Below, clubs are listed which were never relegated from their national first division after first

gaining admittance to it. The appearance of some "big" teams, especially in "small" countries,
will not be surprising; but the list was really meant to honour small teams that "won't be moved";
of course, they tend to disappear from the list if one waits long enough: the once embodiment of
"Unabsteigbarkeit", VfL Bochum, is now securely in the camp of the Fahrstuhlmannschaften and
even Coventry City suffered relegation, leaving us with only "DOS kan niets - zelfs niet
degraderen" - but they're now known as FC Utrecht.
Founder members are indicated by having the year of debut in bold.

Albania
1929: SK Tiran (17 Nntori)
1950: Dinamo Tiran (Olimpik)
1994: Shkumbini (Peqin)

Argentina
1909: River Plate
1912: Independiente
1913: Boca Juniors
NB: only counting the professional league (since 1931), River Plate,
Independiente
and Boca Juniors are all unrelegated founder members.

Austria
1911:
1911:
2002:
2003:

Austria Wien (Amateure)

SK Rapid Wien
SV Pasching (moved to Klagenfurt and play as Austria Krnten)
SV Mattersburg

Belgium
1989: Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen (Germinal Ekeren)
1997: VC Westerlo
2005: KSV Roeselare

Brazil
1987:
1987:
1987:
1987:
1987:

Cruzeiro
Flamengo
Internacional
Santos
So Paulo

Bulgaria

1937: Levski Sofia (Levski-Spartak, Vitosha)

1948: CSKA Sofia (CDNA, Sredets)

Chile
1933: Colo Colo
1977: Cobreloa
2003: Universidad de Concepcin

Colombia
1948:
1948:
1999:
2004:

Independiente Santa Fe
Millonarios
Pasto
Chic

Croatia
1991:
1991:
1991:
1991:
1991:
1991:
1997:

Dinamo Zagreb
Hajduk Split
NK Osijek
NK Rijeka
NK Zagreb
Varteks Varadin
Slaven Belupo Koprivnica

Cyprus
1934:
1953:
1957:
1969:

APOEL
Omonoia
Apollon
Enosis Neon

NB: APOEL and Omonoia spent one or more seasons in the Greek first division as
champions
of Cyprus.

Denmark
1982: Brndby IF
2002: FC Nordsjlland (Farum BK)
NB: FC Kbenhavn haven't been relegated since they took over B 1903's place in
1992; however both B 1903 and the other feeder club, KB, were relegated
several
times (B 1903 three times and KB five times).
Likewise, FC Midtjylland haven't been relegated since earning promotion in
2000,
but as they took over the place of Ikast fS (who were relegated from the
first
level on three occasions) after they formed a superstructure with Herning
Fremad

(relegated from the first level once themselves), they are also not
listed.
Finally, AC Horsens have not been relegated since their first promotion
2005,
but they are a merger of Horsens fS and FC Horsens; the former were
relegated
twice from the top level.

Ecuador
1957: Barcelona

Egypt
1948: Al-Ahly
1948: Zamalek

England
2005: Wigan Athletic

Finland
2005: IFK Mariehamn
2009: JJK Jyvskyl

France
1974: FC Paris Saint-Germain
1980: AJ Auxerre
2010: AC Arles-Avignon
NB: Paris Saint-Germain played in the first division 1971/72, but were taken
over by
Paris FC before the end of the season. The club had to restart with their
amateur
team, then in the 3rd division, kept the name, the colours and the
president (but
changed grounds), earned promotion to the second division at the end of
1972/73,
and to the first at the end of 1973/74.

Germany (GDR, East Germany)

1984: Stahl Brandenburg
NB: Stahl Brandenburg has suffered relegation since the unification of Germany
1991.

Germany (FRG, (West) Germany)

1963: Hamburger SV

1965:
1979:
1997:
2008:

Bayern Mnchen
Bayer Leverkusen
VfL Wolfsburg
TSG Hoffenheim

Ghana
1958:
1958:
1978:
1986:
1996:
2003:
2009:
2009:

Asante Kotoko
Hearts of Oak
Real Tamale United
Goldfields (now AshantiGold)
King Faisal Babies
Heart of Lions
Aduana Stars
New Edubiase

NB: a first national league was installed in 1956 (including all 1958 founding
members),
but all but two teams (Hearts of Oak and Eleven Wise) withdrew, and no
championship
was played in 1957. In 1970 eight provincial qualifying groups were
formed, with
15 teams qualifying for the final "Upper League". All unrelegated founder
members
(and none of the other unrelegated teams) qualified for it.

Greece
1959:
1959:
1959:
1959:
1989:

AEK
Olympiakos
Panathinakos
PAOK (Thessaloniki)
(Skoda) Xanthi

Honduras
1965:
1965:
1965:
1965:
1965:

Marathn
Motagua
Olimpia
Real Espaa
Vida

Hungary
2006: Paksi SE
NB: Ferencvros had their first level license revoked in July 2006, after
having competed in the top flight since the first ever season in 1901.

Iceland
2010: Selfoss

NB: a national league was installed in Iceland in 1912, but a proper

relegation mechanism
only in 1955. No teams have always been in the league since 1912. Valur,
who were
in the league without interruption since 1923, were relegated in 1999.

Ireland
1921: Bohemians
1951: Saint Patrick's Athletic
NB: for a long time, there was no institutionalised relegation.
Bohemians played in the Irish League (now restricted to Northern Ireland)
before the associations split in 1920, and were relegated in 1911.
Derry City played in the league of Northern Ireland every season from 1929
until 1972 before being forced out in the 1972/73 season due to safety
issues; they entered the league of the Republic of Ireland in 1985 (at
the second level). They were never relegated in either league until
being demoted for financial reasons at the end of the 2009 season,
together with Cork City who had not been relegated since first gaining
access to the top level in 1984.

Israel
1950: Maccabi Tel-Aviv

Italy
1929: Internazionale (Ambrosiana)
2004: Citt di Palermo
NB: Internazionale played all Italian championships since 1908.
Until their forced relegation in 2006, Juventus played all Italian
championships since 1900 (although they were nominally relegated in
1911 and 1913 but remained at the first level in Piemonte anyway;
in addition, they didn't finish the championship in 1908).
Parma were relegated from the northern section of the championship level
in 1926.
Citt di Palermo are a new club founded in 1987 after Palermo were
refused a license for Serie B in 1986.

Ivory Coast
1960: Africa Sports
1960: ASEC (Abidjan)

Japan
1965:
1992:
2000:
2003:

JEF United Ichihara (Furukawa)

Shimizu S-Pulse
FC Tokyo
Oita Trinita

NB: the league structure was completely overhauled with the introduction of
the
professional J-League in 1992, including a host of name changes. Of the
current J-League members, the following suffered relegation under previous
names: Gamba Osaka (Matsushita), Jubilo Iwata (Yamaha), Kashima Antlers
(Sumitomo),
Kashiwa Reysol (Hitachi), Nagoya Grampus Eight (Toyota), Sanfrecce
Hiroshima (Mazda),
Yokohama F. Marinos (Nissan).

Luxembourg
2005: UN Kaerjeng

Macedonia
1992:
1992:
1998:
2005:

Vardar
Sileks
Rabotnicki
Renova

Malta
1946: Hibernians
1946: Valletta
NB: a national league was installed in Malta in 1909, but a proper relegation
mechanism
only in 1945. No teams have always been in the league since 1909.
Hibernians were
in the league without interruption since 1937, Valletta since 1945.

Mexico
1943:
1943:
1950:
1953:
1962:
1964:
1968:
1975:

Amrica
Guadalajara
Necaxa (Atltico Espaol)
Toluca
Pumas (UNAM)
Cruz Azul
Santos (Laguna, Deportivo Neza, Santos)
Tecos (UAG)

Netherlands
1956:
1956:
1956:
1956:

Ajax
Feyenoord (Feijenoord)
PSV
FC Utrecht (DOS)

NB: if we consider the regional first classes since 1898, the only team never
to have

been relegated since gaining promotion to the first level is Feyenoord

(promoted, as
Feijenoord, in 1921).

Northern Ireland
1890: Cliftonville
1890: Glentoran
1890: Linfield
NB: for a long time, there was no institutionalised relegation.
Derry City played in the league of Northern Ireland every season from 1929
until 1972 before being forced out in the 1972/73 reasons due to safety
issues; they entered the league of the Republic of Ireland in 1985 (at the
2nd level). They were never relegated in either league.

Norway
1975: Lillestrm SK

Peru
1928: Universitario Lima
2004: Universidad San Martn de Porres

Poland
1995: Amica Wronki
NB: Pogon Lww were unrelegated until 1939, but after the war
Lww became part of the Soviet Union and the club were not
re-created; Warszawianka also were unrelegated until 1939
but after the war played at lower regional levels until its
football section was dissolved in 1971.
Amica Wronki merged into Lech Poznan 2006.

Portugal
1938:
1938:
1938:
2005:

SL Benfica
FC Porto
Sporting CP
Naval

NB: a national Portuguese league was already installed in 1934/35, but the
championship
was decided through the knock-out cup tournament. In the first seasons,
teams
qualified for the national league through regional leagues rather than a
promotion/relegation system.

Romania
1947: Dinamo Bucuresti

1947: Steaua (Armata, CCA)

1990: Gloria Bistrita
2005: FC Vaslui

Russia
1992:
1992:
1992:
1992:
1992:
1999:
2003:
2004:
2005:
2006:

Spartak Moskva
Lokomotiv Moskva
CSKA Moskva
Dinamo Moskva
Krylya Sovetov Samara
Saturn Moskovskaya Oblast
Rubin Kazan
Amkar Perm
Tom Tomsk
Spartak Nalchik

Scotland
1890: Celtic
1890: Rangers
1905: Aberdeen
NB: Aberdeen did not play in the Scottish league during WW I (1917-1919),
but did not lose membership.

Soviet Union
1936:
1936:
1936:
1937:
1988:
1990:

Dynamo Kiev
Dynamo Moskva
Dynamo Tbilisi
Torpedo Moskva
Pamir Dushanbe
Metalurg Zaporozhe

NB: Dynamo Tbilisi entered the Soviet league in its second season, which,
like the first, was played in 1936. After the 1990 season they left
the league (together with Guria Lanchkhuti, also of Georgia, and Zhalgiris
Vilnius of Lithuania) to play in the newly formed domestic league of
Georgia.
After the 1991 season all successor states of the USSR started their own
leagues; Pamir Dushanbe have had to withdraw from the Tajik championship
since then, and Torpedo Moskva were relegated from the Russian top level
in 2006.

Spain
1928:
1928:
1928:
2004:
2007:

Athletic de Bilbao
FC Barcelona
Real Madrid
Getafe CF
UD Almera

NB: UD Almera (founded 1989) are a different entity from AD Almera, who

played 2 seasons (1979-1981) at the Spanish top level but were dissolved
in 1982.

Sweden
None.

Switzerland
None.
NB: Lausanne-Sports were refused a professional license for the 2002/03
season,
ending their continual presence in the Nationalliga A since its foundation
in 1933.
Servette FC were relegated in 2005 following bankruptcy, ending their
series
of playing all Swiss championships since they were first held in 1900.

Tunisia
1955:
1955:
1955:
1955:
1955:

Club Africain
Stade Tunisien
CS Sfaxien (formerly Club Tunisien)
Etoile Sportive du Sahel (Sousse)
Esprance Sportive de Tunis

NB: ES Sahel did not participate in 1961/62 due to a one-year long

dissolution;
ES Tunis did not participate in 1970/71 due to a one-year long
dissolution.

Turkey
1960:
1960:
1960:
1974:
2005:
2007:
2010:

Besiktas
Fenerbahe
Galatasaray
Trabzonspor
Sivasspor
Istanbul BB
Bucaspor

Uruguay
1900: Pearol
1901: Nacional
1999: Tacuaremb
NB: only counting the professional league (since 1932), Nacional and Pearol
are both unrelegated founder members.
Pearol were expelled from the Uruguayan association (together with
Central) on November 20, 1922, after playing matches against teams from
the Argentine 'Asociacin Amateurs de Football' (a rival organisation to

the 'Asociacin Argentina de Football'); at that time, they had played

16 league matches. In 1923 and 1924 they played in a league organised
by the 'Federacin Uruguaya de Football' before the leagues were united
in 1926 (there was no league competition in 1925); they were therefore
active at the top level in every season since 1900.

Yugoslavia
1932:
1946:
1946:
1946:
1987:

Hajduk Split
Crvena zvezda Beograd
Dynamo Zagreb
Partizan Beograd
Rad Beograd

NB: Hajduk were the only club to reach the final stages (i.e. quarterfinals or
final group stage) of the national championship in every season from its
start in 1923. There were final playoffs from 1927 until 1930/31 in
league
format; qualifying for this was based on regional competitions. In
1932/33
a national league with promotion and relegation was introduced, but there
was no championship in 1933/34 and one decided by a knock-out tournament
in
1935/36.
In 1991 and 1992 leagues in the five successor states were formed; Hajduk
and
Dinamo are now in the Croatian League, Crvena zvezda, Partizan and Rad in
that
of Yugoslavia, where Rad have suffered relegation since the split.

About this document

With thanks to Lars Alexandersson, Estebn vila, Thierry Berthou, Diego Cervini, Mike
Dryomin, Sren Elbech, Eoin Hurley, Vidar Jortveit, Spyros Karasoulous, Igor Kramarsic, Goran
Mancevski, Brunislav Matasovic, Gwidon Naskrent, Frdric Pauron, Heikki Pietarinen, Ricardo
Pontes, James Ross, Tarek Said, Martn Tabeira and Andreas Werner for additions and
corrections.
Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Karel Stokkermans
Last updated: 21 May 2010
(C) Copyright Karel Stokkermans and RSSSF 1996/2010
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper acknowledgement is
given to the author. All rights reserved.