Longest Title Droughts in Soccer History
Updated September 23, 2026
Updated September 23, 2026
Arsenal's 2026 Premier League title ended a 22-year wait for glory. At Newcastle United, that would barely cover a quarter of the frustration. The Magpies last became champions of England in 1927, while Genoa's most recent Italian championship dates back to 1924.
Some of the longest title droughts in soccer belong to clubs with enormous followings, European trophies and championship-winning teams woven into their identity. Success in other competitions has kept the celebrations coming for some, but the league title remains missing.
Here are the standout waits across England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France, from Newcastle's approaching century to Tottenham's unfinished business and the former champions trying to reclaim their place at the top.
Updated September 22, 2026. This is a selected comparison of prominent and historically successful men's clubs, not an exhaustive ranking of every former champion. Titles include the top-flight championships that preceded today's league formats. Clubs remain eligible if they have spent time outside the top division.
Club | Country | Last league title | Years since title |
|---|---|---|---|
Genoa | Italy | 1923/24 | 102 |
Newcastle United | England | 1926/27 | 99 |
Real Betis | Spain | 1934/35 | 91 |
Sevilla | Spain | 1945/46 | 80 |
Schalke 04 | Germany | 1958 | 68 |
Tottenham Hotspur | England | 1960/61 | 65 |
Bologna | Italy | 1963/64 | 62 |
Fiorentina | Italy | 1968/69 | 57 |
Borussia Mönchengladbach | Germany | 1976/77 | 49 |
Nottingham Forest | England | 1977/78 | 48 |
Aston Villa | England | 1980/81 | 45 |
Saint-Étienne | France | 1980/81 | 45 |
Hamburg | Germany | 1982/83 | 43 |
Athletic Club | Spain | 1983/84 | 42 |
Everton | England | 1986/87 | 39 |
Years are calculated from the championship year to 2026. They measure elapsed time, not consecutive unsuccessful top-flight seasons; relegations and interruptions to competition are included. Domestic cups, European trophies, super cups and lower-division titles do not reset the count.
Newcastle's last league championship came in 1926/27, their fourth English title. The most painful opportunity to end the wait arrived in 1995/96, when Kevin Keegan's Entertainers established a 12-point lead before Manchester United overtook them.
The club's account of that era captures why the season still matters: Newcastle had built a team capable of winning the championship, only to finish second. Their 2025 League Cup victory brought a different drought to an end, but the league clock kept running. A title in 2027 would arrive exactly 100 championship years after their previous one.
Tottenham's last league title was part of Bill Nicholson's 1960/61 league and FA Cup double. Their 2025 Europa League triumph ended a 17-year wait for silverware, but it did nothing to shorten the much longer wait to become champions of England.
Mauricio Pochettino's 2016/17 team provides the clearest modern measure of how close Spurs came. They collected 86 points and lost only four league matches, yet still finished behind Chelsea. Tottenham's official season history records that campaign as their best Premier League finish.
Everton's nine English championships make their absence from the title race particularly striking. The last arrived in 1986/87, their second in three seasons under Howard Kendall. As Opta's historical review notes, only Liverpool had won more English league titles when Everton secured that ninth crown.
Aston Villa last won the league in 1980/81, then became European champions the following season. Nottingham Forest's only top-flight championship came in 1977/78, before their consecutive European Cups. Their histories illustrate how a golden period can remain central to a club's identity long after its league dominance disappears.
Manchester United's wait is shorter but carries its own weight: 13 years since 2012/13, the final season of Alex Ferguson's reign. For supporters raised on repeated championships, that drought represents a fundamental change in expectations.
Real Betis lead the Spanish clubs in this selection, having won their only league championship in 1934/35. Patrick O'Connell's team sealed it with a 5-0 victory at Racing Santander, a result still celebrated in Betis' official history.
Their city rivals Sevilla last won La Liga in 1945/46, securing the title with a 1-1 draw at Barcelona. Yet describing Sevilla as a club starved of success would be absurd: they won seven UEFA Cup/Europa League titles between 2006 and 2023. Few clubs offer a clearer distinction between a league-title drought and a trophy drought.
Athletic Club's last league championship came in 1983/84, completing consecutive titles. Their 2024 Copa del Rey victory ended a 40-year wait to win that competition, while the league drought continued. Valencia also belong in the discussion: their most recent championship was 2003/04, leaving a 22-year wait after the Rafael Benítez era.
Genoa are the historical heavyweight of this selection. They have nine Italian championships, with the most recent secured on September 7, 1924. The club's centenary remembrance recalls the decisive draw away to Savoia.
Those titles predate the modern single-division Serie A format, but they count as Italian national championships. Genoa's place here rests on their importance to Italian soccer history, rather than their status as a present-day title contender.
Bologna's seventh and most recent championship arrived in 1963/64, settled by a 2-0 playoff victory over Inter in Rome. The club's account of the final describes a city following the match on radios before pouring into the streets.
Their 2025 Coppa Italia win added a new celebration, but the distinction matters: Bologna ended their wait for that cup, while their wait for another Scudetto continued.
Fiorentina last won Serie A in 1968/69, their second championship after 1955/56. That leaves the title-winning side increasingly distant even for older supporters, while later generations have inherited the story rather than experienced anything comparable.
Roma's drought is more recent but still substantial. Their 2000/01 Scudetto, won by Fabio Capello's team featuring Francesco Totti and Gabriel Batistuta, is now 25 years old. The club marked that anniversary in its numerical retrospective of the championship.
Schalke's last German championship came in 1958, before the Bundesliga began in 1963. Their seven national titles therefore should not be confused with Bundesliga titles, a competition they have never won.
The defining near miss came in 2001. Schalke finished their final match believing the title was theirs, only for Patrik Andersson's stoppage-time equalizer for Bayern Munich at Hamburg to overturn the celebrations. The Bundesliga's account of that extraordinary finish explains why those few minutes still overshadow an entire season.
Borussia Mönchengladbach and Hamburg offer different versions of the same decline. Gladbach's most recent title came in 1976/77, the last of five championships during the 1970s. Hamburg last won in 1982/83. Both helped define earlier eras of German soccer, but their league-title waits have now reached 49 and 43 years.
Saint-Étienne won their 10th French championship in 1980/81, and the decline for a side once considered the dominant force in French football has been stunning. Les Verts now play in Ligue 2, and there is little sign of them rising off the canvas to challenge PSG for the Ligue 1 title any time soon.
Marseille's wait is shorter but more familiar to modern audiences. Their last Ligue 1 championship came in 2009/10, meaning 16 years without the title. For a club whose identity includes winning the 1993 Champions League, the gap between historic stature and domestic results remains a central frustration.
Club | Title-winning years | Gap between titles |
|---|---|---|
Aston Villa | 1910 to 1981 | 71 years |
Manchester City | 1968 to 2012 | 44 years |
Napoli | 1990 to 2023 | 33 years |
Liverpool | 1990 to 2020 | 30 years |
Arsenal | 2004 to 2026 | 22 years |
Villa appear in both tables because their 1981 championship ended one enormous wait and began the next. City's 2012 breakthrough became the start of a sustained period of league success. Arsenal's 2026 championship provides the latest reminder that even a drought stretching across generations can end.
A long wait adds emotional weight to a title challenge, but it does not make a team more likely to win. In fact, it is often detrimental to the team trying to end an unwanted piece of history. Just ask any Liverpool fan about their 2013/14 title challenge. However, the most profound impact of a historic drought is not on the pitch, but in the futures market.
Public sentiment consistently distorts outright pricing. When a historically significant club begins to threaten a long-standing drought, casual money reliably floods sportsbooks. To manage this liability, bookmakers artificially shorten the odds on the "cursed" team, forcing bettors to pay a premium for the narrative rather than the team's true statistical probability.
