Italian Serie A teams that have never been relegated in history

Italian Serie A teams that have never been relegated in history

Helix Odhiambo
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:13 PM

You may wonder what Serie A team has never been relegated in history. Serie A is one of the most competitive leagues globally, featuring some top teams and talented players. The league has existed for over 90 years and hosted several clubs. So, which Serie A teams have never been relegated? Stick around to find out.

Which teams in the Serie A have never been relegated?
Serie A hosts some of European's most powerful clubs, but not all have played in the top flight since it was formed. Photo: Massimiliano Ferraro, Emilio Andreoli
Source: Getty Images

The Italian top flight has 20 teams. At the end of every season, three teams get relegated, creating room for the other three which earn promotion. Relegated teams go to Serie B, where the promoted ones come from. However, since the league began, not all teams have been relegated.

Which Serie A teams have never been relegated?

Italy is home to top European clubs like Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Napoli and Roma, but which teams in Serie A have never been relegated?

Inter Milan

Which Serie A teams have never been relegated?
Inter Milan players celebrate winning the Coppa Italia after beating Juventus in the final at Stadio Olimpico on 11th May, 2022. Photo: Alessio Morgese
Source: Getty Images

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Interestingly, only one team in Italy has never been demoted to Serie B. Inter Milan has been in Serie A since 1909; however, they are not the oldest club in the league. AC Milan and Juventus joined the top-tier Italian league in 1900.

What happened to other top clubs?

Juventus would have been among the teams that have never been relegated from Serie A, but they got demoted in 2006. The Old Lady dropped to Serie B following a Calciopoli scandal that revealed relations between team managers and referee organizations.

In the 1950-52 season, Roma suffered their first and only demotion from Serie A, while AC Milan dropped to Serie B twice in the 1980s; firstly, their involvement in the Totonero match-fixing scandal and later for their poor performance.

Which is the biggest club in Italy?

Juventus is the most popular and successful football club in Italy. The club has won 71 trophies in history (as of October 2022) and continues attracting top talents. It also ranks among the best clubs in Europe and the globally.

Team

Serie A titles

Total trophies

Juventus

36

71

AC Milan

19

49

Inter Milan

19

42

Roma

3

16

Lazio

2

16

Torino

7

12

Napoli

2

11

Genoa

9

10

Bologna

7

10

Fiorentina

2

10

Teams that have never been relegated in Europe

Besides Inter Milan, a few top European clubs have never been relegated from the top-tier league they compete in. Below is a breakdown of the fortunate clubs from the Premier League to La Liga and Bundesliga.

English Premier League

Relegated teams
Casemiro of Man United heads clear from a free kick taken by Granit Xhaka of Arsenal during their EPL match at Old Trafford on 4th September 2022. Photo: Robbie Jay Barratt
Source: Getty Images

Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Everton are the only clubs that have never been relegated from EPL. However, they had fallen from the top-tier league they were playing in before the Premier League emerged.

Top clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City have played second-tier football at least once in their history.

La Liga

Teams that have never been relegated from La Liga
Real Madrid and Barcelona fans do their coordinated wave during their pre-season friendly match at Allegiant Stadium on 23rd July 2022, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Omar Vega.
Source: Getty Images

The Spanish top-flight league features some of the top clubs in Europe. It is one of the most celebrated football leagues globally. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Bilbao are the only teams in the league that never dropped to the Segunda División, the second-tier division of La Liga. The three clubs have consistently played top-flight football even before the formation of La Liga.

Bundesliga

Which is the biggest club in Germany?
Bayern Munich players celebrate during their Bundesliga match against Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park on 8th October 2022, in Dortmund, Geany. Photo: Christina Pahnke
Source: Getty Images

Bayer Leverkusen, Vfl Wolfburg and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim join Bayern Munich as the only German clubs that have never played in the second-tier league. However, only TSG 1899 Hoffenheim maintained top-flight football before the formation of the Bundesliga.

Bayern, the most successful German team, were relegated once from Oberliga 1 in 1955. Oberliga 1 was the top-tier league in the German football League system before the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963.

France (League 1)

No French club has survived in the top flight since the league was formed. Top clubs like Lyon, Marseille, and PSG have dropped to second-tier football.

The Netherlands (The Eredivisie)

What serie a team has never been relegated?
PSV Eindhoven scores against Feyenoord during their Dutch Eredivisie match at Philips Stadion on 18th September 2022, in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Photo: Michael Bulder
Source: Getty Images

Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord, and FC Utrecht are the only Dutch teams that have never been demoted from the Eredivisie. All these teams have been in the league since it was formed in 1956, except for FC Utrecht. Ajax has, however, experienced relegation once in their history, in 1914, before the formation of the Eredivisie.

Portugal (Primeira Liga)

Benfica, FC Porto, and Sporting CP have been in the Portuguese professional league since its formation in 1934. They are also the most successful clubs in the country, having won the most trophies in history.

Scotland (The Scottish Premiership)

In Scotland, Celtic FC, Aberdeen FC, Motherwell FC, and Kilmarnock FC have never played outside the Scottish Premiership. However, only Celtic has never been relegated from the top-tier leagues it has played in before the formation of the current league.

Russia (Russian Premier League)

Spartak Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow, CSKA Moscow and FC Rubin Kazan have never been demoted from the Russian Premier League since its foundation in 1992. However, they have been relegated at least once from their previous leagues before joining the current league. Likewise, Zenit St. Petersburg has played second-tier football at least once.

Other teams that have maintained top-flight football since inception include Dinamo Zagreb from Croatia, Sparta Prague and Slavia Prague from the Czech Republic. Greek giants Olympiacos, Dinamo Bucuresti from Romania, Red Star Belgrade from Serbia, and FC Dynamo Kyiv from Ukraine have also never been relegated.

You probably thought of two or more Serie A teams that have never been relegated. However, only Inter Milan has always played in the top flight since it was formed. The team has invested a lot in quality players and is unlikely to drop to Serie B in the foreseeable future.

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Authors
Helix Odhiambo photo
Helix Odhiambo
Helix Odhiambo is an award-winning Kenyan journalist and content creator with over 6 years of experience. In 2016, he won the Goal Blaze Correspondent Award for young writers.