I’ve heard vague claims over the years that the Chicago Cubs have the longest championship drought in professional sports. This is probably true for North American sports teams (I don’t know about minor leagues), but I’m just curious if any other professional sports teams in other parts of the world can beat them in this category.
This is prompted by a recent rereading of Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch (which I enjoyed a lot, even if I had no idea what he was talking about fairly often), where he talks about a football (soccer) team went 20 years between championships, like that’s a long time. The Cubs, FTR, last won the World Series in 1908, and haven’t even been to the World Series since 1945.
One thing to remember is that European sports leagues work differently than American ones. A team in the top division that consistently loses will find themselves playing in the next division down the following season, with their place taken by a team that was consistently winning in the lower division being given a chance to take the vacated place. Teams that have consistently been in the top division in their sports since 1908 are pretty rare - those who have stayed in the top division without winning the title? Probably non-existent.
Spurs are a UK football team that springs to mind. They’re not at the level of the Cubs, but haven’t won the top division championship since the 60s despite being an everpresent fixture in said top division.
Newcastle haven’t won the championship in living memory, despite spending most of that time in the top flight (I think).
The Toronto Maple Leafs are pretty bad. They won the Stanley Cup four times in the 60s (last time in 67), and haven’t even come close to the finals since.
Well, the Blackhawks haven’t won a Cup since 1961. And only 3 cups since they were founded in 1926. As bad as the Leafs have been, the Blackhawks are worse.
It’s an automatic response to defend the hometown team.
The other issue with European football teams is that they have a larger number of championships that they can win. For instance in England, a team could win one of the Carling Cup, FA Cup, Champions League, UEFA Cup, Intertoto Cup (I just learned about this) or the Premiership.