Teams that won leagues in other countries

Here we will talk about teams that have won the first tier league of a country other than their own, something that is clearly not very common in the world of football. On this site we have already talked about the case of Rapid Vienna, who were champions of the German Bundesliga in 1941, although at that time, Austria was part of the Teutonic country.

One fat trophy in the hands of a true winner

In this case, we are going to exclude cases of that type, such as teams that won leagues in the USSR, Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia, which today are no longer part of those dissolved countries but which were at that time. Also excluded are cases such as AS Monaco, formed by the union of several French and Monegasque clubs or The New Saints of Wales, which emerged from the merger of two clubs, one Welsh and the other English. Having made our criteria clear, we move on to the list of teams.

Derry City

Derry City is a club founded and based in Derry, Northern Ireland, and was once champion in the 1964-65 season. However, in 1971, due to the conflicts within the country known as the Troubles, Derry could not play at its stadium, Brandywell. This led to the team starting to play some 50 km away, something that led to a conflict between the club and the league that ended with Derry leaving the competition.

The club played at an amateur level for 13 years until it was accepted into the football system of the Republic of Ireland in 1985. The Northern Irish club started out in the second tier of the Irish league system, but in their second season they earned promotion to the first tier. In the 1988-89 season, their second at the top level of Irish football, they achieved something that remains unmatched in the country: they won a domestic treble, winning the league, the FAI Cup and the League of Ireland Cup. Derry plays in the Irish league system to this day, and they have won several titles after their historic treble.

DPMM

Duli Pengiran Muda Mahkota Football Club, better known as DPMM, is a team based in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. The club was founded in 1994 and started playing at the lower levels in Brunei until turning professional in 2000 and by the early 2000s had become a major force in their country. In that region of Asia, there have been many instances of teams from one country playing in another's league and DPMM, in 2005, joined the Malaysia football system.

Like Derry City, DPMM began their journey in Malaysia in the second tier, although they achieved promotion to the highest league already in their first season. After a couple more seasons in Malaysia, the club moved to Singapore in 2009, although at one stage of the season, the Brunei federation was sanctioned by FIFA, which complicated DPMM's participation in Singapore. The sanction lasted 20 months, so the club returned to active state in 2012, where they were runners-up and in 2015, they finally won the Singapore league, something they would repeat in 2019.

LionsXII

Continuing with Asian football, we find LionsXIII, a club from Singapore, founded in 2011 and which disappeared in 2015. During its existence, it was part of the Malaysian football system as a result of an agreement between the federations of both countries. The idea was to form a team with only Singaporean players and that most of them were under-23, so that they could prepare and gain experience. In their first season, 2012, they finished second in the league and in 2013, they were crowned champions of Malaysia. In 2015, the Singapore federation decided not to renew the agreement with its Malaysian counterpart and therefore, the team could not continue participating in that country's league, which led to the dissolvement of LionsXII.

Toronto FC

The sporting collaboration between the United States and Canada is well-known and extensive and applies to the vast majority of sports, and football is no exception. Like the Vancouver Whitecaps and CF Montreal, Toronto FC has participated in the MLS since 2007, and in 2008 began participating in the nascent Canadian Championship as one of the founding clubs, although the club has existed since 2005. Although it has always been one of the most important clubs in Canada, it was not until 2017 that it was able to be crowned in the MLS, also winning the Supporters Shield and the Canadian Championship, forming a historic treble that has not been repeated to date.

Albirex Niigata Singapore FC

We close with a very particular case, that of Albirex Niigata, which is a Japanese club with a certain tradition in its country although it has never won the J1 League. The club has a subsidiary or satellite team in the Singapore league called Albirex Niigata Singapore, formed in 2004, when the federation of that country decided to accept foreign teams in the league to increase the competitive level of its competition, something that we have seen is relatively common in that part of the world.

The club was intended to provide playing time for Japanese college players and young players with little experience in the J1 League, although over time, they have been accepting more and more players from Singapore. Since joining the league, the club has seen progressive growth and in the last decade, it can boast of having won 6 Singapore leagues and having won one, in 2018, as undefeated. The club attributes part of its success to a strict code of conduct that increases discipline within the club while fostering team spirit.