Top 10 Players To Have Never Won A League Title

jonjoward1998
Jan 4
7 min read

Winning a league title is a great feeling for any player because it's what they want to win more than arguably any other trophy.

But whilst many of the best players to play the game have been lucky enough to win a league title, there have also been a number of great players who never won one.

Any player can be the best in their position and go on to have a great career in the game as many have done, but they couldn't quite get their hands on a league title.

They also might've been part of some very good teams who went close on a few occasions. But there was always that one team who was just better than the team they were playing for.

Winning a league title is never easy as most players should know because it's a long season and performing at a high level for the entirety of it is tough because you need to be mentally on it from start to finish.

The players in the list were all at some point in their careers one of the best in their respective positions and had great careers in the game. But they couldn't quite win a league title.

Now here is the list:

Steven Gerrard

Jamie Carragher

Fernando Torres

Antoine Griezmann

Daniele De Rossi

Marco Reus

Ciro Immobile

Heung Min Son

Robbie Fowler

Kalidou Koulibaly

Jamie Carragher

Carragher spent his entire career at Liverpool and despite winning every cup competition on offer, he never got his hands on a Premier League title.

He was a Premier League runner up twice with the reds in in 2001/02 and 2008/09 respectively with the latter probably being his best chance to win it as Liverpool were closer to winning it that season than they were in the other.

They finished four points behind Man United in 2009 and were even top at Christmas but were seven points behind Arsenal in 2002.

I had to have him down at no.10 because he probably didn't get as much recognition as the other players on the list.

He was still a good defender as he was a good reader of the game, knew when to make the right tackle and was also a leader on the pitch.

Kalidou Koulibaly

Koulibaly was one of the best defenders in Europe on his day as he was quick, strong, good in the air and a brilliant reader of the game as he always knew when to make the right interventions.

His best days were of course at Napoli as that was where he spent the prime years of his career and developed into one of the best central defenders around.

He spent eight seasons at Napoli but never won a Serie A title as he was a runner up three times in 2015/16, 2017/18 and 2018/19 respectively.

Winning the league during those seasons was no doubt tough as Juventus were the dominant force in Serie A at the time with no serious contenders.

He probably regretted leaving Napoli when he did as they won the title under Luciano Spalletti in the season he left for Chelsea in 2022/23.

Heung Min Son

Son was right up there among the best players in Europe during his time at Spurs because of his energy and work rate from the front, as well as his pace versatility and ability to score goals.

But despite being as good as he was, he never got his hands on a Premier League title with the closest he ever got to winning one coming in the 2016/17 season when Spurs finished second behind Chelsea.

Spurs were nowhere near challenging never mind winning the title after that season despite the brilliant numbers he produced in the season that followed which saw him develop into one of the best attacking players around.

He could easily have left Spurs earlier because he was a player who deserved to play for a side who regularly challenged for league titles and major trophies which is something he didn't get at Spurs.

It was good to see him win something with Spurs last season in the Europa League before departing for LAFC in the summer. But he might still regret not winning a league title.

Robbie Fowler

Fowler was a goal scoring machine when he was at Liverpool and especially during his early years at the club as he scored goals at such an incredible rate.

He won every cup competition on offer during his time at Liverpool but got nowhere near winning a Premier League title.

He was a runner up with the reds in the 2001/02 season but they finished seven points behind Arsenal that season which was his final one at the club.

On his day he was a striker who was quick, agile and could score a variety of goals including volleys headers and strikes into the top corner.

Ciro Immobile

Immobile has had quite an interesting career in that he's played for a number of clubs but struggled to perform at most of them.

Out of all the clubs he played for, Lazio was the one that worked out for him best as his goal returns were right up there among the best strikers in Europe.

He won the European Golden Shoes in the 2019/20 season scoring 36 goals and score 20 plus in five of the eight season he spent at Lazio with that season in particular being by far his best one.

But despite being as good as he was throughout his time at Lazio, he never got close to winning a Serie A title as Lazio probably didn't have the finances or the quality that the top teams had.

He was a Serie A runner up in the 2022/23 season, Lazio finished a staggering 16 points behind Napoli that season.

Fernando Torres

Torres won almost every trophy going including two Euros and a World Cup with Spain, the FA Cup and Champions League with Chelsea and two Europa League's winning one each at Chelsea and at Atletico Madrid.

But he never got his hands on a league title as he finished second three times with Liverpool in 2008/09, Chelsea in 2010/11 and Atletico in 2017/18.

He was one of the best strikers in Europe on his day as he was quick, his movement was first class and could score a variety of goals including headers, volleys and strikes from outside the box.

He was right up there among the best when he was at Liverpool as he was so prolific throughout his time there by getting into the right positions to score goals before a disastrous spell at Chelsea.

Daniele De Rossi

De Rossi spent an incredible 18 seasons at Roma and was a brilliant servant and player throughout his time there.

But he never got his hands on a Serie A title after finishing second a staggering eight times with the closest he got to winning one coming in the 2009/10 season when Roma finished just two points behind Inter Milan.

He was one of the best holding midfielder around when he was in his prime as he could sniff out danger, dictate play in midfield and make crucial last ditch tackles whenever his team needed him to.

It was always going to be difficult for him to win a Serie A title at Roma because of they didn't quite have the calibre of players or finances that the likes of both Milan clubs and Juventus had at the time.

Antoine Griezmann

Griezmann has been one of the greatest players of his generation but I also think he's one of the most unlucky players in the game in that he's missed out on some of the big trophies including the Euros, the Champions League and La Liga.

He's been a runner up three times in La Liga and in three straight seasons as well in 2017/18 and 2018/19 with Atletico Madrid and 2019/20 with Barcelona.

The latter season was the one he got closest to winning La Liga as Barca four points behind Real Madrid whereas Atletico were miles away in the other two seasons he went close.

It was always going to be difficult for him to win the league at Atletico because of Barca and Real having the most money and arguably better quality players.

But he could've had a La Liga title had he not made the switch to Barcelona which didn't work out for him as he was mostly used out wide which is a position that has never suited him.

Marco Reus

Reus joined Borussia Dortmund the season after they won those back-to-back Bundesliga titles under Jurgen Klopp and he went on to spend an incredible 12 seasons there.

But he never got his hands on a Bundesliga title throughout his time there as he finished second an incredible seven times with the 2022/23 season being the closest he ever got to winning it as Dortmund were pipped to the title by Bayern Munich on goal difference.

He was one of the best attacking players in Europe when he was at Dortmund because of his ability to both create and score goals.

He could also play anywhere across the frontline including both wide positions, as a no.10 and even as a false 9.

He could very easily have left Dortmund as a lot of their best players left the club whilst he was still there with a few of them going to Bayern Munich.

But he ended up staying and went on to become a loyal servant to the club and captain the side for a number of seasons.

Steven Gerrard

Gerrard had to be my no.1 because he carried Liverpool for so many years for a player of his calibre to not to win a league title is just unheard of.

He was a Premier League runner up three times with Liverpool in 2001/02, 2008/09 and 2013/14 respectively with the latter being the closest he ever got to winning it as the reds finished two points behind Man City.

His slip against Chelsea was one of the turning points in the title race that season and you just had to feel sorry for him because he was desperate to win the Premier League for the whole of his career and for that to happen to someone like him was very unfortunate.

He deserved to win a league title because of the brilliant player he was and the career he went on to have.

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