The Five Most Successful Teams in World Football

Which teams spring to mind when you think of the most successful teams in world football? Real Madrid, of course, as the Spanish giants have won an unprecedented 13 Champions League titles.

Manchester United? The Red Devils (20) have won more Premier League/Division 1 titles than any other team in England.

However, by the metric of the number of trophies, neither of those pair make the top five of the most successful teams in world football.

Below we will discuss the top five as of March 2021. A more detailed list – showing the top 20 – originally appeared on the 888sport blog, which you can visit to see the most successful football club and the rest of the top 20. Our mini list below details the top five:

AL Alhy SC (Egypt) - 118

The Cairo club towers over football in Egypt, winning 41 league titles and 37 Egyptian Cup Finals. The team is also considered a force in pan-African tournaments, winning the African Champions League eight times.

Al Alhy have won the last five Egyptian league titles, and they are the reigning champions. How close are they to adding to that tally of 118 this season?

Al Alhy are currently second in the Egyptian Premier League, six points behind arch-rivals Zamalek, albeit with three games in hand. They are also going strong in the Egyptian Cup, so there is a chance they reach the 120-mark in the coming months.

Rangers – 116 (Scotland)

Just a few weeks ago, this number read 115. However, Rangers have now been crowned Scottish Premier League champions for the first time since 2011.

The tally of top division titles now stands at 55 (one of those was shared with Dumbarton), four more than bitter rivals Celtic. For Steven Gerrard’s team, it has been a long road back to the top after financial issues and relegation.

However, they are playing with confidence, style and zip, and they will surely add to that tally again soon.

Nacional – 113 (Uruguay)

Uruguay and South America’s most successful club side has amassed 113 trophies across 122 years of existence, meaning Nacional almost average a trophy a season.

The team seems to be in a perennial battle with Penarol (see below), against whom they compete in the . Nacional Have amassed 47 Primera Division titles, as well as three Copa Libertadores.

A team steeped in history, Nacional supplied many of the players to the Uruguay National Teams that won the World Cup in 1930 and 1950. Another distinction is that the fans created “the world’s biggest flag”.

The massive banner was unfurled at the Estadio Centenario in 2013 – it took 400 fans to hold it.

Penarol – 108 (Uruguay)

Penarol sit right beside their city rivals on this list, with the two Montevideo clubs dominating Uruguayan football over the last 100 years. However, while Penarol have won fewer trophies overall than their bitter rivals, they have won more league titles (50) and Copa Libertadores (five).

Both teams are in contention for the Primera Division this season (Penarol are four points off 1-placed Nacional, at the time of writing).

Celtic – 106 (Scotland)

Like Uruguay, Scotland boasts two teams on this list. And like Penarol and Nacional, Celtic and Rangers have a bitter cross-city rivalry that dominates football in Scotland.

Celtic have, of course, been top dogs in Scotland over the last decade, winning nine consecutive league titles – until Rangers put an end to that run.

That led to the resignation of Celtic’s manager, Neil Lennon, and a lot of introspection for the club. But The Bhoys will be back again, resuming their perennial battle with Rangers to be crowned kings of Scottish football.