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First-Time Title Winners
Gennady 8 years ago
Manchester United 284 3961

Will Leicester City win their first Premier League title this season?
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In the past 20 years, only six clubs have won one of Europe's top leagues for the first time. Can Leicester join them?

The Foxes beat title rivals Manchester City on Saturday to go five points clear at the top of the Premier League with 13 games to play.

Should Claudio Ranieri's team hold on to their advantage until the end of the season, it would be the club's first-ever English top-flight title.

Here are the six other clubs to pull off the same feat in Europe's leading five leagues in the past two decades…

Wolfsburg
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Felix Magath was widely ridiculed during his time at Fulham, which saw him oversee their relegation from the Premier League in 2014 and an 11-game winless run in the Championship which led to his sacking. But, prior to his short stint in England, the German enjoyed a remarkable Bundesliga triumph with Wolfsburg.

In 2008/09, the club had made an unremarkable start to the season but, from the start of February won 14 of their final 16 matches - including a 5-1 thrashing of Bayern Munich - to clinch the title. They only hit top spot in the table with eight matches to go but were there at the end to clinch their maiden German title.

Strikers Grafite (28 goals) and Edin Dzeko (26) - the Bundesliga's two top scorers - were key, while Zvjezdan Misimovic topped the assists chart with 20, ahead of Werder Bremen's Mesut Ozil.

Deportivo La Coruna
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Deportivo upset the odds to win La Liga in 1999/00. In the previous 15 seasons, only Atletico Madrid, in 1995/96, had prevented either Real Madrid or Barcelona winning Spain's top flight. Few would have expected Depor - who finished sixth the previous season - to be the next league winners.

But, with the help of Roy Makaay's 22 goals, Javier Irureta pulled off a shock league win. They were helped by a faltering Real Madrid, who slumped from second the previous year to fifth - sacking John Toshack along the way - and a Barcelona team failing to match their levels which had led to back-to-back La Liga titles.

In fact, Deportivo lost 11 times and still took the crown - with a points total 10 shy of the number Barcelona had racked up the previous year.

Auxerre
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Manager Guy Roux was in charge at Auxerre for over 40 years but 1995/96 will surely go down as his finest. PSG and Monaco may have had the glamour players such as Youri Djorkaeff and Sonny Anderson, but it was Auxerre who pipped them to the title, winning Ligue 1 by four points.

On top of that, Auxerre also clinched the double, winning the Coupe de France, thanks to Laurent Blanc and Lilian Laslandes goals against Nimes in the final.

Lens
Three-time Ligue 1 runners-up, Lens finally got their hands on the championship trophy in 1997/98 - however, it was by the narrowest of margins. Lens finished the season tied on points with Metz but, thanks to a goal difference of +25 versus +20, finished top.

It was a remarkable season for Daniel Leclercq's side, who also finished runners-up in the French Cup to PSG, and made the semi-finals of the League Cup - a tournament they'd win for the second time in their history the following year.

Lyon
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Lyon won Ligue 1 seven seasons in a row up until 2007/08 - but remarkably, their first of that streak in 2001/02 was their first-ever French title.

The team, featuring Marc-Vivien Foe, Sonny Anderson, Juninho Pernambucano and Sidney Govou, and managed by future France boss Jacques Santini, finished two points clear of Lens.

Montpellier
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Montpellier won their first French title in 2011/12, finishing three points clear of PSG - who had been bought by their current Qatari owners at the start of the season.

Fired by the goals of Olivier Giroud (21), and featuring fellow future Premier League players Remi Cabella, Benjamin Stambouli and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Montpellier built their title challenge on two mid-season eight-game unbeaten runs.

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Comments
SunFlash 8 years ago
USA 19 3260

While it is an amazing accomplishment to win a title, especially your first, if Leicester does it this season they will trump all these stories easily. Being in the league for a long time and finally having a breakthrough season is one thing. Narrowly avoiding regulation and coming back to win the league in only your second year since you got out of the Championship is so impossible it will probably NEVER happen again, especially with all the money in the game now.

2
SternDesSuedens 8 years ago
Bayern Munich, Germany 9 317

Even though it was not their first Bundesliga title, I want to share with you the remarkable story of 1. FC Kaiserslautern who won the Bundesliga in 1998 as a newly promoted team.
They won the second division in 1996/97 and went on to win Bundesliga in 1997/98. Their coach was Otto Rehagel, later known as "Rehakles" when he led Greece to their extraordinary EC title in 2004. I don't know if there's any other team in the european top leagues who managed to do that! But I certainly know they are the only club in Germany to do so.

4
quikzyyy 8 years ago Edited
Arsenal 429 9002

@SternDesSuedens Spurs 1951, Ipswich Town 1962

In 1976-77 Nottingham finished 3rd in the 2nd division
In 1977-78 Nottingham won the league & qualified for European Cup (Champions League)
In 1978-79 & 1979-80 Immediately won the European Cup twice in a row

1927-28 Everton won the league
1929-30 Everton got relegated
1930-31 Everton won 2nd division
1931-32 Everton won the league again

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  • History
Showing previous versions of this text.

Spurs 1951, Ipswich Town 1962

In 1976-77 Nottingham finished 3rd in the 2nd division
In 1977-78 Nottingham won the league & qualified for European Cup (Champions League)
In 1978-79 & 1979 & Immediately won the European Cup twice in a row

1927-28 Everton won the league
1929-30 Everton got relegated
1930-31 Everton won 2nd division
1931-32 Everton won the league again

@SternDesSuedens Spurs 1951, Ipswich Town 1962

In 1976-77 Nottingham finished 3rd in the 2nd division
In 1977-78 Nottingham won the league & qualified for European Cup (Champions League)
In 1978-79 & 1979 Immediately won the European Cup twice in a row

1927-28 Everton won the league
1929-30 Everton got relegated
1930-31 Everton won 2nd division
1931-32 Everton won the league again

JozeMourinho 8 years ago
Chelsea, Greece 18 1254

@SternDesSuedens We value so much that manager here in Greece. We used to have a chant ''Crazy he is Crazy he is, The German is Crazy!' He gave us such joy at 2004! Surprises me how he never managed to become a big name and manage much bigger clubs.

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tiki_taka 8 years ago
Barcelona, France 367 9768

Remember the deportivo year, they had a rock solid team with Mauro silva, Valeron, Makaay, Hadji...etc They made some great achievement in Cl too like reaching the semi finals the year Mourinho's Porto won it.

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