Liverpool’s Carabao Cup win last weekend extended the North West’s haul of major trophies to 156, reinforcing it as English football’s strongest region by a distance. The North West has gathered more honours than all other regions aside from London put together — and the dominance has been even stronger in recent decades, as will be seen later.
It was Liverpool’s 46th major trophy (the definition of which is at the bottom of the first chart), three ahead of Manchester United, their big rivals and forthcoming FA Cup quarter-final opponents at Old Trafford. That pair’s combined figure alone is more than London’s total and is at least twice as big as those of each of the other eight regions.
As the chart shows, Aston Villa have won half of the West Midlands’ 40 trophies, while Nottingham Forest have contributed half of the East Midlands’ tally and Newcastle United have been responsible for more than half of the North East’s successes.
Major trophies won by region*
North West: 156 (64 league)
By club: Liverpool 46, Man Utd 43, Man City 26, Everton 15, Blackburn Rovers 10, Preston 4, Bolton 4, Burnley 3, Bury 2, Blackpool 1, Blackburn Olympic 1, Wigan 1
London: 87 (21 league)
By club: Arsenal 31, Chelsea 25, Tottenham 17, West Ham 5, Wanderers 5, Clapham 1, Charlton 1, Wimbledon 1, QPR 1
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West Midlands: 40 (11 league)
By club: Aston Villa 20, Wolves 9, West Brom 7, Birmingham 2, Coventry 1, Stoke 1
Yorkshire and the Humber: 26 (11 league)
By club: Sheff Wed 8, Leeds 7, Sheff Utd 5, Huddersfield 4, Barnsley 1, Bradford 1
North East: 20 (10 league)
By club: Newcastle 11, Sunderland 8, Middlesbrough 1
East Midlands: 18 (4 league)
By club: Nottm Forest 9, Leicester 5, Derby 3, Notts Co 1
South East: 11 (2 league)
By club: Portsmouth 4, Old Etonians 2, Oxford University 1, Royal Engineers 1, Old Carthusians 1, Southampton 1, Oxford 1
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East of England: 6 (1 league)
By club: Ipswich 3, Norwich 2, Luton 1
Wales: 2 (0 league)
By club: Cardiff 1, Swansea 1
South West: 1 (0 league)
By club: Swindon 1
*League, FA Cup, League Cup; European Cup/Champions League, Cup Winners’ Cup, Fairs Cup/Uefa Cup/Europa League, Europa Conference League. Excludes short tournaments (eg Club World Cup) or one-off games (eg Charity Shield, European Super Cup)
Areas assessed are Wales plus the nine government office regions of England
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The North West also holds a comfortable lead in the count of seasons played in the top flight, with Everton the biggest contributors on 121. Manchester United will next season become the fifth club to reach 100 top-division campaigns, also joining Aston Villa, Liverpool and Arsenal.
While the North West has totalled 753 top-flight seasons, the South West — the largest of the ten regions by area — has managed only 17: Bristol City have played nine, Bournemouth seven and Swindon Town one.
Combined seasons spent in top division
North West: 753
By club: Everton 121, Liverpool 109, Man Utd 99, Man City 95, Bolton 73, Blackburn 72, Burnley 60, Preston 46, Blackpool 28, Bury 22, Oldham 12, Wigan 8, Accrington 5, Darwen 2, Carlisle 1
London: 478
By club: Arsenal 107, Chelsea 89, Tottenham 89, West Ham 66, Fulham 29, Charlton 26, Crystal Palace 24, QPR 23, Wimbledon 14, Brentford 8, Millwall 2, Leyton Orient 1
West Midlands: 413
By club: Aston Villa 110, West Brom 81, Wolves 69, Stoke 62, Birmingham 57, Coventry 34
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Yorkshire and the Humber: 247
By club: Sheff Wed 66, Sheff Utd 63, Leeds 53, Huddersfield 32, Bradford City 12, Grimsby 12, Hull 5, Bradford Park Avenue 3, Barnsley 1
North East: 239
By club: Newcastle 92, Sunderland 86, Middlesbrough 61
East Midlands: 210
By club: Derby 65, Nottm Forest 58, Leicester 55, Notts Co 30, Glossop 1, Northampton 1
South East: 96
By club: Southampton 46, Portsmouth 33, Brighton 11, Oxford 3, Reading 3
East of England: 84
By club: Norwich 27, Ipswich 26, Luton 17, Watford 14
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Wales: 26
By club: Cardiff 17, Swansea 9
South West: 17
By club: Bristol City 9, Bournemouth 7, Swindon 1
This table changes a little when population is considered, although the North West remains top and the South West bottom. The North East, with a relatively small population of 2.6 million, is second behind the North West in terms of the number of top-flight seasons per one million people. The West Midlands also moves above London.
When trophy wins are separated by era the decline of the West Midlands, North East and Yorkshire is clear. Those three regions totalled 60 triumphs up to 1960 but since then (a period of similar length but with the League Cup and European competition increasing the number of trophies on offer) they have managed only 26.
London, whose trophy search was hampered a little before the First World War by the limited numbers of southern clubs admitted to the league, has left all regions — aside from the North West — far behind over the past few decades.
Only two of the past 42 league titles have not gone to the North West or London (Leeds United in 1992 and Leicester City in 2016) and only three of the past 45 editions of the FA Cup have not been won by those two regions (Coventry City in 1987, Portsmouth in 2008 and Leicester in 2021). Birmingham City’s 2011 League Cup triumph is the West Midlands’ only trophy since Aston Villa won the same competition in 1996; Middlesbrough’s League Cup success of 2004 is the only North East silverware since Sunderland won the FA Cup in 1973; and no trophy has gone to Yorkshire since Leeds became champions in 1992.
