LONG THE WAIT
It’s the goal of every football club on earth: to win a top-toptier league championship title. It’s a long and hard slog, a marathon-like race that requires consistency, guts and sacrifice. The wait for that first taste of league glory can be agonising, torturous and often unbearable for fans, with generations of supporters often watching their teams’ barren runs continue, season after season. Bidvest Wits had to wait almost a century, as they finally lifted their first top-flight title this season, and deservedly so. Following their historymaking feat, we scoured the globe to find some of the most anguishing waits for league glory.
BIDVEST WITS (South Africa)
They had come extremely close – none closer than last season’s league runners-up spot, combined with three third-places finishes since South Africa’s premier football competition was named the Premier Soccer League in 1996. Formed by the Wits University Representatives Council in 1921, the Clever Boys had to wait until 1978 for their first professional trophy – the Mainstay Cup, after beating Kaizer Chiefs in the final. Just four more cup trophies followed over the next three decades as league glory remained evasive, with the club enduring a forgettable 2005 as they finished bottom of the log and were relegated to the Mvela Golden League. After bouncing straight back up, Wits tasted Nedbank Cup glory under Roger de Sa in 2010, yet it was in 2013 with the appointment of current coach Gavin Hunt that their push for league honours gained traction, culminating in a victorious 2016/17 campaign, 96 years after the club was formed.
CHACARITA JUNIORS (Argentina)
Formed 111 years ago in 1906, Chacarita Juniors were promoted to the Argentine top-flight in 1924. The Undertakers – aptly named as their grounds were situated alongside the Chacarita cemetery – struggled in their first few years in the big league, suffering relegation in 1940 and once again in 1956, yet bounced straight back up on both occasions. And following a steady ten consecutive years in the Primera Division, Chacarita finally won their first and only top-flight league championship in 1969, 63 years after being established. It has been anything but smooth-sailing for the club since then, suffering relegation to the Argentine third tier in 1980, and being the country’s renowned yo-yo team. After finally making their way back up to the country’s top-flight, Chacarita were relegated once more in 2012, and currently ply their trade in the Argentine second division.
KAA Gent (Belgium)
It’s been a rough ride for Belgian outfit Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent. Initially established as a gymnastics association in 1864, football was added to the expanding club in 1900, playing under the French name La Gantoise, which was translated into its current Dutch name in 1971. Gent reached the Belgian topflight for the first time in 1913, with their closest sniff of league victory coming in 1955 when they finished second. After lifting their first major title – the Belgian Cup – in 1964, Gent endured a forgetful decade thereafter as they were relegated six times, dropping to the third division in 1974. After reaching the top-tier once more in 1980, Gent lifted a second Belgian Cup four years later, yet championship glory remained evasive. They finished as runners-up for the second time in 2010, consoling themselves with a third Belgian Cup that year, before finally ending their 115-year quest for glory in the 2014/15 campaign, edging Club Brugge by two points after the final play-offs. Gent have finished third in the following two seasons since their historic feat.
EINTRACHT BRAUNSCHWEIG (Germany)
Founded on 15 December 1895, Eintracht had to wait 72 long years before finally being crowned kings of Germany. Football in the country has a complex history, blighted by the two world wars, with the Bundesliga proper only formed as its current league format in the 1960s. Prior to that, the national champions were crowned in a play-off between the winners of each country’s biggest region: Eintracht were regional winners on six occasions, yet were never able to go all the way, coming closest in 1943 before being beaten 4-0 by Dresden in the final play-off. One of the founding members of the Bundesliga proper in 1963, Eintracht conceded just 27 goals as they finally took league honours in 1967, their only title to date. The Lions failed to establish themselves as a top-tier team since, only returning to the top-flight after a 28-year absence in 2013. They were relegated the season after, and ended the 2016/17 second division campaign in third place.
HELLAS VERONA (Italy)
Established by a group of high school students in 1903 under the name Hellas, the Yellow Blues first merged with city rivals Verona to become Hellas Verona in 1919 before amalgamating with Bentegodi and Scaligera to form AC Verona in 1929, when they made their Serie B debut. After finally making it to Italy’s top-tier in 1957 – albeit for one season – the club then joined another city rival Hellas to become Hellas Verona AC, making a return to Serie A in 1968. After finishing a record-high fourth in the 1982/83 season, Hellas finally got their hands on the league title two years later, ending the 1985 season with just two losses as they edged runners up Torino by four points to claim their maiden title. Slipping in between the country’s top two leagues thereafter, the club ended an 11-year stay in Serie B following their promotion in 2013, but were relegated back down last year. They finished this season’s Serie B in second, securing automatic promotion to the Italian top-flight for the 2017/18 campaign.
DEPORTIVO LA CORUNA (Spain)
Members of a local gym are credited with founding Spanish club Deportivo La Coruna in 1906, yet the club only gained promotion into the country’s top-tier league for the first time 34 years later. They came within a point of winning the league in 1950, but were pipped to the post by Atletico Madrid in the first of five runnersup finishes in the club’s history. They became known as the “elevator team” over the next two decades, suffering relegation on five occasions between 1963 and 1973. After an 18-year absence, Deportivo gained promotion back into La Liga in 1991, and four years later claimed their first major trophy as they beat Valencia in the Copa del Rey final. Yet the big prize finally landed in the 1999/2000 season, as after 94 years of torment, Deportivo finally lifted the La Liga trophy aloft, edging out rivals Barcelona and Valencia by five points. It’s still their only league triumph in their history, and this year finished a disappointing 16th on the La Liga table.
KILMARNOCK (Scotland)
The oldest professional football club in Scotland, Kilmarnock was formed by a group of local cricketers looking for a new sport to play in the off-season. Established on 5 January 1869, “Killie” joined the Scottish League in 1895, and was elected into the country’s top-flight four years later. Their first taste of success came in the 1920s, as they lifted the 1920 and 1929 Scottish Cup, yet failed to mount a serious league challenge until midway through the century. Following four heart-breaking runners-up finishes from 1960 to 1964, Kilmarnock finally broke their duck a year later, taking honours in the 1964/65 campaign, their only top-flight league title to date. The club had to wait another 32 years before lifting their next piece of silverware, a third Scottish Cup in 1997, before lifting their maiden Scottish League Cup in 2012. They have not come anywhere close to their championship victory of 1965 in recent times, last finishing in the top half of the league table in 2011.
LEICESTER CITY (England)
Formed in 1884 under the name “Leicester Fosse”, Leicester first gained promotion to the topflight in 1908, yet lasted just one season in the top-tier. Re-named Leicester City Football Club in 1919, the club won the Division Two title six years later, before finishing as runners up in the top tier in 1929. Relegated in both 1935 and 1937, they faced further agony in the FA Cup, losing four finals between 1949 and 1969. Leicester began the new millennium in the Premier League, but were relegated in 2002, and found themselves in the third tier in 2008 for the first time in their history. Finally clinching Premier League promotion in 2014, they narrowly escaped relegation with seven wins from their last nine games to eventually finish 14th. Given 5000/1 odds of winning the 2015/16 Premier League, The Foxes stunned the entire sporting world, ending the season a comfortable 10 points above second-placed Arsenal to finally lift their first top-flight league trophy after an excruciating 132-year wait.