Decade of Winners

Looking at the list of champions from the major European Football leagues over the past decade paints a pretty uninteresting picture.

The seven biggest European football leagues have produced an average of just 3.14 different champions per league over the past 10 years. The German Bundesliga has been the most stagnant of all the leagues, with Bayern Munich dominating the silverware for 9 of the past 10 seasons.

European Football Leagues

The mighty Bayern Munich did, however, lose their crown during the 2023/24 season, when an unbeaten season by Bayer Leverkusen propelled them to their first Bundesliga win. It's likely the 2023/24 season was a mere blip in Bayern Munich's dominance, but we live in hope that the Bundesliga can become more competitive in the next decade.

The English Premier League has a much stronger competition with four winners in the past decade, with even an unexpected champion in Leicester City (a team not considered part of the 'Big Six'). There is, however, always the looming threat that Manchester City will go on a period of utter domination and make the EPL the next Bundesliga, albeit Liverpool have managed to break up their streak twice.

Over in Italy, Serie A has taken a turn for the better in recent years as Juventus's dominance has been replaced by 3 new champions (AC Milan, Inter Milan and Napoli) in the past 4 years.

In Spain, the title is regularly passed between Real Madrid and Barcelona with occasional appearances by Athletico Madrid.

France's 'Ligue 1' has been dominated by PSG in the past decade, and they have taken 8 of the last 10 titles, due to their financial backing by the Qatari State. The 1-sided nature of the French top flight looks to continue with a huge gulf appearing between PSG and the rest.

North American Sports Leagues

Over on the other side of the Atlantic, the picture in American sports leagues could not be more different. It is rare for a team to have back-to-back championships, let alone 3 or more in succession. Even in the NBA where it is 'easier' to build a dynasty around star players the Golden State Warriors have only claimed 3 titles in the past decade, with just two of those coming in consecutive years.

I imagine the average American would wonder why European Football is so popular, given that you can predict the eventual winner with fairly short odds.