“Which player has won the most league championships without winning an international cap?” asks Nick Williamson. “Steve Bruce won three Premier League titles with Manchester United – surely there are other non-capped players with more title honours?”
There surely are a number of players that can match and beat Steve Bruce’s tally of three league titles without earning an international cap.
“Bruce was highly decorated, but even he can’t hold a candle to Real Madrid’s Antonio Ruiz,” answers Chai from Atlanta. “In seven seasons with the great team of the 1950s and 60s, he won four league titles and four European Cups.”
“Bayern Munich’s German midfielder Bernd Dürnberger also won three European Cups to go with his five Bundesliga titles,” continues Chai. “Fellow German Stefan Klos did one better by winning a total of six top-flight titles, including the Bundesliga twice with Borussia Dortmund and Scottish Premier League with Rangers four times.
“Plenty of South Americans win silverware outside Europe but never get selected for their national teams. Brazilian Muriqui won the Chinese Super League four times with Guangzhou Evergrande. His compatriot and former Guangzhou teammate Cléo won the league with them twice and the Serbian SuperLiga with Partizan. Darío Conca of Argentina went a step further and won five top-flight titles with a sole U20 cap for his efforts; he won in China (with Guangzhou Evergrande), Chile (Universidad Católica), and Brazil (Fluminense). Brazilian midfielder Danilo Gabriel de Andrade won the Brazilian Serie A four times with São Paulo (once) and Corinthians (thrice) along with three J. League titles in Japan with Kashima Antlers. That’s a total of seven top-flight league titles without a single international cap.”
James Dixon nominates the former Milan keeper Sebastiano Rossi. “Five scudettos and zero international caps, despite his club manager, Arrigo Sacchi, going on to coach the national team.” Dan Almond goes one better, delving deep into the history books. “James Richardson Spensley won six Serie A titles with Genoa between 1898 and 1904 but never represented his native England.”
“Tommy Callaghan won six medals during Celtic’s first nine in a row but only made two appearances for the Scottish League XI,” writes Michael Haughey, with 60s Celtic teammate John Fallon also securing six league titles without an international cap. Graeme Whitton, though, has found the winner from Scotland: “I’d be surprised if this honour doesn’t go to Scottish midfielder John Brown who won eight league titles with Rangers but never got a Scotland cap.”
Matt Liddle chips in with a beauty: “My mind went straight to back-up goalies and Sven Ulreich has just won his ninth Bundesliga title with Bayern Munich, mostly from the bench.” Bayern are actually claiming 10 Bundesliga titles for Ulreich in this article, but the keeper played on loan at Hamburg in 2020-21.
Joe Stynes adds an excellent shout: “Sean Gannon has zero international caps and 11 League of Ireland Premier Division medals: Shamrock Rovers (four: 2011, 2021, 2022, 2023), St Patrick’s Athletic (one: 2013), Dundalk (five: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019), Shelbourne (one: 2024).”
But our winner comes from Mykola Kozlenko, who is presumably dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions at the news. “I am nominating Chris Marriott who won 12 Welsh titles with The New Saints,” he writes. Twelve titles in 15 years at the club! Congratulations to Mykola and congrats to Chris.
A couple of honourable mentions: Father and son duo Fabio and Carlo Cudicini both won league titles without gaining international caps, with Milan (1967–68) and Chelsea (2004–05, 2005–06) respectively. Andrés Palop is a notable inclusion for not only winning a league title with Valencia but winning a major international trophy (with Spain at Euro 2008) without ever making an international appearance.
Here are a few more the Knowledge found:
Three league titles, no caps
Ángel Atienza – while playing for Real Madrid (1954-59)
David Fairclough – Liverpool (1975-83)
Bernd Wehmeyer – Hamburg (1978-86)
Scott Nisbet – Rangers (1985-93)
Lorenzo Amoruso – Rangers (1997-2003)
Arsenio Erico – two titles with Independiente (1933-46), one with Nacional (1942). The Paraguayan remains the second all-time highest goalscorer in the Argentinian top flight with 293 goals and was once offered a grand sum to represent Argentina at the 1938 World Cup but declined, loyal to his country of birth.
Nicola Amoruso – Juventus (1996-2002)
Oleguer – two with Barcelona (2003-08), one with Ajax (2008-11). Perhaps hampered by his pro-Catalan views, the right-back and economics major was regularly booed by opposing fans in Spain and turned down a call-up for Spain in 2005.
Stevan Stojanovic – Red Star Belgrade (1982-91). Best known for captaining Red Star to European Cup glory in 1991, the keeper also won the Yugoslavian title three times.
Scott Sinclair – Celtic (2016-20)
Four titles
José Neto – Benfica (1958-66). The only member of Benfica’s starting XI that won the 1961 European Cup final who was not capped at some stage by Portugal.
Jimmy Case – Liverpool (1973-81)
Fred Grim – Ajax (1994-2002)
Sergio Brio – Juventus (1974-90). The Italian was uncapped but is in Juve’s hall of fame and is one of only six players in European football history – with Antonio Cabrini, Gaetano Scirea, Stefano Tacconi, Danny Blind and Arnold Mühren – to have won the three major European club competitions.
Five titles
With thanks to Dirk Maas for these final suggestions:
Simone Padoin – Juventus (2012-16)
Filippo Galli – Milan (1982-96)
Georges Polny – Saint-Étienne (1960-72)
Rémy Vercoutre – Lyon (2002-14)
Gert Bals – one with PSV (1961-65) and four with Ajax (1965-70)
Guy Marchoul – Anderlecht (1985-95)
Craig Johnston – Liverpool (1981-88)
Six titles
Humberto Fernandes – Benfica (1958-70)
Fernando Bandeirinha – Porto (1981-96)
Ismaily – Shakhtar Donetsk (2013-22)
André Ramalho – five with RB Salzburg (2013-15 and 2018-21), one with PSV (2021-24)
Seven titles
Mikhail Kerzhakov – Zenit Saint Petersburg (2005-10 and 2015-2026)
Eight titles
Manolín Bueno – Real Madrid (1959-71)
Greatest distance between two derby teams (part two)
Following on from last week’s lead question, we have had quite a few new answers, including a new winner …
“The Dockyard Derby, between Plymouth Argyle and Portsmouth is a distance of 172 miles between the two teams,” emails Robert Williams.
“I can’t quite top 386 miles but I attended the North Norway Derby (or Arctic Circle Derby) between Tromsø and Bodø/Glimt in 2015, around 335 miles by car, according to Google,” suggests Tom Whelan.
“There’s a ‘derby’ in Mexico between two clubs that are (now) over 300 miles apart by the standards set out in the article,” offers SF Devereux. “Club América and Necaxa used to share the Azteca and contest a heated Mexico City derby, but Necaxa fell on hard times financially and the owners relocated them to the town of Aguascalientes, 400-plus km away as the crow flies and more than 500km by the shortest available road route. Despite all of this happening in 2003, their fixtures are still referred to as derbies by Mexican fans and media.”
“Zorya Luhansk are now playing in Zaporizhzhia while Shakhtar, their rivals from Donetsk, are 628 miles away in Lviv,” writes David Shonfield. “This may not be the most traditional Donbas Derby but it’s the only one that has survived.”
“A match took place in 2011 between McMurdo Station and Rothera Research Station in Antarctica, which I’m sure was fiercely contested,” reveals Jed Saunders. “It ended 1-0 to McMurdo. The distance was 2,141 miles by Great Circle. By road I couldn’t say.”
“Surely if you’re counting Auckland and Wellington you have to then count the Canadian teams in MLS,” argues Ross in Port Seton. “Columbus Crew and Toronto FC have a derby called the Trillium Cup and they are 428 miles apart. Montreal and Vancouver have a derby rivalry that predates MLS and they are 2,913 miles apart.”
“Perth Glory and Wellington Phoenix have for many years played in a match known as the ‘Distance Derby,’ due to their being incredibly remote from each other and from every other A-League team (before Auckland FC joined),” wins Tess Sherlock. “It has derby in the name and is based on geography so it definitely qualifies. As the crow flies, the teams are 3,270 miles apart.”
Knowledge archive
“I have recently been enjoying watching the DVD of John Byrne’s 1980s BBC Scotland television series Tutti Frutti,” wrote Stuart Webber in 2010. “The opening scenes feature the burial of Jazzer McGloan, lead singer of the Majestics. Adjacent to the cemetery, a (presumably Scottish) football ground can clearly be seen. Does anyone know which ground this might be?”
Despite the proximity of St Mirren Park and Petershill Park to cemeteries, the ground pictured in those opening scenes is actually Celtic Park. “There’s a cemetery just behind Celtic Park (the reason the new north stand has pillars, as I recall, was the roof supports could not overhang the cemetery),” writes Pete Morrison. “And the nickname ‘Paradise’ originates in a journalist comparing the move from the original site to a new one being like ‘moving from the graveyard to paradise’.”
Can you help?
“Celtic’s dramatic final-day win over Hearts means that Wilfried Nancy played his part in a title-winning campaign despite a record of two wins from six league games,” writes Niall McVeigh. “Excluding caretakers, who are the worst-performing managers to help a team win the championship?”
“Recently, Arsenal had a key game at home to already relegated Burnley,” notes Daz Pearce. “Had Burnley recorded a surprise victory they would have overturned a matchday deficit of 58 points, so slightly more than a surprise then. What’s the highest such deficit ‘overturned’ by a team, presumably in a match very late in the season?”
“In 2009, 1990s Wigan hero David Lowe was caretaker for Derby County for one game,” notes Yves Corlet. “In 2025, 16 years later, he was caretaker for Blackburn Rovers for three games. Has anyone had a longer gap between managerial stints?”
“Since shirt sponsorship began in the 1970s, which club has had the fewest sponsor logos adorn their shirts?” asks Bob Krag. “My guess is Arsenal, who have only had four (JVC, Dreamcast/Sega, O2 and Emirates). Even Barcelona, who eschewed shirt sponsorship for many years, have had more.”
“When was the last time a goalkeeper wore the same shorts and socks as his outfield teammates in a Premier League game?” queries Louis Ostrowski.
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