Plus: hat-tricks against the same opponent for different teams, more yo-yo teams and the transfer window’s origin. “Juventus are unbeaten in Serie A yet have been bobbing around fourth and fifth all season,” wrote Ricardo Bortolon last week. “I know there are a number of teams who stayed unbeaten all season and came second, but has anybody finished lower than that without losing a game?”.
![[Perugia take on Juventus in December 1979, a season when they didn’t lose again but finished behind Milan.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b7b5156d4379a807a68d2da992792e1ee2500bb1/0_0_6024_3780/master/6024.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Juventus’s unbeaten run fell at the 22nd hurdle when they were beaten 2-1 by Napoli on Saturday, but we won’t be letting that get in the way of a good trivia question. Before we get to the main answer, it’s worth revisiting the most famous example of an unbeaten team who came second. In 1978-79, Perugia finished three points behind Milan in Serie A after an extraordinary campaign: P30 W11 D19 L0 F34 A16 Pts41. Their away record was even more striking: three wins, 12 draws. You can read more about it in Scott Murray’s Joy of Six.
![[The Somali National League table at the end of the 2012 season]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/907a80c1f255255ebdc51b0fce9b48f6d8f0554d/0_0_1496_792/master/1496.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Right, to business. With the considerable help of the marvellous RSSSF, not to mention our dear readers, we’ve been able to find a handful of unbeaten also-rans. All the examples are from men’s football; the best we could find in the women’s game were teams who finished second.
![[The Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio table after the league stage of the 1989-90 season.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/2d527e078846f00323cba2b32d4d56566362ce7f/0_0_1026_640/master/1026.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Where else to start but in Cuba in 1970-71, where the top three teams were all unbeaten. This was bad news for Industriales, who came third with a record of P9 W4 D5 L0. Two of those four wins were by an 8-0 scoreline, which must have made all the draws even more confusing.
![[The 1999 Championnat du Sri Lanka de football table at the end of the league phase.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/921ccfe4fb08a1833b07608c212e9e204cfb0f35/0_0_1072_996/master/1072.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
At least two other teams have finished third without losing a game: Kahrabaa Al-Wusta in Iraq in 1971-72 (P7 W2 D5 L0) and LLPP Jeenyo in Somalia in 2012. The first example comes with an asterisk: Kahrabaa Al-Wusta lost 2-0 to Jami’at Baghdad but were awarded a 2-0 win because their opponents fielded a couple of ineligible players.
![[The 2019 Ligue Haïtienne Ouverture table.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6217754fb998f6563163628ade9d2f77f2cb9222/0_0_1032_996/master/1032.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
