.

Then, as we mentioned, PSG got four too between 2012/2013 and 2015/2016.

La Liga Longest Title Streaks

Starting in 1929, the Spanish first division has seen nine champions, all but Deportivo La Coruna competing in it at the present. Three of those nine champions have won the league only once.

Real Madrid - 5 titles from 1961/1962 to 1964/1965

It's not at all surprising to see Real Madrid amongst the holders of the longest title streaks in the top five leagues.

Real Madrid has the most La Liga titles, 35 and 14.2% of them came in between 1961 and 1965. Interestingly, Real didn't win the Champions League in that period but did so a year before their streak started and the year the streak ended.

In the domestic league, before the three-point rule was invented, Real overcame the usual rivals, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid interjected at the number two spot. Yet, in 1966 Atleti broke the streak and was celebrating a title. After which Real got another three in a row.

Real Madrid 5 titles from 1985/1986 to 1989/1990

During their drought for Champions League glory, Real Madrid consoled its fans with five straight league triumphs. Even though they didn't finish the previous 1984/1985 season in the top four, Real Madrid was carried by Hugo Sanchez to the next five title wins with considerable margins to the runner-ups. Barcelona was third on three occasions, Valencia and Real Sociedad once.

While Barcelona is second on the trophy list with eight fewer than Real Madrid, 35 to 27, their biggest title streak happened in the nineties from 1990/1991 to 1993/1994. So four immediately after Real’s last major streak. Even with Leo Messi in the team, Barca "only" got to three wins in a row.

Premier League Longest Title Streaks

The English have a right to boast as only Huddersfield Town, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Manchester City have won the league title in three consecutive seasons. The birthplace of football can claim to be the most competitive as no team has been crowned champion four seasons in a row. Yet, Man City now has the chance to make the breakthrough and grab their 10th overall and fourth in a row in the spring of 2024.

Serie A Longest Title Streaks

Italian championships have been counted since 1898 and 16 teams celebrated the Scudetto at least once overall!

Juventus - 9 titles from 2011/2012 to 2019/2020

Stopping just one short of round number 10, achieved only by a single team in the top five leagues, Juventus abruptly lost the reigns of Italy following the streak break. The first three were won under Antonio Conte, then four with Massimiliano Allegri with a domestic double, then Allegri got his fifth without the cup. Maurizio Sarri finished Juve's streak with his first Scudetto, yet he wasn't allowed to stay as he didn't have the locker room under control.

Andrea Pirlo, inexperienced, was given the reigns and Inter grabbed the chance to stop the rivals from rounding up the streak.

Internazionale - 5 titles from 2005/2006 to 2009/2010

Certainly the most controversial of the biggest title streaks in the top five leagues, simply because the reign began with the Calciopoli scandal. Juventus finished first at the end of the season, yet the courts decided they did so using criminal schemes and awarded the title to the second-placed Inter. Juve was relegated to the second division and Inter's rule made easier. The reign started with Roberto Mancini leading to three titles, and then Jose Mourinho finished it off with two. The latter was the spectacular Tripleta with the CL and Coppa Italia trophies.

One year when Milan got the title separates Juve's longest and Inter's streak.

Juventus - 5 titles from 1931/1932 to 1934/1935

Juve also had a strong streak in the 1930s, going from two to seven titles of the now total 36. Even though it happened well in the two-point era, it still laid a massive bedrock for what the Old Lady has become.

Bundesliga Longest Title Streaks

As far as the German football championship is concerned, matters are complicated with the division of the country into west and east parts after World War II. Yet as the current German football does now, we're counting the Bundesliga from the 1963/1964 season. Although no notable title-winning streaks happened in the years before the war.

In the east, the BFC Dynamo won 10 of their 10 total titles from 1978/1979 to 1987/1988.

Bayern Munich - 11 titles from 2012/2013 to 2022/2023

Despite seeming like the unbeatable bully of German football, prior to the current streak of 11, Bayern Munich "only" had one three-league-wins streak. Yet the ongoing streak is unmatchable in world football.

It's the last title, the 2022/2023 one that was most in danger of being lost as on the last matchday Borussia Dortmund gave away the pole position.

Jupp Heynckes started the streak, Pep Guardiola added three blocks, Carlo Ancelotti had the one, Heynckes returned for another, Niko Kovac squeezed one in, Hansi Flick excelled with two, Julian Nagelsmann got one and Thomas Tuchel finished of his last season. Barely.