In the world of football, winning trophies is what it is all about. There are certain teams that seem to do this on a regular basis, with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal always being there or thereabouts when it comes to lifting a trophy at the end of the season. On the flip side, there are small teams such as Everton that can go decades without seeing any silverware added to the cabinet.
Elsewhere on this site you can read about the longest droughts that teams have suffered through between trophy lifts, whilst this article is about those that have never won a big competition.
What We’re Talking About
Before we take a closer look at the teams, it is important to explain what it is that we mean when we’re talking about not having won anything. Throughout English football history, there have been numerous small competitions that have been played out at one point or another. Those don’t count in terms of what we’re looking at. Instead, we are specifically looking at the teams that have never won any of the top-flight title, the FA Cup and the League Cup, nor enjoyed success in one of the major European tournaments like the European Cup or the UEFA Cup, or their modern iterations.
In other words, if a team has won the Championship in order to gain promotion to the Premier League but has never won the title of England’s premier league competition, they won’t have won anything ‘major’ in our eyes. Similarly, an FA Cup win or a League Cup victory will see them excluded from this list, as will a Champions League or Europa League win, but winning the Birmingham Senior Cup or the Stirlingshire Cup won’t be the kinds of things that we would consider to be big enough to mean that we will ignore them for the purposes of this article.
Looking at the teams that have never won anything
Here is a look at the teams that have never been able to win a piece of meaningful silverware in the English Football League system. The key word there is ‘English’, meaning that a club in Germany, France or Spain that has long-failed to win a big trophy won’t be included in the list.
| Team | Best Premier League / First Division Performance | Best FA Cup Performance | Best League Cup Performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fulham | 7th (2008-2009) | Runners-Up (1974-1975) | Semi-Final (2023-2024) |
| Brighton & Hove Albion | 6th (2022-2023) | Runners-Up (1982-1983) | Quarter-Final (1978-1979) |
| Watford | 2nd (1982-1983) | Runners-Up (1983-1984 & 2018-2019) | Semi-Final (1978-1979 & 2004-2005) |
| AFC Wimbledon | N/A | Round 5 (2018-2019) | Round 3 (2021-2022 & 2024-2025) |
| Brentford | 5th (1935-1936) | Quarter-Finals (1937-1938, 1945-1946, 1948-1949 & 1988-1989) | Semi-Final (2020-2021) |
It would not be outrageous to suggest that the inclusion of AFC Wimbledon on the above list is slightly misleading, given the fact that the club that the phoenix side was born out of in Wimbledon most definitely has won something. Not only that, but the criteria for what makes them a ‘big club’ compared to other phoenix sides like FC United of Manchester is murky at best. Yet there is also the truth that the departure of Wimbledon to Milton Keynes to become the MK Dons left a hole in South London that AFC Wimbledon filled, hovering up much of the previous team’s support.
Here is a closer look at how each of those teams has got on over the years:
Fulham
The Cottagers haven’t exactly been banging down the door of the Premier League, nor did they do so when it was in its previous guise as the First Division. Instead, Fulham’s best-ever performance in the English top-flight was in the 2008-2009 campaign when they came seventh. Things are somewhat different when it comes to the domestic cup tournaments, however. Bobby Moore was in the team in the 1974-1975 season, with the West London club making it all the way to the final of the FA Cup before ultimately falling at the final hurdle thanks to their city rivals West Ham United.
@europaleague The day Fulham shocked the world 😳😤 #UEL ♬ Phonk for Viral – Beats by Lucky
The 2023-2024 campaign saw them defeat Tottenham Hotspur in the second round, Norwich City in the third and Ipswich Town in the fourth, getting past Everton on penalties in the quarter-final before falling foul of eventual winners Liverpool in the semi-final. They did win the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2002, but that doesn’t meet our threshold of being a major competition. The Europa League would’ve done, with Fulham beating the likes of Juventus and VfL Wolfsburg en route to the final, ultimately losing 2-1 to Atlético Madrid in extra-time to come close but ultimately miss out.
Brighton & Hove Albion
Given the fact that Brighton & Hove Albion didn’t even make the English top-flight until the 2017-2018 campaign, it is perhaps somewhat surprising to see their name on the list. Yet anyone who knows about football knows what a well-run club the Seagulls are, regularly finding such good players that the biggest sides in the land will pay huge sums of money to recruit them. They have more than punched their weight since making it into the Premier League, including a sixth-place finish at the end of the 2022-2023 season, finishing above the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Everton.
Much like Fulham, their major success came in the domestic cup competitions, making it all the way to the final of the 1982-1983 FA Cup. They beat Newcastle United in the third round and Manchester City in the fourth, although neither of the clubs had become sports-washing outfits at that time, then Liverpool in the fifth round and Norwich in the quarter-finals. A win over Sheffield Wednesday in the semi-final set up a final against Manchester United, which the Red Devils won in a replay. The Seagulls also made the quarter-finals of the League Cup in 1978-1979, losing to eventual winners Nottingham Forest.
Watford
If any side on our list could claim to be the unluckiest of the bunch, it is unquestionably Watford. Although the Hornets have been something of a yo-yo side in their recent history, that wasn’t always the case. Instead, they have always been the bridesmaid and never the bride when it comes to England’s major competitions. They might well have won the First Division title in 1982-1983, only to find themselves coming up against a Liverpool side determined to win the title in Bob Paisley’s final season at Anfield, finishing 11 points off the pace set by the Merseysiders.
Meanwhile, they made it to the semi-finals of the League Cup in both 1978-1979 and 2004-2005, losing out to eventual winners Nottingham Forest in the first of those and eventual winners Liverpool in the latter. They have been even more unfortunate in the FA Cup, twice making it to the competition’s final and twice ending up on the losing side. The 1983-1984 season witnessed a 2-0 defeat to another team from Merseyside, this time in Everton, whilst in 2018-2019 they beat Woking, Newcastle United, Queens Park Rangers, Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers before losing 6-0 to Manchester City.
AFC Wimbledon
As mentioned, there will doubtless be more than a few people somewhat taken aback by the presence of AFC Wimbledon on the list, given the fact that the club has only been in existence since 2002. The move of Wimbledon Football Club to Milton Keynes in order to become the MK Dons meant that supporters decided to form this phoenix club, which therefore soaked up many of the fans that felt disillusioned by the departure. What they didn’t get, though, were the trophies that Wimbledon had won, making them a big club by default that had never actually won anything.
Since their formation, AFC Wimbledon have worked hard to make themselves the kind of team that supporters can be proud of. Their best run in the League Cup has seen them reach the third round on two occasions, whilst they’ve made the fifth round of the FA Cup once so far. They have yet to make it to the Premier League, so there is nothing to report on that front, nor have they done well enough to play in either of the major European tournaments. The only question for the Dons is whether or not they’ve ever to repeat the trick of the side they came from and win the FA Cup.
Brentford
In some ways, there is a kinship between Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford, insomuch as the two teams have not been in the Premier League for many years but have made themselves difficult to beat. They did spend a brief time in the First Division when that was what the top-flight was known as back in the 1930s, first making it into the league in 1935 and lasting until after the Second World War before being relegated. It was in their first foray into the top-flight that they produced their best work, coming fifth at a time when there were 22 teams playing in it.
The Bees have also had more than a few decent showings in the domestic cups in the past, albeit never having won either of them. They made the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time in the 1937-1938 campaign, repeating the trick three more times in 1945-1946, 1948-1949 and 1988-1989. They went one step further in the League Cup, meanwhile, reaching the semi-final stage in 2020-2021. Making it past Wycombe Wanderers in the first round, Southampton in the second, West Bromwich Albion in the third and Fulham in the fourth, they beat Newcastle United in the quarter-final before losing to Tottenham Hotspur in the semis.