RELEGATION ruins clubs on and off the pitch. Supporters lose the identity of their club, staff lose their jobs and owners lose millions. The rebuild doesn’t happen overnight and some teams spiral even further. With Tottenham’s Premier League status at risk, I thought it would be a good idea to have a look at the greatest teams to go down in football history
The criteria when establishing these teams include:
- Size of the club (trophies won, fanbase size)
- How relegation impacted the club (financially, quality of player leaving)
- Media focus
Juventus
A match fixing scandal that rocked Italian football. It was uncovered that club officials had been fixing matches by manipulating referees to favour them. The scandal saw Juventus relegated to Serie B, starting the following season on minus 9 points. They lost key players in Fabio Cannavaro, Patrick Vieira and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Despite their points deduction, the Old Lady returned to Italian footballs top tier at the first time of asking, losing just four games all season thanks to stars who remained with Juve like Alessandro Del Piero, Gianluigi Buffon and Giorgio Cheillini.
In recent years, the Old Lady have proved they are back, winning 9 consecutive Scudetto’s between 2011 and 2020, while reaching multiple European semi-finals and finals.
Rangers
The side that has won the joint most Scottish League titles suffered relegation in 2012 following administration. They owned substantial amounts of money to HMRC and liquidation was even a possibility at one stage. The debts owed totalled up to £134 million.
They were placed in the third tier for the 2013/14 season and would win promotion that season but wouldn’t return to the top flight of Scottish football until 2016. Rangers would have to wait until 2021 to win their next Premiership title.
Deportivo La Coruna
La Liga winners in 2000, oh how the mighty have fallen. This is another case of an owner gambling with a clubs future and it not paying off. A relegation in 2011 would see the club spiral. Despite returning to La Liga at the first time of asking in 2012, financial issues would worsen. Debts rose to £164 million and administration was pending and the club could only survive if club president Lendorio would resign. Lendorio resigned on Christmas eve of 2013 but the club were relegated again that year.
The club would bounce back at the first time of asking again and would remain in La Liga for four seasons but two relegations in three years saw the club drop to the third tier in 2020.
In the current day the club sit in the second tier dreaming of those special European nights they had at the Riazor Stadium.
River Plate
Arguably one of the biggest names in South American football, the club were relegated in 2011 and had won more titles than anyone in the country. After 110 consecutive seasons in Argentina’s top flight, a relegation play-off defeat to Belgrano sparked chaos on and off the pitch.
Riots followed as players from both sets of sides forced to leave the pitch as police had to use high horses with the game forced to be abandoned.
Despite the off field issues, the club returned to the first division of Argentinian football the following season and seen as a baptism of fire for the club. Since the relegation, River Plate have added a further 16 major titles to their cabinet,
Leeds
Another case of financial mismanagement. Leeds were one of the founding members of the Premier League and recorded regular top 6 finishes during the 90’s and early noughties. They even reached a Champions League semi-final in 2001. Their level of spending exceeded other clubs with debts peaking at £119 million.
Failure to qualify for the Champions League in 2003 meant the club had to balance to books by selling players. They were relegated to the Championship for the first time in 2004 but the chaos would worsen further.
Leeds would voluntarily enter administration the following season and a ten point deduction would contribute to the club falling into the third tier for the first time in their history. They would return to the championship in 2010 and remain there until 2020 when Marcelo Bielsa ended their 16 year exile from the top flight.
Leicester
The club that won the Premier League just 8 years before the relegation and FA Cup two years before but anything can happen in football. It was a side that boasted Jamie Vardy, James Maddison and Youri Tielemans but they couldn’t prevent the drop. It made them just the second side after Blackburn to have won the Premier League and been relegated.
The relegation would have detrimental impacts financially on the club, something that is now coming back to bite them. This season, they have been given a 6 point deduction and they currently sit in the relegation zone of the second tier as relegation to England’s third tier a possibility for the first time since 2009.
Schalke
The Gelsenkirchen outfit are seven time Bundesliga champions, five time DFB Pokal champions and Champions League semi-finalists. Their decline was one no one saw coming. During the 2020/21 season they broke all sorts of unwanted records- one of them being the holders of the longest winless run away from home which stretched to 38 games.
They finished the season with a measly 16 points and just three wins across the 34 league games. They would spend one season at 2.Bundesliga level, winning the title in 2022 but would return straight away, finishing 17th In 2023. This is the level they currently play at, with their former success seemingly a long way away.
Bordeaux
A relegation that would send shockwaves through French football and one of the saddest on this list. The winners of 6 French titles, the 2021/22 season would be one to forget. 6 wins, 31 points and 20th in Ligue one saw a drop to French football for the first time since the 90’s.
They finished 3rd in the 2022/23 season but would fail to gain promotion via the play-offs with matters due to complicate further. The following season, they were placed into administrative relegation and staring semi-professional football in the face.
In July 2024, they gave up their professional status, closing their training facility and due to bankruptcy in August of that year, forced to play in French football’s fourth tier.
