The 7 Most Shocking Double Relegations of All Time

TL;DR

Eight clubs suffered shocking back-to-back relegations, from Leicester's Premier League-to-League-One collapse to Angie Makhachka's oligarch-funded implosion.

Key Points

• 1.Leicester City's fall is arguably the most shocking double relegation ever. Only a decade after their miraculous Premier League title win and four years after beating Chelsea in the FA Cup final, the Foxes dropped from the Premier League to League One, now facing trips to clubs whose stadiums collectively cost less than Leicester's training ground maintenance.
• 2.Wolves are history's most serial double-relegation club. Three-time English champions, they suffered three successive relegations in the early 1980s, nearly went out of business, were saved by two brothers falsely posing as Saudi owners, and have now endured back-to-back Premier League relegations twice, risking an unprecedented third occurrence.
• 3.Deportivo de la Coruña won La Liga and reached Champions League semis before catastrophic decline. After beating Real Madrid and knocking out AC Milan and Juventus in Europe, financial crisis forced player sales, causing back-to-back relegations in 1972-73 and 1973-74 — a cycle of boom and bust they've repeated ever since.
• 4.Portsmouth were relegated three times in four seasons after winning the 2008 FA Cup. Crippled by reckless owners, HMRC winding-up orders, and three separate points deductions totalling 29 points, Pompy dropped to League Two by 2013 — six years after hosting AC Milan in the UEFA Cup.
• 5.FC Dnipro dropped three divisions in two years via administrative punishment. Europa League finalists in 2015, they were stripped of licenses and deducted 12, then 24, then 18 points across consecutive seasons after oligarch Kolomoisky's withdrawal, eventually dissolving entirely in 2019 with their phoenix club also collapsing in 2024.
• 6.CD Tenerife suffered back-to-back relegations in 2009-10 and 2010-11. Returning to La Liga for the first time in years, they fell straight back down, then collapsed further through the Spanish pyramid under a reported €40 million debt and five different head coaches in a single season.
• 7.Luton Town suffered three consecutive relegations between 2007 and 2009, including a record 30-point deduction. Dropping from the Championship to the non-league game, they spent five years in the Conference before rising back to the Premier League — only to immediately suffer back-to-back relegations again in 2024 and 2025.
• 8.FC Angie Makhachka imploded after Suleiman Kerimov slashed their $180m budget to near zero. Having signed Roberto Carlos, Samuel Eto'o (reportedly the world's highest-paid player), and appointed Guus Hiddink, the club fell from third in Russia's top flight to regional fifth-tier semi-professional status within a decade.