Bayern Munich put an end to the Bundesliga season to tie the tenth consecutive championship and with this set a new record among the ‘Big Five’ in Europe. After beating Borussia Dortmund, the ‘Bavarian’ club surpassed the nine consecutive Serie A titles that Juventus won between 2012 and 2020.
Before Bayern’s run, no German team had won more than three titles in a row. However, their success has created a vicious circle, as their domestic lead means appearances in the Champions League, which in turn bring big payouts into the club’s coffers which are then used to renew players and recruit new talent. Bayern’s roster is currently worth more than $860 million, more than $260 million more than Dortmund, the second most valuable team.
But the dominance of the German giant transcends borders, as no other franchise in Spain, England, Italy or France has had such an overwhelming winning margin: in the last 10 campaigns combined, Bayern have taken a total lead of 140 points. Instead, Juve were able to pull off a combined 76-point margin in their nine years of dominance.
Since 2012, only once has the German title been truly in dispute, when Dortmund lost the battle by just two points in 2019, the rest of the seasons Bayern’s margin of victory has been greater than 10 points.
Meanwhile, the fight to finish second in the Bundesliga, in a typical year, involves Dortmund, RB Leipzig ($499 million) and Bayer Leverkusen ($466). This season, Dortmund are ahead of Leverkusen by eight points with three games remaining.
The next longest streak is that of French Olympique de Lyon, which between 2002 and 2008 won seven titles. However, in the last decade, his success was overshadowed by Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), another team that has already mathematically tied the local championship.
Since the investment of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), a subsidiary company of the Qatari government, in PSG from 2011, the team has won eight championships. This Saturday, with their victory over Lens on matchday 34, they reached the tenth title in their history, equaling Saint-Étienne with the most Ligue 1 championships.
The teams that have stood in the way of the Parisian team to the title have alternated. Monaco was the team that cut his streak of four consecutive championships in 2017 and in 2021 Lille Olympique Sporting Club took a point away from him.
PSG’s squad is currently valued at $970 million, nearly three times more than the second-best value team in Ligue 1, Monaco ($376 million). The investment in talent is an effort by the Qataris to transcend in an even more prestigious competition, the Champions League, which until now remains pending.
In contrast, in the last 20 years the Spanish championship has been disputed between two teams: Real Madrid and Barcelona, while Atlético de Madrid found a window to win the title in 2021 and 2014. However, Real Madrid holds the greatest number of crowns with 34, five of these consecutively (from the 1985-86 to the 1989-90 season).
This campaign the merengue team is close to extending said record, leading LaLiga with a 15-point advantage over Barcelona with five games to go. These two templates are the most valuable in the Spanish championship with 812 and 729 million dollars respectively. Closely followed by Atleti with players valued at 709 million.
In the Premier League, the team with the most consecutive championships is Manchester United with three (from 1999 to 2000 and from 2007 to 2009) and with 20 championships it is also the most successful team in the Premier League. However, the Red Devils have not won the league since 2013, as the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City have excelled.
In fact, the latter have displaced Manchester United in the value of their squads. City break the $1 billion mark with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Raheem Sterling. Liverpool are the second most valuable team with a squad of 965 million and Chelsea players have an estimated value of 914 million.
It is in these last two competitions where the gaps between first and second place are shorter. From the 2010-11 season to date, the average point difference between first and second place in LaLiga is 6.2; in the Premier it is 8.8, in Serie A it is 8.4; in Ligue 1 it is 11.1 and in the Bundesliga it is 12.9.
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