More often than not, football clubs have played in more than one top-tier competition. It is therefore possible that teams were relegated at one point in their history, but have not been relegated in the competition in which they currently compete. This is the case for multiple teams in countries where football was played in regional leagues prior to the creation of a unified national league. In such countries, a national champion was previously declared by means of a play-off tournament between teams that qualified through their regional tournaments. In Germany, for instance, seven teams have never been relegated from the 1963-established
Bundesliga (which was
originally the top flight of West Germany only), including some joining in the 1990s following
German reunification, but three of them found themselves expelled from the older
Oberligen.
Hamburger SV played continuously in the top tier of the German football system from the end of World War I until 2018. In the Netherlands, football used to be organised in regional competitions as well. The unified
Eredivisie was born in 1956, and four teams have continuously played at this highest national level since then. Even before the establishment of regional competitions, football was played in league systems. The very first football championships in Europe were often organised on a local level. Taking these smaller competitions into account,
FK Austria Wien and
SK Rapid Wien can claim to have played at the highest possible level since competition began in Austria in 1911. which was then located in the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, and only teams from
Vienna took part. After the
Anschluss of Austria and Nazi Germany in 1938, Austrian teams competed in the
German football system for several years, which made it possible for Rapid Wien to become German champion in 1941. The current
Austrian Bundesliga was only established in 1974, and to this point a total of five teams have never been relegated from that competition. In 1959, a
unified Hellenic league was founded, and
Olympiacos,
Panathinaikos and
PAOK have played in every season of it. As these are relatively new competitions, many clubs can claim to have never been relegated from the top level, but only
FC Dynamo Kyiv in Ukraine and
FC Dinamo Tbilisi in Georgia have always played at the highest possible level. From those six, only Arsenal had an uninterrupted run in the preceding
First Division. Thus, a great number of teams can claim to have never been relegated from newer competitions. In Northern Ireland, the teams of
Cliftonville,
Glentoran and
Linfield have played at the top-tier for 135 years, In Scotland,
Aberdeen and
Celtic have never been relegated. Until 2012
Rangers had participated in every top-tier season since 1890, but were removed and admitted to the fourth tier of Scottish football amid a
financial crisis (climbing back to the top by 2016), so do not have an unbroken run but have never been relegated due to on-field performance, remaining the only Scottish club to never finish below 6th. This contrasts with Celtic and Aberdeen, remaining at the top continuously despite the former finishing below 6th seven times and the latter finishing bottom twice. Many leagues have been running for a long time. Unsurprisingly, fewer clubs manage to stay on top the longer a competition runs. The Spanish
Primera División was born in 1929, and only
Athletic Bilbao,
FC Barcelona and
Real Madrid have been present ever since. The same year the Italian
Serie A became a round-robin tournament, and only
Inter Milan has continuously played at the highest level from that moment forward – even doing so since 1909 (though
Juventus FC, since its debut in the top-tier league in 1900, only ever spent a single season outside of it
due to an administrative decision in 2006). Out of the
FIFA World Cup-winning nations, France is the only one that has no unrelegated clubs from the current top-tier league, despite the latter having existed since 1930 (though
Paris Saint-Germain, since its creation in 1970, was only ever relegated from
Ligue 1 due to an administrative decision in 1972). Similarly, no team that plays in the
Swiss Super League – established in 1897 – has not been relegated at one point in their history. ==Unrelegated for 75 years==