Surprise/Unusual League Winners Across Europe

[AsimButtHitsASix]

37 minutes ago, ahemps said:

Does the SPFL have the longest period that the league has not been won by one of the so called 'domestic elite' teams? 

We are now in to the 36th year since Aberdeen in 1985. I know Portugal and the Netherlands are dominated by the same 2-3 teams but it has been mentioned in this thread Boavista (2001) plus AZ and Twente (2009 &10) have disrupted that.

Can anywhere top 36yrs of the same teams winning the league?????

None. There's a few that it's been over a decade of dominance by a duopoloy tho

Since Tavriya Simferopol won the first every Ukrainian league in 1992 it's been Dynamo Kyiv and Shaktar Donetsk
Since Hajduk Split won in 2005/06 the Croatian league has been between Rijeka (once) and Dinamo Zagreb
Since Wolfsburg won in 2008/09 the German league has been between Bayern Munich and Dortmund
Since Zurich won in 2008/09 The Swiss league has been between Basel and Young Boys
Since Levski Sofia won in 2008/09 the Bulgarian league has been between Litex Lovech and Ludogrets Razgard (10 in a row now)
Since Inter Baku won the league in 2009/10 the Armenian league has been between Qarabag and Neftchi Baku
Since Jeunnese Esch won the league in 2009/10 the Luxembourg league has been between Fola Esch and F91 Dudelange

Serbia's a strange one. Since the Serbian SuperLiga began in 2006/07 it's been shared between Partizan and Red Star. Between 1992 and 2006 the Serbian League still included Montenegro and either remained under the name "Yugoslavia" or "Serbia and Montenegro". The Yugoslav/Serbia and Montengro first league was shared between Red Star and Partizan from 1997/98 until it's demise in 2005/06 by the Belgrade teams. So you can say that league's been that way since 1997/98

29 years for Ukraine is the closest we have but, in theory, Serbia has never seen the league won by a team outside their big two

Edited June 7, 2021 by AsimButtHitsASix

[Nightmare]

27 minutes ago, ahemps said:

Does the SPFL have the longest period that the league has not been won by one of the so called 'domestic elite' teams? 

We are now in to the 36th year since Aberdeen in 1985. I know Portugal and the Netherlands are dominated by the same 2-3 teams but it has been mentioned in this thread Boavista (2001) plus AZ and Twente (2009 &10) have disrupted that.

Can anywhere top 36yrs of the same teams winning the league?????

One I thought might come close was Serbia, because Red Star & Partizan are miles ahead of anyone else there. But some team I’d never heard of before called Obilic won the (then Serbia & Montenegro) league in 1997/98. Obilic are the only non-big two winner since the breakup of Yugoslavia, and bizarrely now appear to play in the 6th tier of Serbian football.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

3 minutes ago, Nightmare said:

One I thought might come close was Serbia, because Red Star & Partizan are miles ahead of anyone else there. But some team I’d never heard of before called Obilic won the (then Serbia & Montenegro) league in 1997/98. Obilic are the only non-big two winner since the breakup of Yugoslavia, and bizarrely now appear to play in the 6th tier of Serbian football.

Obilic were "Arkan's club". Rumour goes he threatened players who refused to sign for his club and opposition players were afraid to score against them

[Nightmare]

7 minutes ago, AsimButtHitsASix said:

None. There's a few that it's been over a decade of dominance by a duopoloy tho

Since Tavriya Simferopol won the first every Ukrainian league in 1992 it's been Dynamo Kyiv and Shaktar Donetsk
Since Hajduk Split won in 2005/06 the Croatian league has been between Rijeka (once) and Dinamo Zagreb
Since Wolfsburg won in 2008/09 the German league has been between Bayern Munich and Dortmund
Since Zurich won in 2008/09 The Swiss league has been between Basel and Young Boys
Since Levski Sofia won in 2008/09 the Bulgarian league has been between Litex Lovech and Ludogrets Razgard (10 in a row now)
Since Inter Baku won the league in 2009/10 the Armenian league has been between Qarabag and Neftchi Baku
Since Jeunnese Esch won the league in 2009/10 the Luxembourg league has been between Fola Esch and F91 Dudelange

Serbia's a strange one. Since the Serbian SuperLiga began in 2006/07 it's been shared between Partizan and Red Star. Between 1992 and 2006 the Serbian League still included Montenegro and either remained under the name "Yugoslavia" or "Serbia and Montenegro". The Yugoslav/Serbia and Montengro first league was shared between Red Star and Partizan from 1997/98 until it's demise in 2005/06 by the Belgrade teams. So you can say that league's been that way since 1997/98

29 years for Ukraine is the closest we have but, in theory, Serbia has never seen the league won by a team outside their big two

Good shout with Ukraine. That one didn’t immediately spring to mind, and I suppose that’s maybe because clubs like Metalist Kharkiv and especially Dnipro had a continental presence for a while and I assumed one of them must have won the league at some point.

Speaking of those clubs, both of them Rangers’d it and died. A Dnipro-based phoenix club (Dnipro-1) are in the Ukrainian top flight and have just been joined a few days ago by Metalist-1925. There’s another Kharkiv phoenix effort called Metal Kharkiv who have just stormed through Ukraine’s third tier and supposedly have a lot of money behind them, so we could possibly see fake Metalist v fake Metalist in the Premier in 2022. I wonder if any of these clubs will get close to the Shakhtar/Dynamo dominance any time soon.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

If ye ignore Obilic for reasons of sporting integrity and believing mad fascists forcing clubs to lose matches doesn't count and go way back before the break up of Yugoslavia the last three Yugoslav First Leagues had Red Star winning as well. So there's been no winner in Yugoslavia/FR Yugoslavia/Serbia & Montenegro/Serbia outside Red Star and Partizan since Vojvodina Novi Sad in 1988/89.

Still four years later than Aberdeen won the league in Scotland tho

 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Got a bit bored in the afternoon at work so expanded this out worldwide. There are very few countries who come close to Scotland when it comes to a league duopoloy. Perhaps none. Here are the contenders

Brunei: Since the foundation of the Brunei Super League in 2012/13 it has only ever been won Indera and MS ABDB. However there were other national leagues before that
Philippines: Their national league is only four years old. It's only ever been won by Ceres-Negroes and United City but they're actually same team with a name change
Taiwan (Chinese Taipei Another young league, only four years old, and only ever won by Tatung or Taiwan Steel. 
Canada: Only two national Canadian Premier Leagues have happened and Forge FC won them both. 
Montserrat: The only nation I can find where you need to go back further than 1984 to find a league winner outside a big two but with notable caveats. Firstly there was a massive volcanic eruption on Monsterrat in the 90s and the majority of the island is uninhabited and the majority of the population live overseas. There are also poor records for some years. In 1975 Bata Falcons won the league. Since then Ideal won it once in 2004 and every other championship, that we know of, was won by the RMPF. However there are no records between 1975 and 1995. There was one season then nothing for five years (volcano erupted). RMPF won four in a row then Ideal won one. Then another ten years without a competition. RMPF won another in 2016 and nothing since. So, possibly, only two clubs since 1975 but this only accounts for six seasons.
Puerto Rico: The only ever league champions are Metropolitan FA. There was no national league before 2018/19 and Covid means no other champions since.
Sint Eustatius: ran a league for four years between 1980-84. Golden Eagles were/are the only known winners. If we're including tiny wee Dutch islands we may as well include the Scilly Isles has only had two winners since WWII due to there only being two teams on the islands.
Mali: In 1991 Djoliba AC won the Malian league. Ever since it's been shared between Djoliba AC and Stade Malien
Sudan: in 1992/93 Hilal Alsahi won the league and, ever since, only Al-Merrick and Al-Hilal have won it
New Zealand: The New Zealand Championship existed between 2004/05 and 2020/21. Although there were a number of champions decided via play offs only Aucklan City and Waikatare won the reglar league. Miramar Rangers were the last champions before that league started.
Papua New Guinea: Since the 2006 crwation of the league only Hekari United and Lae City have won the league.
 

Edited June 7, 2021 by AsimButtHitsASix

[tamthebam]

7 hours ago, AsimButtHitsASix said:

None. There's a few that it's been over a decade of dominance by a duopoloy tho

Since Tavriya Simferopol won the first every Ukrainian league in 1992 it's been Dynamo Kyiv and Shaktar Donetsk
Since Hajduk Split won in 2005/06 the Croatian league has been between Rijeka (once) and Dinamo Zagreb
Since Wolfsburg won in 2008/09 the German league has been between Bayern Munich and Dortmund
Since Zurich won in 2008/09 The Swiss league has been between Basel and Young Boys
Since Levski Sofia won in 2008/09 the Bulgarian league has been between Litex Lovech and Ludogrets Razgard (10 in a row now)
Since Inter Baku won the league in 2009/10 the Armenian league has been between Qarabag and Neftchi Baku
Since Jeunnese Esch won the league in 2009/10 the Luxembourg league has been between Fola Esch and F91 Dudelange

Serbia's a strange one. Since the Serbian SuperLiga began in 2006/07 it's been shared between Partizan and Red Star. Between 1992 and 2006 the Serbian League still included Montenegro and either remained under the name "Yugoslavia" or "Serbia and Montenegro". The Yugoslav/Serbia and Montengro first league was shared between Red Star and Partizan from 1997/98 until it's demise in 2005/06 by the Belgrade teams. So you can say that league's been that way since 1997/98

29 years for Ukraine is the closest we have but, in theory, Serbia has never seen the league won by a team outside their big two

Vojvodina, whilst it had its own parliament (until abolished by Slobodan Milosevic) and has a large Hungarian minority, is part of Serbia so the last non-Serbian winners of the Yugoslav League were FK Sarajevo in 1984-85.

Husref Musemic was part of that title winning squad and spent a short time at Hearts.

[oneteaminglasgow]

2 hours ago, AsimButtHitsASix said:

Got a bit bored in the afternoon at work so expanded this out worldwide. There are very few countries who come close to Scotland when it comes to a league duopoloy. Perhaps none. Here are the contenders

Brunei: Since the foundation of the Brunei Super League in 2012/13 it has only ever been won Indera and MS ABDB. However there were other national leagues before that
Philippines: Their national league is only four years old. It's only ever been won by Ceres-Negroes and United City but they're actually same team with a name change
Taiwan (Chinese Taipei Another young league, only four years old, and only ever won by Tatung or Taiwan Steel. 
Canada: Only two national Canadian Premier Leagues have happened and Forge FC won them both. 
Montserrat: The only nation I can find where you need to go back further than 1984 to find a league winner outside a big two but with notable caveats. Firstly there was a massive volcanic eruption on Monsterrat in the 90s and the majority of the island is uninhabited and the majority of the population live overseas. There are also poor records for some years. In 1975 Bata Falcons won the league. Since then Ideal won it once in 2004 and every other championship, that we know of, was won by the RMPF. However there are no records between 1975 and 1995. There was one season then nothing for five years (volcano erupted). RMPF won four in a row then Ideal won one. Then another ten years without a competition. RMPF won another in 2016 and nothing since. So, possibly, only two clubs since 1975 but this only accounts for six seasons.
Puerto Rico: The only ever league champions are Metropolitan FA. There was no national league before 2018/19 and Covid means no other champions since.
Sint Eustatius: ran a league for four years between 1980-84. Golden Eagles were/are the only known winners. If we're including tiny wee Dutch islands we may as well include the Scilly Isles has only had two winners since WWII due to there only being two teams on the islands.
Mali: In 1991 Djoliba AC won the Malian league. Ever since it's been shared between Djoliba AC and Stade Malien
Sudan: in 1992/93 Hilal Alsahi won the league and, ever since, only Al-Merrick and Al-Hilal have won it
New Zealand: The New Zealand Championship existed between 2004/05 and 2020/21. Although there were a number of champions decided via play offs only Aucklan City and Waikatare won the reglar league. Miramar Rangers were the last champions before that league started.
Papua New Guinea: Since the 2006 crwation of the league only Hekari United and Lae City have won the league.
 

Although it’s ended now, pretty sure Greece had a good 25 years or so where no one other than Olympiacos or Panathinaikos won the league, and even longer if you include AEK Athens as well.

One thing I found interesting is that it appears that the Uruguayan league has never been won by a team from outside Montevideo. They also had a 43 season spell between 1932 and 1976 where only 2 teams (Penarol and Nacional) won it, which is the longest historical run I can find - we must be on course to beat that here though. 

[Dunning1874]

59 minutes ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

Although it’s ended now, pretty sure Greece had a good 25 years or so where no one other than Olympiacos or Panathinaikos won the league, and even longer if you include AEK Athens as well.

Yeah, for 23 seasons from 94/95 it was only Panathinaikos and Olympiacos, and it was 29 running starting from 88/89 if you make it the three way split with AEK. For 21 seasons from 96/97 to 16/17, 19 of them were won by Olympiacos. 

[GNU_Linux]

2 hours ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

Although it’s ended now, pretty sure Greece had a good 25 years or so where no one other than Olympiacos or Panathinaikos won the league, and even longer if you include AEK Athens as well.

One thing I found interesting is that it appears that the Uruguayan league has never been won by a team from outside Montevideo. They also had a 43 season spell between 1932 and 1976 where only 2 teams (Penarol and Nacional) won it, which is the longest historical run I can find - we must be on course to beat that here though. 

RE: Uruguay of the 47 clubs that play in the three national tiers only 11 are not from Montevideo. Rocha FC are the most successful team from outside the capital with a 2005 Apertura win but lost the overall championship to Clasura winner Nacional. Rocha & Cerro Lago are the only non-capital teams to have played continental football from what I can gather.

The rest of the clubs from outside the capital play in amateur non-pyramid regional leagues with an overall championship between them. Teams can however & have joined the national tiers presumably by some kind of application.

Montevideo has 1/3 of the countries entire population which goes someway to explain the Montevideo centric-ness of the national leagues.

[Cyclizine]

6 hours ago, AsimButtHitsASix said:

There are very few countries who come close to Scotland when it comes to a league duopoloy. Perhaps none. Here are the contenders

Egypt (obviously not European) would run us close with either Al Ahly (by far the most dominant) and Zamalek winning every Premier League title since 83/84, save for 90/91 and 01/02 when Ismaily won it. Only four other teams have ever won a title since the mid 40s.

Edited June 7, 2021 by Cyclizine

[honestly united]

On 07/06/2021 at 10:40, AsimButtHitsASix said:

None. There's a few that it's been over a decade of dominance by a duopoloy tho

Since Tavriya Simferopol won the first every Ukrainian league in 1992 it's been Dynamo Kyiv and Shaktar Donetsk
Since Hajduk Split won in 2005/06 the Croatian league has been between Rijeka (once) and Dinamo Zagreb
Since Wolfsburg won in 2008/09 the German league has been between Bayern Munich and Dortmund
Since Zurich won in 2008/09 The Swiss league has been between Basel and Young Boys
Since Levski Sofia won in 2008/09 the Bulgarian league has been between Litex Lovech and Ludogrets Razgard (10 in a row now)
Since Inter Baku won the league in 2009/10 the Armenian league has been between Qarabag and Neftchi Baku
Since Jeunnese Esch won the league in 2009/10 the Luxembourg league has been between Fola Esch and F91 Dudelange

Serbia's a strange one. Since the Serbian SuperLiga began in 2006/07 it's been shared between Partizan and Red Star. Between 1992 and 2006 the Serbian League still included Montenegro and either remained under the name "Yugoslavia" or "Serbia and Montenegro". The Yugoslav/Serbia and Montengro first league was shared between Red Star and Partizan from 1997/98 until it's demise in 2005/06 by the Belgrade teams. So you can say that league's been that way since 1997/98

29 years for Ukraine is the closest we have but, in theory, Serbia has never seen the league won by a team outside their big two

For Croatia I would have classed Hajduk as an Elite club (bigger than Rijeka) and for Switzerland Zurich is the main city so would class them as an Elite club also surely?

[AsimButtHitsASix]

I was looking at how long since a third club had won. Not traditional elite clubs

[Brummie Clyde]

Think Grasshoppers are bigger than FC Zurich, but were relegated recently

[Brummie Clyde]

Hajduk Split are probably seen as the second biggest team in Croatia

[honestly united]

Its probably changed as a lot of big clubs from the 80's and 90's have droped down, and there are a few new big clubs, esp in the Eastern European countries

[Nightmare]

On 09/06/2021 at 20:01, Brummie Clyde said:

Think Grasshoppers are bigger than FC Zurich, but were relegated recently

Zurich have been relegated in the past few years as well. Mind you, they bounced back up immediately, which Grasshoppers didn’t.

Grasshoppers lead the way with 27 titles, followed by Basel (20), Servette (17), Young Boys (15) and Zurich (12). So I think you’re probably correct in saying that Grasshoppers are still the bigger of the two. From an outsider perspective it does seem like the two Zurich clubs as well as Basel and YB are all of a roughly similar size as the top Swiss clubs.

Edited June 11, 2021 by Nightmare

[jamamafegan]

On 11/06/2021 at 11:07, Nightmare said:

Zurich have been relegated in the past few years as well. Mind you, they bounced back up immediately, which Grasshoppers didn’t.

Grasshoppers lead the way with 27 titles, followed by Basel (20), Servette (17), Young Boys (15) and Zurich (12). So I think you’re probably correct in saying that Grasshoppers are still the bigger of the two. From an outsider perspective it does seem like the two Zurich clubs as well as Basel and YB are all of a roughly similar size as the top Swiss clubs.

Was just about to update this thread when I saw this was the last comment. Very convenient.

Zurich drew with rivals Grasshoppers yesterday as they close in on their first title since 2009. Basel are 13 points behind with a game in hand.

In Turkey, Trabzonspor (who haven't won the league since 1984) are top of the table and look likely to win their 7th title. They are currently 12 points ahead of nearest challengers Konyaspor with a game in hand.

And in Belgium, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise - who incredibly have not won the league since 1935 - will officially finish top of the league after winning today with a game left to play. Does Belgium not have some weird play-off to decide the actual champions?

[Nightmare]

19 minutes ago, jamamafegan said:

Was just about to update this thread when I saw this was the last comment. Very convenient.

Zurich drew with rivals Grasshoppers yesterday as they close in on their first title since 2009. Basel are 13 points behind with a game in hand.

In Turkey, Trabzonspor (who haven't won the league since 1984) are top of the table and look likely to win their 7th title. They are currently 12 points ahead of nearest challengers Konyaspor with a game in hand.

And in Belgium, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise - who incredibly have not won the league since 1935 - will officially finish top of the league after winning today with a game left to play. Does Belgium not have some weird play-off to decide the actual champions?

They've still got multiple splits in the league, and so the top 4 will split into the "Championship Group" after next weekend. If the format was a simple 17 home & away games then St. Gilloise would have won the title today, but because of Belgium's perpetual nonsense league structures, they've still got another 7 games to go and Club Brugge have been closing in on them for a while now. Hopefully they can hang on, though.

Switzerland and Turkey will almost definitely be getting fresh champions in Zurich & Trabzonspor, which is good for variety's sake.

Edited April 3, 2022 by Nightmare

[GNU_Linux]

5 minutes ago, jamamafegan said:

Was just about to update this thread when I saw this was the last comment. Very convenient.

Zurich drew with rivals Grasshoppers yesterday as they close in on their first title since 2009. Basel are 13 points behind with a game in hand.

In Turkey, Trabzonspor (who haven't won the league since 1984) are top of the table and look likely to win their 7th title. They are currently 12 points ahead of nearest challengers Konyaspor with a game in hand.

And in Belgium, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise - who incredibly have not won the league since 1935 - will officially finish top of the league after winning today with a game left to play. Does Belgium not have some weird play-off to decide the actual champions?

After 34 games the top 4 in Belgium go into a double round robin with points earned in the regular season being halved. 5th-8th also take part in a playoff using the same format for a Europa Conference spot.

On the subject of Turkey Galtasaray are languishing in 12th 8 points off of the European spots.