Hamburg's midfielder Nicolai Mueller scores the winning goal past Karlsruhe's goalkeeper Dirk Orlishausen during the relegation play-off second leg against Karlsruher SC. — Hamburg’s Nicolai Müller scores the winning goal past Karlsruhe’s goalkeeper Dirk Orlishausen during the relegation play-off second leg. Photograph: Thomas Kienzle/AFP/Getty Images

Which European football clubs have never been relegated?

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Thanks to a play-off win over Karlsruhe, Hamburg SV remain one of the few European clubs to have never been relegated from their country’s top division

Hamburg SV remain the only football club to have never been relegated from the Bundesliga since the league was founded in 1963 after defeating Karlsruhe 2-1 in a play-off on Monday night.

Karlsruhe 1-2 Hamburg (2-3 on agg) | Bundesliga play-off match report

Thanks to Nicolai Müller’s extra time strike, the three times German champions stay part of a very small group of European clubs to have never dropped from their respective country’s top division.

Here are the other clubs that have never faced the humiliation of relegation.

Italy

Internazionale are the only Italian club to have always played in Serie A.

Spain

Unsurprisingly, Real Madrid and Barcelona have never been relegated from Spain’s highest division. The two Spanish giants are joined in this particular honour by the Basque club Athletic Bilbao.

Although they have never been relegated from La Liga, Getafe CF only made the top flight in 2004-05. Prior to that the club played for decades in the country’s lower divisions.

Barcelona's Neymar with the trophy after their La Liga title triumph. — Barcelona’s Neymar with the trophy after their La Liga title triumph. Photograph: Miguel Ruiz/FC Barcelona via Getty Images

Netherlands

Four clubs have always played in the country’s highest division: Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV, and FC Utrecht.

Portugal

None of Portugal’s most successful clubs – Benfica, FC Porto and Sporting Lisbon – has ever fallen from the perch of the Primeira Liga.

France

It’s complicated. FC Paris Saint-Germain have never formally been relegated. However, in 1972 the club split into two. One branch joined CA Montreuil and continued in the first division under the name of Paris FC, while PSG assumed amateur status and had to restart in the third division. PSG returned to first division in 1973-74 and has never looked back since.

Russia

If you include the Soviet Union, Dinamo Moscow are the only Russian club to have always played at the highest level. In fact they were among the founding members of the Soviet Supreme League and have played at the top level without interruption since 1936.

Alongside Dinamo, Moscow’s other big clubs, Spartak, Lokomotiv, and CSKA, have never been relegated from Russia’s various iterations of its top division since 1992.

Zoran Tosic of CSKA Moscow. Photograph: Epsilon/Getty Images

Greece

Olympiakos, Panathinaikos, and PAOK have all continuously played in the top Greek division since 1959.

Turkey

Three clubs – Besiktas, Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray – have played uninterrupted in the top Turkish division since 1959, and have never faced relegation.

Trabzonspor, who were formed only in 1967, reached the highest division in 1974-75 and won the title in that same season. The club has never been relegated since.

Scotland

Only two clubs have always played in Scotland’s top division: Celtic (since 1890) and Aberdeen (since 1905).

Aberdeen's Adam Rooney, centre. — Aberdeen’s Adam Rooney, centre. Photograph: Graham Stuart/Action Images

England

Since the start of the Premier League in 1992, seven clubs have never faced the drop: Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Manchester United, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.

However, there are no English clubs currently in existence that have never been relegated from the country’s top division. Arsenal are the team with the longest run since they were last relegated (in 1912-13 from Division One).

You can find details for more countries here.

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