Top Five Most Successful Football Clubs in the World

Whether you play beautiful football, ugly park the bus football, you play with an emphasis on youth with shrewd transfer or you go full Galacticos mode and buy your way to glory, winning trophies is the ultimate goal for every club. Eras do come to an end, teams rebuild their squads multiple times, make progress, and at times during that process fall a few steps short of their opponents. 

Whether you trust the process or be completely ruthless, the only purpose of it all is to bag silverware at the end of the season. While there are many famous football teams in the world, not all of them, at least the European giants of today you might be thinking of rank among the top five in terms of the number of significant trophies they have won to date. Let us know who the real winners have been all along, the more you know.

5. Atletico Penarol – 108 trophies

Atletico Penarol, a Uruguayan club, which has 108 trophies to its name in their cabinet after steamrolling through its domestic competition. More importantly, they have never been relegated to the second division since their debut in the league 120 years ago, in 1900. Penarol has won 12 Pre-Liberation League titles, 11 Continental Championships, and three Intercontinental Cups (1961, 1962, 1982).

An interesting snippet of trivia for Indian football fans is that Penarol won the IFA Shield in 1985. They defeated Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 in the tournament's final match. In addition to that, the International Federation of Football History and Statistics had named Atletico Penarol the South American Club of the Century.

4. Club Nacional de Football – 114 trophies

Club Nacinol de Football had most recently won the Primera Division in 2019. They had even won the Supercopa Uruguaya last year and have eight Liguilla, 17 Torneo de Honor, eight Copa Competencia, seven Copa de Honor, and three Liga Major titles to their name, among other accolades in their silverware collection.

The International Federation of Football History and Statistics hailed them as the best Uruguayan team of the first decade of the millennium, indicating that despite being founded 121 years ago, Nacinol has consistently remained at the top of the rankings. They have an electrifying rivalry with Penarol, and the two South American giants look set to continue to dominate the country's football landscape for as long as it is possible for them.

3. Celtic FC – 116 trophies

Celtic FC, the Scottish football giants, have long been a force to be reckoned within their existence as a club in the top-tier league. It has also been rumoured to be considering the idea of joining the English Premier League due to their sheer domination of their domestic competition. They have now won three Scottish Premierships in four consecutive seasons. The club has won 110 titles since its inception in 1888. They are also the two-time defending Scottish League Championship champions, having won the competition 51 times in total.

On top of that, Celtic has had their names engraved in both cups as well as domestic leagues having won the Scottish Cup 39 times and the League Cup 19 times, their most recent one in the 2019-20 season. Celtic became the first British club to win the European Club Championship in 1967, defeating Inter Milan 2-1 in the final. To the surprise of many, the Boys have managed to maintain their consistent knack of winning silverware even in recent years.

2. Rangers – 118 trophies

Rangers FC's trophy collection is arguably unmatched in Europe  unless and until you happen to ask a Celtic fan this question, though on a serious note this is a fact which is based in evidence and backed by statistics. They have 118 silverwares on their shelf and have won the League Title, Scottish Cup, and League Cup in the same season seven times. Most recently, they accomplished this feat in 2002-03.

1. Al Ahly SC – 149 trophies

Al Ahly SC is an Egyptian club that has developed a taste for winning having won countless number of prestigious trophies over the years. Since they were established in 1907, they have gone on to achieve unrivaled success in the Egyptian Premier League and Egypt Cup. They have won 17 Cairo League titles and seven Sultain Hussein Cups. Al Ahly SC also has eight CAF Champions League shields in its cabinet. The El Shayateen El Homr have won the CAF Super Cup six times. They have been a consistently successful and  are becoming increasingly dominant club, particularly in African football.

Al Ahly bagged the bronze medal in the FIFA Club World Cup of 2006 whereas they were the victors in the CAF Confederation Cup in 2014. Overall, their record and honours rightfully places them at the very top of the pile. This gives us a fair idea of why perspective and subjectivity are important and one should not solely go off pure data. Though these clubs deserve every bit of accolade, times have changed and so has the world of football, that too very rapidly. It would not be long before a current global brand manages to break into this elite club.

Cover Credits - Goal.com