Winning is what defines a great club. But the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United and Real Madrid all missed out on silverware this year.
The 2024-25 season didn’t go to plan for several giants. Despite massive squads, global fanbases and bucketloads of cash, these clubs are ending the year empty-handed.
From Madrid to Manchester, here are seven huge clubs who are trophyless in 2024-25.
Real Madrid
The most successful club in European history just had a year to forget. Trophyless and consistently bested by their biggest rival.
Barcelona took the Supercopa, the Copa del Rey and, most importantly, La Liga. Then came the Champions League bottle job against Arsenal.
Real Madrid went from treble contenders to a complete mess in just a few weeks. And no, it wasn’t just the injuries.
Kylian Mbappe smashed debut records, but his arrival threw the whole attack off balance.
Vinicius Jr lost his edge, Bellingham dropped deeper, and Rodrygo vanished.
The defence looked like a sieve, the midfield missed Kroos, and even Ancelotti, now sacked, seemed to run out of ideas.
Manchester United
Trophyless is one thing. Nearly finishing in the relegation zone is something else entirely for a club of this size.
United battled their way to the Europa League final, but Tottenham edged them out in Bilbao. No European football, no trophy, and no clue, really.
A bloated squad, an under-fire manager and some truly baffling performances turned Old Trafford into a weekly funeral procession.
Even the new ownership can’t spin this as a transition year. It was a disaster – tactically, emotionally, and financially.
Ruben Amorim is in desperate need of a goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders, strikers, and a big pot of money that the club don’t have.
If next season’s promoted clubs fancy a real crack at survival, things could get worse for United.
Arsenal
Now that Spurs have ended their trophy drought, the banter merchants of social media have turned their attentions to Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.
Second in the Premier League and reaching the Champions League semi-finals is not to be sniffed at, especially considering numerous injuries to key players.
But it’s now five years since Arsenal lifted a piece of silverware, despite heavy investment and undoubted improvement under Arteta.
There’ll be no excuse next season – Arsenal simply must win one of the major prizes.
Juventus
Juventus sacked Thiago Motta in March after back-to-back hammerings from Atalanta and Fiorentina. The writing had been on the wall for weeks.
The former Bologna boss arrived with big expectations after guiding his old side to fifth. But he never got this Juve team going.
Yes, he tried to play progressive football. And yes, the squad was young. But the tactics never clicked, and results soon spiralled.
Juventus never fully recovered under Igor Tudor, though he may yet deliver Champions League football, and they remain a mess upstairs.
No shirt sponsor, questions over recruitment, and pressure mounting on sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli.
The club won the Coppa Italia in the 2023-24 season, but they’ve missed out this year and haven’t won Serie A since 2019-20.
Borussia Dortmund
Dortmund ended the season in great form, but the damage was already done. A mid-table slide in the first half left them chasing shadows.
Nuri Sahin looked like the right man at first. He had been groomed for the role and knew the club inside out, just how Dortmund like it.
But nice stories don’t win football matches. Sahin’s side played timidly away from home, fell flat domestically, and crashed out of the DFB-Pokal early.
Niko Kovac came in mid-season and demanded more, but fitness issues and a flimsy squad gave him little to work with. By the time things started to click, they had already dropped out of every competition.
Once a launchpad for Europe’s best young players, BVB now feel like a club in transition.
They still draw huge crowds and have a rich history, but without a trophy since 2021, Dortmund risk slipping further behind.
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Manchester City
We aren’t having the Community Shield. The club that hoards trophies like it’s a hobby are set to finish the season without a meaningful trophy.
Pep Guardiola’s best chance of silverware looked like the FA Cup, and while many assumed they’d win it, Crystal Palace beat them 1-0.
The biggest blow came with Rodri’s injury in late October. Without their midfield anchor, City conceded control and a whole load of goals.
They lost their defensive shape, and while results didn’t collapse immediately, the warning signs were clear.
Add the mental weight of those 115 Premier League charges, and no one should be surprised that they unravelled. Even Guardiola’s stoic calm couldn’t hide the cracks.
City still boast some world-class talent, but they’ve felt alarmingly human this year.
For a club chasing history, a season without silverware will sting badly, even if it’s probably only temporary.
Ajax
The Dutch giants have undergone a tumultuous few years, but looked set to win the Eredivisie by the middle of April.
Cue one of the biggest bottle jobs in recent football history.
Ajax were nine points clear of nearest challengers PSV Eindhoven, but their season started to unravel with a 4-0 loss at Utrecht on 20 April.
In the following weeks, Ajax’s lead has evaporated with a draw with Sparta Rotterdam, a 3-0 home loss to NEC and conceding a 99th-minute equaliser at FC Groningen.
PSV won the title with a victory on the final day, leaving Jordan Henderson and friends shell-shocked.