Clubs with the most consecutive years of top flight football

By: Bob | March 28th, 2007

Spain’s La Liga is interesting this season for a couple of reasons. At the top of the table there is a heavyweight battle between Barcelona, Sevilla, Real Madrid and Valencia. At the bottom of the table, Athletic Bilbao are in danger of being relegated from the top division for the first time. After reading this I started to think about which teams have been in their nation’s top flight the most consecutive years. Here’s what I discovered.

England
Arsenal hold the record for most consecutive years in the top flight having never been relegated since 1919. Everton, however, is the team that has played the most number of years in the top division.

France
Nantes are the only team to play in Ligue 1 every year since it was founded in 1963. Don’t look know but they are in trouble too. They are in third to last place and if the season ended today they would be relegated too.

Germany
The Bundesliga was formed in 1963 and only one team has played all that time in Germany’s top league. That distinction goes to Hamburg SV.

Italy
Now that Juventus is serving its punishment in Serie B, there is only one team that has never been relegated in Italy. That team is Inter Milan who have played in the top flight for 99 consecutive years.

Spain
In addition to Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona and Real Madrid have both been in the top flight since its creation in the mid-1920s.

Do you know of any other clubs that have never been relegated or that hold their country’s record for most consecutive years in the top flight?

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Category: World Football

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mlsfan

Hey Sean, you forgot about the Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny, they were never relagated, they just ceased to be real teams.
Sean

In the US the NE Revolution, NY franchise, DC United, Columbus Crew, KC Wizards, Colorado Rapids, Dallas franchise, LA Galaxy, and SJ/Houston franchise all have avoided relegation since 1996 when the league was founded.

Impressive!
combat chuck

In Argentina, Boca Juniors, River Plate, and Independiente have never been relegated from Primera Division. All three have been in existence for a little over 100 years.
Tom

Do Arsenal really count, when they cheated their way up to the top flight in the first place?
Nick

Leeds United have never been as low as the third level of the English game - but it doesn't look good for them avoiding League One aka Division Three.
Ian

There have been a lot of different top flights in the history of Scottish football, but since the founding of the Scottish League in 1890, both Celtic and Rangers have been in it. As far as I can tell, they are the only sides never to have been relegated. Rangers also happen to be the most honored side in football, with 107 trophies of various sorts in their 134 years of existence.