Teams with the Longest Unbeaten Runs in African History

Ducor Sports digs through African football history to compile a list of teams with the greatest feats of going on a rampage without tasting defeat in a league campaign. The list is bulky but we opted to trim it down to the top most impressive.

Al Hilal – Formed 88 years ago by four college graduates in the middle of the night and allowed to operate after the quartet persuaded the British colonialists of the team’s non-participation in uprisings, Al Hilal of Sudan –first team to be called Al Hilal –is today the most successful club in Sudanese history.

From 1930 to now, they’ve amassed fifty (50) total gongs to show for, twenty-seven (27) of those being league titles.

The Blue Waves’ dominance began in 2005 under Tunisian-born coach Sofiane Elhaydosi but Brazilian gaffer Heron Ricardo Ferreira upped the levels when he led them to a second-place finish, tasting defeat only once the entire season.

They would scoop the league’s staked prize two years later registering two defeats and clutching 70 points. It got even better in 2012. That year, Al Hilal shattered the record books garnering 69 points in a possible 78 points scoring 62 goals in 26 games with an impressive zero defeat. French-born coach Diego Gazzito was the genius of that with attacking midfielder Haitham Mustafa, now 41, his team captain.

The achievement was repeated last year with the expansion of the league to 34 clubs making it all the more special. Mohamedelfati Hijazi was the man leading them from the dug-out, as they recorded 23 wins in 34 outings, zero losses and 11 draws as they secured a whopping 80 points in a possible 102.

ASEC Mimosas– We would style them Masters of the Unbeaten Game. Didier Zakora, The Toure brothers ( Yaya and Kolo), Kopa Barry, Arthur Boka, Gervinho, Emmanuel Eboue all came off Ivory Coast Mimosas’ production line.

For once an African team dominates the football world as ASEC has the longest unbeaten track record in the history of the game –going five years without defeat (1989-1994) winning six trophies in 108 games. The run ended with a 2-1 loss to So Armee.

Gor Mahia– The farthest they’ve gone in the CAF Champions League is the quarter-finals in 1992, five years after they conquered the CAF Cup Winners’ Cup now named the CAF Confederation Cup.

The outfit’s return to dominance was in 2013, breaking an eight-year league silverware drought before going on to clinch it five straight times, apart from 2016. Led by Ambrose Rachier as chairman, the serial Kenyan champions are not one of the big name sides on the continent but remain highly revered in East Africa.

In 2015, they led a historic march to the Kenyan Premier League title, winning twenty-four (24) of their thirty-four (34) sanctioned outings, drawing ten of them. That year, The Earthquakes (another sobriquet for the club) garnered 78 points with a shocking 20 points between them and second-placed Nakuru-based Ulinizi Stars.

Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club– One of the stand-out outfits in the 16-team championship of Ghana, Hearts of Oak won the West African nation’s domestic title twenty times and the FA Cup half that number.

The capital team went unbeaten in 30 straight encounters in 2003.

Esperance– Moneybags in the sport in Africa, the current champions of the continent boast of an 85-match unbeaten streak between 2000-2001.