Everyone witnessed an incredible achievement when Leicester City won the English Premier League after coming to the top division just the season prior to that. There have been many instances where teams have shown drastic improvements in a span of short time and vice versa. But there are also certain cases where teams have tasted success and swallowed bitter pills of failure simultaneously.
Let us have a look at 5 teams who won major trophies and got relegated from the top-flight domestic league in the same season:
1) Wigan Athletic (2012-13)
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The football club from greater Manchester played its first match, on 27 August 1932 and Wigan Athletic played its first ever league game against Port Vale Reserves. The Latics made their first Premier League appearance in 2005 against Chelsea, losing the match by a goal from Hernan Crespo, despite putting up a great showing.
In 2013, their 81-year wait for a major trophy ended when they Manchester City by a stoppage time goal from Ben Watson which was witnessed by over 86,000 people at Wembley Stadium. Even though they qualified for the Europa League Group stages, they failed to show their domination in the Premier League. Wigan was destined to play the Football League Championship the following season.
After their exit from the top-flight, they are still struggling to find a way to revive their lost glory. Wigan Athletic Club was even relegated from the Football League Championship in the 2014-15 season to the third tier. But they made a strong comeback, winning League One and was promoted to the Championship for the 2016-17 season.
2) Norwich City (1984-85)
Norwich City has had ups and downs in its 114-year-old history at The Nest and Carrow Road. Their fan song “On the ball, City” is considered as the oldest football song in the world which is still in use. The Canaries also have a fierce rivalry with East Anglian club Ipswich Town.
Having already won the League Cup for the first time in 1962, they clinched their second title after defeating Sunderland in the final by a solitary goal at the iconic Wembley Stadium during the 1984-85 season. But the canaries didn’t live up to expectations in the English Football League winning only 5 of the 42 matches they played and were eventually shown the door from the top flight.
Norwich City will be playing the Football League Championship the forthcoming season after being relegated from the English Premier League where they finished in the 19th spot above bottom-placed Aston Villa and will be hopeful of a swift return to the top flight.
3) Palmeiras (2012)
Palmeiras is a Sao Paulo-based century-old football club with a rich history since it started operating back in 1914. Having won the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A on 8 occasions, the “Alviverde” is one of the most successful clubs in Brazil. The most memorable achievement of the club was when they won the Copa Libertadores in 1999 under the charge of World Cup-winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.
But there are times when big clubs tend to lose their momentum, Palmeiras was no such exception. During the 2012 season, they defeated Coritiba in the final of the Copa Do Brasil but the green and white brigade were relegated from the Brazilian top tier after gaining only 34 points in the 38 matches they played in the league.
4) FC Kaiserslautern (1995-96)
FC Kaiserslautern became the runners-up in the first German League after World War II but were crowned champions three years later in 1951. The German club has put up memorable performances in recent times too; reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League in the 1998/99 season was their first major achievement in the global arena.
In 1996, Marin Wagner’s 42nd-minute goal in the final of the DFB Pokal at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin against Karlsruher SC was enough to secure their second German Cup title. Having finished 4th in the 1994-95 season of the Bundesliga, they were expected to perform consistently. But things don’t always happen the way you imagine, FC Kaiserslautern fell two points short of the relegation cut-off and eventually had to play in the second tier.
5) Birmingham City (2010-11)
Founded in 1875, Birmingham City turned professional in 1885, and three years later they became the first football club to become a limited company along with a board of directors. Gil Merrick was the first Birmingham manager to win a major trophy, the League Cup in 1963 while Leslie Knighton took the club to the final of the FA Cup in 1931.
In 2011, they scripted one of the most memorable moments in their history when had the better of the London-based club Arsenal in the final of the League Cup at Wembley in front of over 88,000 supporters. It is rightly said that a team can only prosper in a league if it plays consistently, but things did not work out for them. Birmingham City could not survive the fierce competition in the League and were relegated to the English Football Championship.
It has been 5 years since the relegation and Birmingham City are still trying to make a cut into the Premier League.
