The Best Football Team in London

To say something is “the best” can often be an extremely subjective statement to make. And when the term is used to describe sports teams, it is even moreso. To be “the best” can mean different things to different people. Has your favorite team scored the most points? Did they win the most games or championships? Perhaps they sold the most tickets, or team merchandise. Any of these things can qualify a team as “the best.” So, in order to determine “the best” football team in London, we have to look at several factors. For the purposes of this conversation, we will look at trophies won over the past ten years.

The Teams With The Most Wins

Chelsea has won 11 major trophies in the last ten years. The Blues have amassed a most impressive trophy-haul, including three Premiere League titles, four FA Cups, and a single League Cup. In addition to this, they have also won the Champions League Title, and two Europa Leagues.

Following very closely behind Chelsea is Manchester City, with 10 major trophies. These include four Premier League Championships, and four League Cups. In addition to this, Manchester City has also been a two time winner of the FA Cup.

The Manchester United comes in at third place, having won back to back Premier League titles, for a total of six major championships during the 2010s. They accomplished this despite the departure of Pep Guardiola and Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Teams With The Most Overall Wins 

•   Most wins overall: Manchester United with 2,197 total wins.
•   Most home wins overall: Manchester United with 1,399 total home wins.
•   Most away wins overall: Manchester United with 798 total away wins.
•   Most combined consecutive wins: Manchester City with 20 consecutive wins.

A pattern seems to be emerging between Manchester, and Manchester City. Just in case you were wondering, the team with the most overall losses is Everton, with 1,546. The 1997-98 Doncaster Rovers 34 losses represents the most by any team in a single season. And the 17 consecutive losses by the 2002-03 Sunderland squad was the most by any team since 1932.

In terms of total competitions won over the life of a London club, Manchester United are again at the top of the list. They have been crowned English Champions a total of 20 times, with the most recent being in 2013. The team has also won an impressive 21 FA Community Shields, with the last win being in 2016. The Arsenal squad has won a very respectable 13 FA Cups, while Liverpool has racked up 8 EFL Cups, and 4 UEFA Super Cups. Liverpool has also been a six time winner of the UEFA Champions League, and are tied with the Manchester United with one FIFA World Cup each.

In looking at game attendance, we have to use a much larger time period to find all of the record-setting numbers. Some of them are truly astronomical to think about. On April 28, 1923, 126,047 spectators were on hand at Wembley Stadium to watch the Bolton Wanderers take on the West Ham United. On May 17, 2008, the record was set at New Wembley Stadium when 89,874 fans came out to see Portsmouth battle Cardiff in the finals of the FA Cup. 

Lastly, we will look at the teams which sell the most merchandise, as this is possibly the best way to determine the size of a club’s fan base. For this category, we will consider teams throughout the entire UK.

•  Coming in fifth place is Chelsea. They average one million shirts sold each year. The team has been around for a very long time, and has managed to maintain some of the most die hard fans in the world. This is a testament to both their popularity, and their winning ways.
•   In fourth place is Bayern Munich. While their championship record may not be as prolific as Chelsea, they have them outsold when it comes to shirts. Bayern Munich averages around 1.2 million shirts sales annually.
•   For third place, we move south to Barcelona. While this popular club may be number one on Bet365 Sportsbook, their 1.27 million annual shirt sales rank them third on our list. Although, their numbers are mostly due to Lionel Messi jerseys.
•  The second place position is proudly held by Real Madrid. With 1.65 million shirts selling per year, the Royal club is a mere 100,000 units behind the number one spot. And which Real Madrid player sells the most shirts? His name is Cristiano something.
•  How about a drumroll for number one? If you’ve been following along, it probably won’t come as a surprise. Yes, that’s right…the number one spot for merchandise sold belongs to the Manchester United.

So yes, determining which team is “the best” is an almost impossible task. With all of the factors and variables involved, the debate can go on forever without a consensus ever being reached. Wait a second, what am I talking about? I just answered this question! The best football team in London is obviously the Manchester United.

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