The Dutch giants blew a nine-point lead in the final five games of the campaign to become the latest side to throw away an almost-guaranteed trophy
No matter how far clear a team is at the top of the table heading into the final weeks of a season, football fans around the world know that a title isn't won until it's mathematically won. Never more does that hit home when a team collapses from a seemingly impossible position to hand their rivals the league trophy in the final stretch.
In 2024-25, it is Ajax who have suffered the ignominy of bottling what looked an almost-certain triumph just a few weeks ago. Francesco Farioli's side sat nine points clear of second-placed PSV with just five games of the Eredivisie season remaining, and the vast majority of supporters in the Netherlands already believed that Ajax's name was on the trophy.
However, a run of four games without a win, including heavy defeats to both Sparta Rotterdam and NEC Nijmegen, as well as a draw with 10-man Groningen during which the mid-table side scored a 99th-minute equaliser, suddenly left Ajax a point behind PSV going into the final day. And though Jordan Henderson and co. got back to winning ways against FC Twente, PSV got the victory they needed to secure a title that they had all-but given up on less than two months earlier.
Ajax's collapse, per , is the biggest by any team in European football history, so with that in mind, GOAL has ranked the worst collapses in recent history to have preceded the Dutch giants' remarkable late-season fall…
Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱6Manchester United (1997-98)
In March 1998, Manchester United enjoyed a 12-point lead over Arsenal. However, the Gunners finished the season in incredible fashion, winning 10 games in a row to overtake the Red Devils at the top of the table, despite some bookmakers actually paying out on a United title triumph.
The Gunners took advantage of their games in hand over United to pip them to glory, and sealed their victory with two games of the campaign remaining.
United would have had a 14-point lead if they had beaten Sheffield Wednesday in March and, having thumped the Owls 6-1 at home earlier in the season, the result did not look in question. Instead, they lost 2-0, before then drawing 1-1 with West Ham.
United were, though, still top going into their do-or-die clash with the Gunners at Old Trafford in May, but Marc Overmars scored a vital winner for the visitors, moving them six points behind their title rivals with three games in hand. And so by the time United kicked-off their final home game, Arsenal were already champions.
Arsene Wenger's side subsequently became only the third team to win the Premier League title after United and Blackburn Rovers, but Ferguson's men would recover to win the treble the following season.
Advertisement5Arsenal (2007-08)
Arsenal sold Thierry Henry in the summer before the 2007-08 season, but without him they developed into a force to be reckoned with, having acquired striker Eduardo to replace the Frenchman, while also placing their trust in Emmanuel Adebayor, who would go on to score 24 league goals over the course of the campaign.
With a new-look frontline, the Gunners opened up a five-point lead with 12 games of the season left having embarked on a run that saw them lose just once in the first half of the campaign. Then, they went to St Andrews to play Birmingham City. The game not only ended in a disappointing 2-2 draw, but Eduardo also sustained a horrific broken ankle while captain William Gallas had what can only be described as a meltdown on the pitch at full-time.
With their captain abdicating responsibility, Arsenal won just one of their next eight games, drawing with the likes of Wigan and Middlesbrough, and were beaten by eventual champions Manchester United.
Arsenal only lost three times in their 38 league games, but they eventually finished third, four points behind the Red Devils. Had Gallas simply kept it together, one has to wonder if the Gunners might have found a way to get over the line for the first time since 2004.
Getty Images Sport4Liverpool (2013-14)
'This does not f*cking slip now'. Steven Gerrard's famous last words proved all too prescient for Liverpool.
The Reds were five points clear after 35 games in 2014, and having beaten Manchester City 3-2 at Anfield, Gerrard gave the Reds a pep talk that was picked up by microphones, in which he maintained the players must keep their focus in the final weeks of the campaign as they needed just seven points from their final three games, against Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Newcastle, to win their first title in a generation.
Instead, Gerrard slipped against the Blues as the Reds lost 2-0 at home before – as the commentary famously said – Liverpool "caved in" at Selhurst Park, throwing away a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 with Palace.
Brendan Rodgers' side recovered to beat Newcastle on the final day, but it wasn't enough, and the title was on its way to Manchester City. It did, indeed, slip.
Getty Images3Newcastle United (1995-96)
Newcastle's Premier League title collapse in 1996 is probably the most memorable in England's top-flight history. With manager Kevin Keegan at the helm, the Magpies' free-wheeling attacking football saw them dubbed the 'Great Entertainers', and they enjoyed a 12-point lead over Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United by mid-January.
The mind games, though, would begin thereafter, culminating in Keegan's infamous 'I will love it' rant.
Between February and April, Newcastle won just two of their eight games, in a run that included one of the greatest fixtures the league has ever seen; their 4-3 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield. Keegan was left slumped over the advertising hoardings as Stan Collymore scored the Reds' late winner, and United only lost one more game for the remainder of the season to overtake the Magpies.
Come the final day of the season, Ferguson's men were champions once more, four points ahead of Keegan's side. So close, yet so far.
