Win a trophy in England? The chances are minimal in both the league and the cup, five teams rule them all. How are the other top 5 leagues doing?

The last chance that English football might see a surprise this season is gone. Crystal Palace fell to Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final. All the trophies in England will once again go to the big five teams that have dominated English football for the last 30 years. How do the teams in the other top five competitions compare to the island nation?

English football is renowned for its evenness, but the fact is that the big five dominate. The proof is in this season, which is the 30th anniversary season since the reform of the system and the creation of the modern Premier League.

The big five teams – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United – have dominated 28 of the 30 Premier League seasons. And would it have been better in England’s most prestigious cup competition? Not by much. Only four times has someone else won.

As far as the Premier League is concerned, Leicester and Blackburn came away with the title, while Everton, Portsmouth, Wigan and Leicester managed to win the FA Cup.

This fact is understandably not to the liking of fans who like competitions in which anyone can win and in which we can expect surprises. But is there such a thing?

Chances of a sensation maybe only in the cups, England is the worst

In 30 years, 7 teams have won the league in England and the rest of the top five leagues are not much better. In Germany, 6 clubs have won in the same time, in Spain and Italy 5. France is surprisingly the best with 11 winning teams, but PSG has been the reigning champion in recent years.

As far as the cups are concerned though, outside of England the chances of winning are not minimal. Of course, it still equates to a miracle and a beautiful fairy tale, however, the number of winners is much higher in all the other four countries.

In Germany and France, 12 different teams have won the cup in the last 30 years. In Spain and Italy, there have been 11 cup winners.

In Germany, however, the 13th team is certain to win the cup this year, with Leipzig, Union Berlin, Hamburg and Freiburg all reaching the semi-finals. None of these clubs have won the competition yet.

Otherwise, Frankfurt, Wolfsburg, Bremen, Stuttgart, Mönchengladbach, Nuremberg, Schalke and Kaiserslautern have all won the DFB Pokal.

In Spain, clubs such as Espanyol, Valencia, Mallorca, Betis, Real Sociedad and Zaragoza won the cup. In France, Nice, Auxerre, Nantes, Strasbourg, Sochaux, Guingamp, Rennes and Bordeaux were able to celebrate.

In Italy, apart from Juventus, AC and Inter Milan, AS and Lazio Rome, Parma, Torino, Sampdoria, Fiorentina and Vicenza won the cup.

Sources: Transfermarkt, Premier League, Bundesliga