If winning the league is difficult, clinching the crown without losing a single match is a feat reserved for exceptionally exceptional teams.
Over the years, a small number of clubs have completed Invincible seasons. Here are some of the clubs that remained unbeaten throughout a league season.
16. Preston North End
Preston North End players, the inaugural victors of England's first division and the original Invincibles, pose for a team shot in 1889.
Preston North End won the first English League Championship in 1888/89, going undefeated.
PNE finished the 22-game season with 18 victories and four draws, 74 goals scored and 15 surrendered, 11 points ahead of second-placed Aston Villa. The original Invincibles.
15. Red Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade players celebrate after winning Serbia's league title in May 2023.
Red Star Belgrade won the Serbian SuperLiga for the third time in a row in 2022/23, and the capital club did so in style with an unbroken run to the title.
Crvena zvezda finished the regular season with 26 wins and four draws, adding four additional triumphs and three ties in the championship round to end with 97 points.
Red Star also won the Serbian Cup without losing, but were defeated in a Champions League play-off by Israeli club Maccabi Haifa and went on to lose four of their six Europa League group matches.
14. Benfica
In 1970, Eusebio posed for a picture at Benfica.
Benfica entered the 1972–73 season as the Portuguese champions for the third consecutive year and achieved their first-ever undefeated league season.
The Lisbon powerhouses drew their final two games and won 28 of them, which is twice as many as Belenenses, who finished in second position.
Eusébio scored 42 goals across all competitions and 40 goals in the league alone. However, the Eagles had less success in the knockout stages, losing to Derby County in the European Cup and Leixões in the Taça de Portugal.
In the 1977–78 season, Benfica too went undefeated in the league, but they were defeated by Porto on goal differential.
13. Peñarol
It wasn't the first Uruguayan team to finish a league season undefeated, including Peñarol. That was Nacional, their rivals in Montevideo in 1917.
Since then, however, the Yellow and Blacks have struck gold seven times: in 1949, 1954, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1975, and 1978. Of those, the latter two featured 22 games, while the first five were 18 games.
12. Beşiktaş
In October 2003, Besiktas supporters support their team during a Champions League match against Sparta Prague.
Beşiktaş defeated Istanbul rivals Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe to win the league in 1991–92, becoming the first Turkish team to do it without dropping a single game.
The Black Eagles won 23 games and drew seven under former England midfielder Gordon Milne, earning them their third consecutive Turkish title.
In 1985–86, Beşiktaş also won the title, defeating Galatasaray on goal difference after their Istanbul rivals had won all 36 games.
11. Steaua Bucharest
Romania's most successful team is Steaua Bucharest, and the Red and Blues were very good in the late 1980s, winning the European Cup in 1986 and making it to the final once more in 1989.
Steaua won five straight Romanian league titles from 1984 to 1989. The capital club won the Romanian Cup in each of the last three seasons, 1986–87, 1987–88, and 1988–89, and all three were accomplished without a defeat in a single match.
10. Real Madrid
Midway through the 1930s, the legendary goalie Ricardo Zamora of Barcelona and Real Madrid was in play.
Real Madrid returned to being known as Madrid Football Club when the Second Spanish Republic was established in April 1931, losing both the "Real" Real" title and the royal crown from their crest.
However, 1931–1932 was a memorable season for Los Blancos. The capital club won their first-ever La Liga title with the famous Ricardo Zamora in goal. They finished undefeated in an 18-game season that included 10 victories and 8 draws, including a 2-2 draw with bitter rivals Barcelona at Les Corts on the last day.
In addition to winning the Campeonato Regional Centro with only one loss, Madrid lost to Deportivo La Coruña in two legs at the Copa del Presidente de la República round of 16.
9. PAOK Thessaloniki
Athens clubs have historically dominated Greek football, but northern team PAOK Thessaloniki upended the status quo in 2018–19 by winning both the league and the cup.
With 26 wins and four draws in an undefeated season with just 14 goals conceded, PAOK defeated Olympiacos to win the title.
They also won the Greek Cup after defeating AEK Athens 1-0 in the final. In the knockout stage, PAOK defeated Panachaiki in the first leg in the quarterfinals and Panionios in the last 16.
However, their Champions League play-off loss to Benfica and their five straight Europa League group stage losses—two against Chelsea and MOL Vidi and one against BATE Borisov—made their European season more challenging.
8. Dynamo Kyiv
Players from Dynamo Kyiv celebrate a goal in March 2015 against Everton in the Europa League.
Dynamo Kyiv, under the management of former striker Serhiy Rebrov, won a domestic double in 2014–15 without dropping a game.
After 20 victories and six draws from their 26 games, Dynamo finished 10 points ahead of Shakhtar Donetsk to win the Ukrainian Premier League.
In addition, the Blue and Whites won the Ukrainian Cup final by defeating Shakhtar on penalties. However, Rebrov's team lost four European games before losing to Fiorentina in the Europa League last eight.
7. Celtic
In May 2017, Celtic players celebrate holding the title for the Scottish Premiership.
In a Champions League qualifying match, Celtic's inaugural season started with a 1-0 loss to Gibraltar's Lincoln Red Imps.
However, the Northern Irishman guided the Hoops to the Scottish Premiership title with 34 victories and four draws without dropping a match.
The Bhoys lost twice to Barcelona and once to Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Champions League, coming last in Group C.
However, Celtic also won the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup to complete a domestic treble without losing.
6. AC Milan
At the conclusion of the 1992–93 season, AC Milan players parade the club's flag in celebration of winning the Serie A championship.
Early in the 1990s, AC Milan had a powerful team, and between 1992 and 1994, the Rossoneri won three consecutive Serie A championships.
The first one followed an undefeated season in which Fabio Capello's team won the Scudetto with 22 victories and 12 draws.
After refusing to continue their 1990–91 European Cup quarterfinal encounter away to Olympique Marseille, Milan, who had finished second the season before, were barred from playing in European competition.
A 1-0 loss against Juventus in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final, after a 0-0 draw at San Siro, was the team's lone loss during the 1991–92 season.
5. Juventus
In May 2012, Juventus players celebrate with the Serie A trophy following a match against Atalanta.
Juventus won the first of nine consecutive Scudetto titles in 2011–12, as the Bianconeri did not lose a single game, despite finishing seventh in Serie A the year before.
Antonio Conte's team finished four points ahead of AC Milan in the championship after winning 23 and drawing 15 of their 38 games.
Due to their dismal 2010–11 season, Juventus was unable to compete in Europe. They also advanced to the Coppa Italia final, where they lost to Napoli 2-0 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
4. Porto
Players from Porto celebrate defeating Braga in the May 2011 Europa League final.
Under André Villas Boas, Porto had an extraordinary 2010–11 season, winning four of the four titles.
After beating Vitória de Guimarães to win the SuperTaça in August, the Dragons easily won the Primeira Liga title with 27 victories and three draws.
They also defeated Vitória de Guimarães to win the Taça de Portugal. Villas Boas' team won both games and defeated Braga in the final to end an incredible season.
Porto's only two losses of the season came in the Europa League, against Sevilla and Villarreal, However, neither mattered because Villas Boas' team won both games and defeated Braga in the championship game to end an incredible season.
Two seasons later, Vitor Pereira's team finished with 24 wins and 6 draws, one point ahead of Benfica, and Porto went undefeated in the league once more.
3. Arsenal
The players from Arsenal celebrate their unbeatable 2003–04 season with the Premier League title.
After 26 victories and 12 draws, Arsenal finished 11 points ahead of Chelsea in second place to win the Premier League title in 2003–04.
Under Arsène Wenger's leadership, that squad earned the nickname "The Invincibles" and a special gold trophy for finishing the Premier League season undefeated.
However, the Gunners did drop six games in other competitions, including the FA Cup matchup with Manchester United, the Champions League semifinals against Dynamo Kyiv, Inter, and Chelsea, and the League Cup semi-finals against Middlesbrough at home and away.
2. Bayer Leverkusen
In a spectacular 2023–2024 season, Bayer Leverkusen, a German team, won the Bundesliga for the first time.
With 28 victories and six draws, Xabi Alonso's team broke 11 years of Bayern Munich domination by winning the Bundesliga. The Black and Reds won the championship without a lost in a single match.
Leverkusen lost 3-0 to Atalanta in the Europa League final in Dublin, their only loss in 53 competitive games, but they also won the DFB-Pokal with six straight wins and came within one game of losing nothing.
1. Ajax
Players from Ajax celebrate defeating AC Milan in the Champions League final in May 1995.
In 1994–95, Ajax scored 106 goals and gave up 38 goals in 34 Eredivisie games, winning 27 of them and drawing the remaining seven.
Along with defeating AC Milan in the final and crushing Feyenoord 3-0 in the Dutch Supercup, Louis van Gaal's team also won the Champions League without a defeat.
The Amsterdam team actually only suffered one loss this season, falling to Feyenoord 2-1 in the Dutch Cup quarterfinals, and that loss even occurred in extra time.
blogpay
