Football giants who were relegated and what happened next | OneFootball

Highlights

Part of what makes football (soccer) so great, is the jeopardy that exists, especially when it comes to the leagues that take place across the globe. Yes, there is plenty of excitement at the top of the table in that race for glory, but the real drama often happens at the other end of the division.

Relegation can seem unthinkable for some teams, but anything can happen in the beautiful game and over the years some absolute giants have suffered the drop into a lower league. Take, for instance, Santos in the 2023 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A season.

In the Brazilian first division, Palmeiras tasted victory but the history books will remember this as the year that Santos were relegated for the first time ever, having spent 111 years without suffering that indignity. This is a club responsible for producing legend Pele, modern great Neymar, and many other greats.

Next term, however, they will be playing in the Brasileirão Série B. This has got us thinking here at GIVEMESPORT, what other giants of football have been relegated, and what happened to them next?

Liverpool

Relegated in 1895, 1904 and 1954

Liverpool are undeniably one of the biggest clubs in European football. They second-most successful club in English football in terms of league titles, having won that honour 19 times (one behind Manchester United). They have also won the Champions League six times (the third most in Europe). But things haven't always gone smoothly for the Reds.

In 1895 and 1904 the club were relegated but managed to get promoted the very next season. In 1954, however, they went down and did not come back up for a further eight seasons.

Some good did come of this though as Bill Shankly came in 1959, and would guide the club back into the top-flight after a Second Division triumph in the 1961/62 season. From there, he would lead Liverpool to three First Division titles, two FA Cups, and the UEFA Cup.

Bayern Munich

Relegated in 1955

If you ever take the Bayern Munich museum tour at the Allianz Arena, you will likely be taken aback by the club's remarkable trophy cabinet, which contains a whopping 33 league titles. It's certainly a sight to behold as the life-size replica trophies are all lined up in the same room. And yet, the Bundesliga behemoths have been relegated in their history – although just once.

It came in 1955 when they won just six games of 30 in the Oberliga Süd (the top level of association football in West Germany). They spent just one season down in 2. Oberliga Süd, though, finishing second, which was enough to see them promoted.

This goes to show, that Bayern weren't always the giants they are today and when the Bundesliga was formed in 1963, they didn't actually make the cut based on a 12-year ranking (which took into account their relegation eight years prior). They came up in 1965 with a team featuring talented youngsters like Gerd Müller and Franz Beckenbauer and the rest is history.

Relegated in 1894, 1922, 1931, 1937 and 1974

Despite having won more top-flight trophies (20) than any other English club, Manchester United have actually been relegated on more than just one occasion in their storied history. These demotions came on five occasions in 1894, 1922, 1931, 1937 and 1975 (although they were still known as Newton Heath for the first).

The most recent was in 1973/74. The club had been on the decline ever since Sir Matt Busby stepped down in 1969, and had only just avoided the drop in 1972/73 as they finished 18th. With George Best’s contract cancelled in January 1974, misery was compounded for the Red Devils as they went down that same year, having managed 29 consecutive seasons in the top division of English football. To make things worse, their fate was sealed by former player Denis Law with a backheel for Manchester City in the Manchester Derby.

They would spend only one campaign in the Second Division, earning promotion with an average home attendance of 47,781 (the highest in the country at the time). They bounced back impressively, coming third in the top-flight the very next season, while also reaching (but losing) the FA Cup final. Still, no top-flight trophies would be won until Sir Alex Ferguson later took charge. He would arrive in 1986 and win the Premier League on 13 occasions between 1992/93 and 2012/13.

AC Milan

Of course, not every relegation is related to performance on the pitch, but can instead come by way of punishment after rules have been broken and sporting integrity has been blemished. This was the case for AC Milan in the 1979/80 season as they were relegated for the first time in their history.

They actually came third in Serie A that term, but went down following the Totonero match-fixing scandal. Felice Colombo, then president of AC Milan, suffered a six-year ban (reduced from an initial ban for life) as he worked with players Enrico Albertosi and Giorgio Marini, as well as four Lazio stars, to fix a Serie A match between the clubs on 6 January 1980, which finished 2-1 to Milan.

They managed to get promoted from Serie B the next season, winning the league, but more misery was to follow. Indeed, in their 1981/82 campaign, the Rossoneri won their final game, invaded the pitch in celebration, but still went down after Genoa drew late on with Napoli thanks to a comical mistake from goal­keeper Luciano Castellini. Perhaps that was just karma.

Despite all the wealth of Paris Saint-Germain, Marseille remain the only French side to have won the Champions League. Add to that their nine Ligue 1 title wins, and their famously fierce fanbase, and you can see why many consider l'OM to really be the biggest club in France.

However, they have still suffered relegation twice in their history. The first came in 1959, and saw them stuck in the second division for five of the next six seasons, finishing 20th of 20 in their one campaign back in the top flight. In 1965 they got back up, winning the format Champions League in 1993 before suffering a decade of decline.

Indeed, due to financial irregularities and a match-fixing scandal involving former president Bernard Tapie, they were forced to drop into the second division in 1994. L'affaire, as it was known, came about when Marseille player Jean-Jacques Eydelie told opponents Valenciennes not to injure any player and let his side win in the French league game ahead of the Champions League final. Consequently, they were stripped of their 1992–93 Division 1 title, kicked out of the following Champions League campaign, and didn't return to the top flight until 1996. It took them until 2009/10 to win Ligue 1 again.

Rangers

Relegated in 2012

Starting in 1890, Rangers played for 115 seasons in Scotland consecutively without being relegated but all this changed in 2012. Following months of financial turmoil, the club were expelled from the Scottish Premier League but the punishment did not end there.

The club went into administration and liquidation before reforming. What's more, their peers in the Scottish Football League decided that they should be dropped all the way into the Third Division (fourth tier), with 25 out of the 30 clubs voting that way.

With club icon Ally McCoist at the helm, Rangers won the fourth tier of Scottish football at the first time of asking. They repeated the trick next season, winning the Scottish League One with 102 points. They then spent two seasons in the Championship, before being promoted back to the top flight in 2016. And eventually won the Scottish Premiership in 2021.

Juventus

Relegated in 2006

When it comes to Italian clubs, they don't come much bigger than Juventus. Unsurprisingly then, the only time they have even been relegated is not to do with sporting performance. Instead, it relates to the infamous Calciopoli scandal.

Following an investigation, it was found that multiple Serie A clubs and the Italian footballing authorities had a considerable influence over refereeing matters. Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi at the heart of things. The Old Lady were stripped of their 2004/05 and 2005/06 league titles, and relegated to Serie B.

Stars such as Zlatan Ibrahimović, Patrick Vieira and Fabio Cannavaro were sold. Showing more loyalty, however, the likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Pavel Nedvěd and Alessandro Del Piero stuck around and helped Juventus gain promotion back into the top flight with ease after just one season away.

River Plate

Relegated in 2011

River Plate are quite simply one of the great clubs of South American football. The Argentine giants have won the Primera División championship a record 38 times, with their latest title coming in 2023. And yet the had a disastrous season in 2011 as they were relegated from the Argentine first division for the first time in their 110-year history.

Needing a win by two clear goals to avoid the drop, they drew on the final day of the season, sparking chaotic scenes as furious supporters invaded the pitch. Water cannons were fired by some of the 2,000 police in attendance and at least 25 people were reportedly injured.

David Trezeguet of all people arrived in January 2012 and helped River to a league title and promotion after just one season. They would win their 36th national league title a couple seasons later in 2014. They have also since won Copa Libertadores twice, with their triumphs in 2015 and 2018 taking their total tally for that competition up to four.

Another South American giant to have been relegated in the 21st century, alongside Santos and River Plater, are Corinthians. The Brazilian outfit went down in 2007 after 94 years of successfully avoiding the drop.

This came as quite a surprise as they had won the league just two years prior. But a 1-1 draw with Grêmio was enough to seal their fate. It wasn't all bad news though, as they won the Série B in 2009 and then signed legend Ronaldo.

Campeonato Paulista and Copa do Brasil triumph in 2009. In the longer term, Corinthians would later win Série A in 2011, 2015 and 2017.