Cristiano Ronaldo has one of the most impressive career records in football history, yet has unexpectedly secured only a handful of league championships since his world-record transfer. Real Madrid way back in 2009.
By the time he reached 24, the Portuguese national team player had secured nearly as many league championships (three Premier League wins with Manchester United) as he did in the following 16-year period—just four, two each at Real Madrid and Juventus.
Even though he continues to score frequently, Ronaldo has not secured the Saudi Pro League title with Al Nassr—and it seems increasingly likely that they will fail to claim victory during the 2024-25 season as well.
We've pinpointed five athletes who have unexpectedly claimed more league championships than the iconic goalscorer following his transfer to Real Madrid during the summer of 2009.
Luis Suarez
It shouldn’t come as too much of a shock that Suarez is featured here. As one of the premier scorers of his era, he has played for several elite clubs with remarkable success throughout the last fifteen years or so.
It is remarkable that Suarez has emerged victorious. twice as many league titles.
When Ronaldo joined Real Madrid from Manchester United for a then-world record transfer fee during the summer of 2009, Suarez was just beginning to establish his reputation playing somewhat anonymously for Ajax, a team that had found difficulty securing trophies despite having the legendary Marco van Basten as their manager.
Following his impressive performance with Ajax, where he netted 49 goals across all competitions during the 2009-10 season, he burst onto the global stage as a promising prodigy—and a notably contentious one—especially when he played a key part in leading Uruguay into the semifinals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Surprisingly, Suarez’s Ajax failed to secure the Eredivisie title that season. However, he managed to get a winners' medal the next year, even after being transferred to Liverpool midway through the season.
He notably fell short of winning the Premier League during his three-and-a-half-year stint in England, but secured four La Liga titles in six years at Barcelona before adding a sixth title following his transfer to Atletico Madrid. This tally is three more championships than what Ronaldo achieved over the same duration in Spain.
During his later years, he has claimed victory in the Uruguayan league with his hometown club Nacional, secured a regional championship with Brazilian side Grêmio, and also won the Supporters' Shield—awarded to the MLS team with the top regular-season performance, which we typically consider as winning the league—with Inter Miami.
In terms of achievements, Ronaldo’s longstanding adversary Lionel Messi has secured 10 league championships – which is six more than Ronaldo – since the summer of 2009. Four of these victories occurred when both players competed against each other at Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Lucas Moura
There were plenty of relatively common, unspectacular players at top-tier clubs who accumulated numerous trophies – with Sergi Roberto, Stephan Lichtsteiner, and Maxwell being some of the ones we thought about adding to our list.
However, our attention was drawn irresistibly to Moura, who delivered an unforgettable Champions League semifinal hat-trick against Ajax—a performance that sharply contrasted with the indifferent impression he made during his five years at Tottenham.
Before joining his current club in North London, Moura secured five championships in France's top division with PSG. He joined Tottenham halfway through the 2017-18 season but was able to claim a winners' medal despite spending much of his first term largely unused.
Nuno Mendes
When Ronaldo, who has since become his teammate and captain at Portugal, made that groundbreaking transfer to Madrid, the left-back—who is considered the best in the world right now—had barely celebrated his seventh birthday.
Although he's just 22 years old, he already boasts five league championships, including an impressive streak of four consecutive Ligue 1 titles after leaving Ruben Amorim's Portuguese champion club Sporting Lisbon during his teenage years in 2021.
Mario Gotze
The player from Germany did not make his professional debut until the 2009-10 season, at which point he began to shine as a promising talent under Jurgen Klopp’s guidance with the exceptional Borussia Dortmund team, securing consecutive Bundesliga championships.
He went on to win three additional titles at Bayern Munich, although he did not become one of the key players of that squad as anticipated. It has been nine years since his return to Dortmund, during which they haven’t secured any league championships. However, he can still claim to have more accolades since 2009 compared to Ronaldo.
Gotze can also boast about another achievement that eludes Ronaldo – scoring in the knockout stages of the World Cup. You know the one.
Andrea Pirlo
...there he is, Pirlo, who has ceased playing in Europe a decade ago and retired his boots in 2017.
The renowned Italian midfielder has spent the last five years coaching, which included a stint as Ronaldo's manager during the 2020-21 season at Juventus. During his tenure, the team secured fourth place and broke their streak of nine consecutive championships. Despite this, he retains more league titles since 2009 compared to the forward, who consistently plays for teams known for competing strongly for top honors in the league.
Before joining Juventus in 2009-10 where he claimed just his second league championship with AC Milan, Pirlo went on to become one of the key figures behind Juventus' supremacy throughout the 2010s. During his tenure at Juventus from 2011 to 2015, he led the team to win the Serie A title every single season for four consecutive years.
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