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A perfect season is a sports
season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
, including any requisite
playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
portion, in which a team remains and finishes undefeated and untied. The feat is extremely rare at the professional level of any team sport, but has occurred more commonly at the collegiate and scholastic levels in the United States. A perfect regular season (known by other names outside the United States) is a season ''excluding'' any playoffs, where a team remains undefeated and untied; it is less rare than a complete perfect season but still exceptional. A perfect season may be part of a multi-season
winning streak A winning streak, also known as a win streak or hot streak, is an uninterrupted sequence of success in games or competitions, commonly measured by at least three wins that are uninterrupted by losses or ties. In sports, it can be applied to te ...
, or even a streak of perfect seasons. Exhibition games are generally not counted toward standings, for or against. For example, the 1972 Miami Dolphins (below) lost three of their preseason ("exhibition" games in 1972 NFL vernacular) games but are considered to have had a perfect season.


Basketball

Basketball leagues outside the
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
tend to be shorter than the NBA's 82-game season, thus making a perfect season more achievable. , the 2015–16 Golden State Warriors have the best ever regular-season record in the NBA, with a record of 73–9, breaking the 1995–96 Chicago Bulls record of 72–10. However, the Warriors would end up losing in the
2016 NBA Finals The 2016 NBA Finals was the NBA Finals, championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2015–16 NBA season, 2015–16 season and conclusion of the 2016 NBA playoffs, season's playoffs. In this best-of-seven series, and a rema ...
to the
Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...
. Khimik won the 2014–15 Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague by winning all 30 regular season games, and winning all playoff games, for a 36–0 overall record. The
American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...
has seen three perfect seasons: the Shreveport-Bossier Mavericks ( 2013–14 and 2014–15) and Jacksonville Giants (2020–21). Fenerbahçe Women's Basketball team scored a perfect season in the 2023–24
Women's Basketball Super League The Women's Basketball Super League (, KBSL), also known as the ING Women's Basketball Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the top women's professional basketball division of the Turkish women's basketball league system. The league was establ ...
by winning all 28 season games. The team also won all the championships that they competed in during the 2023–24 season: Turkish Women's Basketball Cup, FIBA Europe SuperCup Women and EuroLeague Women. Potawatomi Fire had a perfect season in 2024 as members of
The Basketball League The Basketball League (TBL), formerly North America Premier Basketball (NAPB), is a professional basketball league. The league began operating in North America in 2018 with eight teams, and has since expanded. TBL's regular season runs from Feb ...
. The Raleigh Aces of the Women's American Basketball Association had a perfect season in 2024.


Cricket


County cricket

English first-class
county cricket Inter-county cricket matches have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Two county championship competitions have existed since the late 19th century at ...
has existed as the top tier of domestic cricket in England since the middle nineteenth century, and until the 1950s it was up to the highest standard of the game. Seasons have varied in length: before the 1880s, they were generally less than ten matches in length and some "first-class" counties played only against one or two different opponents, so that a team winning all its games was not implausible. Between
1887 Events January * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the United States Navy to lease Pearl Har ...
and
1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...
, seasons were gradually increased in length to a standard twenty-eight matches for all counties. However, because of the development and popularity of one-day cricket, seasons have been reduced to twenty-four games in
1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...
and twenty in
1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...
, though this was increased by two in
1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...
and
1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...
. With an increase to four days for all games, sixteen or seventeen games have been played since
1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...
. Also, because of improvements to pitches via the heavy roller and covering to protect from rain, the proportion of games "drawn" (not finished) has steadily risen since the 1870s. Since tables of results have been kept in
1864 Events January * January 13 – American songwriter Stephen Foster ("Oh! Susanna", "Old Folks at Home") dies aged 37 in New York City, leaving a scrap of paper reading "Dear friends and gentle hearts". His parlor song "Beautiful Dream ...
,Wynne-Thomas, Peter; ''The Rigby A-Z of Cricket Records''; pp. 53 to 67. the only team to have competed a true perfect season—winning outright every game—was
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
in
1867 There were only 354 days this year in the newly purchased territory of Alaska. When the territory transferred from the Russian Empire to the United States, the calendric transition from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar was made with only 1 ...
when led by George Freeman's and Tom Emmett's deadly fast bowling on uncovered and unrolled pitches, they won all seven county games. Since 1868 numerous county teams in longer schedules have finished a season unbeaten, but none have managed to win every single game outright:


American football


National Football League

Since the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
began in
1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...
, only one team has played a perfect season (both regular season and playoffs): the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who won all fourteen of their regular season games and three postseason games, including
Super Bowl VII Super Bowl VII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...
, to finish the season 17–0–0. The next year the Dolphins extended their winning streak to 18 before losing their second game to the Oakland Raiders on September 23, 1973. It has often been reported that the surviving members of the 1972 Dolphins would, every season, either gather to drink champagne when the final undefeated team earned its first loss of the year, or send a case of champagne to the team who beat this final undefeated team. The head coach of the 1972 Dolphins,
Don Shula Donald Francis Shula ( ; January 4, 1930 – May 4, 2020) was an American professional American football, football player, coach and executive who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1995. He played seven s ...
, denied this in a 2007 interview with ESPN. On August 20, 2013, four decades after their accomplishment, President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
hosted the 1972 Dolphins noting that they "never got their
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
visit".


NFL undefeated seasons (with ties) before 1932

Until the development of a playoff system in the NFL in
1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...
, there were four teams who completed seasons undefeated, but with one or more tied games: the 1920 Akron Pros, the 1922 Canton Bulldogs, the 1923 Canton Bulldogs, and the 1929 Green Bay Packers. According to the 2012 NFL Record & Fact Book, under NFL practices at the time, from 1920 to 1971 tie games were not included in winning percentage (there was also no
overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...
to settle ties in the regular season until 1974) so, these four teams were recorded with perfect win percentages of 1.000. The 1921 Buffalo All-Americans were controversially denied a similar type of near-undefeated season, when they believed that their final game, a 10–7 loss to the Chicago Staleys, was an exhibition game which would not count in the final standings; the NFL records that game as official, and Buffalo's record as 9–1–2.


Other NFL perfect regular seasons

Apart from the 1972 Dolphins, three NFL teams have completed undefeated and untied regular seasons: the 1934 Chicago Bears, the 1942 Chicago Bears, and the 2007 New England Patriots. In 1934, the Bears played a 13–0–0 regular season and became the first NFL team to complete an undefeated regular season without tied games, but lost the 1934 NFL Championship Game against the New York Giants. Despite losing several players and head coach
George Halas George Stanley Halas Sr. (February 2, 1895 – October 31, 1983), nicknamed "Papa Bear", was an American professional football end, coach, and executive. He was the founder and owner of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL), ...
to military service in World War II, the 1942 Bears finished 11–0–0 but again lost the
NFL Championship Game Throughout its history, the National Football league (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national ...
, this time against the Washington Redskins. The 2007 Patriots became the first and only team under the 16-game schedule used from
1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...
to
2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
to finish the regular season undefeated. The Patriots then won their divisional and conference playoff games, but were upset by the New York Giants in
Super Bowl XLII Super Bowl XLII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...
in dramatic fashion, giving them a final record of 18–1.


Pre-NFL era and competing leagues

NFL predecessors such as the
Ohio League The Ohio League was an informal and loose association of American football clubs active between 1902 and 1919 that competed for the Ohio Independent Championship (OIC). As the name implied, its teams were mostly based in Ohio. It is the direct p ...
,
New York Pro Football League The New York Pro Football League (NYPFL) was a professional American football league, active in the 1910s, and based in upstate New York, primarily Western New York. Between 1920 and 1921, the league's best teams were absorbed into the National Foo ...
and
Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit The Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit was a loose association of American football clubs that operated from 1890 to approximately 1940. Originally amateur, professionalism was introduced to the circuit in 1892; cost pressures push ...
had many perfect seasons. In Ohio, the
Massillon Tigers The Massillon Tigers were an early professional football team from Massillon, Ohio. Playing in the " Ohio League", the team was a rival to the pre-National Football League version of the Canton Bulldogs. The Tigers won Ohio League championshi ...
(1904, 1905), Akron Indians (1909), Shelby Blues (1911), and Dayton Triangles (1918) all had perfect seasons during this era. In New York, the Buffalo Niagaras went 5–0–0 (6–0–0 including a forfeit) in a league that consisted of teams entirely from the city of Buffalo in 1918. In 1920, the Union Club of Phoenixville, in eastern Pennsylvania, played in a league mostly consisting of local teams and earned a perfect season, claiming for itself a mythical national championship. In western Pennsylvania, the
1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15 ...
and 1901 Homestead Library and Athletic Club teams, as well as the 1903
Franklin Athletic Club The Franklin Athletic Club was an early professional football team based in Franklin, Pennsylvania. It was considered the top team in professional football in 1903, by becoming the US Football Champions and winning the 1903 World Series of Fo ...
, all had perfect seasons. The caliber of talent was neither as high nor as consistent between teams at the time, the seasons were generally shorter (7 to 11 games), and it was not uncommon for top teams to play all their games at home while lesser teams played all of their games on the road. In 1918, Dayton and Buffalo had the additional advantage of having its strongest competitors suspend operations due to the
Spanish flu The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...
and the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, restrictions that also prevented the two teams from playing each other. Thus, it was much easier to earn a perfect season than it would become in the NFL.


1937 Los Angeles Bulldogs

The Los Angeles Bulldogs were a member of the second American Football League, who joined the league in 1937 after the Cleveland Rams defected to the NFL. Playing a combination of AFL teams and independent franchises (such as the Providence Steam Roller and the Salinas Packers), the team went 16–0, with 8 of those wins coming against AFL teams. The Bulldogs’ dominance is cited as one of the key factors in the AFL's demise, and the next season as an independent with a 10–2–2 record including a 2–1–2 record against NFL teams, several of the team's players were invited to play on the "Pro All Stars" team in the NFL's first Pro All-Star Game in Los Angeles. The Bulldogs are considered to be one of the few independent teams to have ever achieved parity with the NFL.


1948 Cleveland Browns

The Browns were a member of the
All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a major professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many ...
, a professional football league that played from 1946 to 1949. In 1948, the Browns won all fourteen regular season games and the 1948 AAFC championship to post a 14–0–0 record. Cleveland's perfect 1948 season was part of a longer string of 29 straight wins, which stretched from 1947 to 1949 and included both the 1947 and 1948 title games. Overall, the Browns won all four AAFC championship games and were accepted into the NFL when the two leagues merged after the 1949 season. On April 1, 2025, the NFL voted to recognize the AAFC statistics on par with the NFL's, awarding the 1948 Browns perfect season full recognition.


Near-perfect seasons

Since the NFL expanded to a fourteen-game regular season in
1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...
(being expanded twice since then), eleven teams have had regular seasons with one loss and no ties (or better) while failing to achieve a perfect season: Most of these teams above suffered their only regular-season loss early in the season and, other than the 2007 Patriots (started regular season and playoffs 18–0), only the 1962 Packers (10–0), 1985 Bears (12–0), 2011 Packers (13–0), and 2015 Panthers (14–0) were on track for a perfect season when they lost. Coincidentally, the 1985 Bears’ lone loss came to the Miami Dolphins. The best start from an NFL team who failed to complete a perfect regular season is shared by two teams: the
2009 Indianapolis Colts The 2009 NFL season, 2009 season was the Indianapolis Colts' 57th in the National Football League (NFL) and their 26th in Indianapolis. It was the first season since 2001 Indianapolis Colts season, 2001 that the Colts did not have Tony Dungy on ...
, who started 14–0 before losing their final two regular season games to the
New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...
and the
Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...
to finish 14–2, and the 2015 Carolina Panthers, who went 14–0 before losing to the
Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...
and going on to finish the regular season 15–1. The 2009 Colts, having clinched the top seed in the AFC, sacrificed their chances at a perfect regular season and instead rested their starters the final two games to protect them for the playoffs, on orders from then General Manager Bill Polian. The Colts faced immense criticism from their players, their fans, and the media for letting their chances of a perfect season slip away. The Colts would go on to
Super Bowl XLIV Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champions New Orleans Saints and the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Indianapolis Colts to decide the National Football League (NFL) c ...
but lost to the
New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...
. The 2015 Panthers were not resting their starters at the time of their loss (at the time, the
Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...
were 13–2 and still had an opportunity to surpass the Panthers for the top seed in the NFC). Four other teams have started 13–0 before losing in their fourteenth game: the 1998 Denver Broncos, 2005 Indianapolis Colts, 2009 New Orleans Saints and 2011 Green Bay Packers (Of those near-perfect seasons, the 2005 Colts and the 2011 Packers did not win a single playoff game). The 1998 Broncos, 2005 Colts and 2009 Saints lost at least two of their final three games but the Broncos and Saints recovered to win the Super Bowl. The 1953 Cleveland Browns and 1969 Los Angeles Rams started 11–0 in twelve- and fourteen-game seasons respectively; both lost their only playoff game.


Other leagues

The following is a list of teams in minor or alternate leagues that compiled perfect seasons of six games or more, including postseason games, with no ties: *The Hollywood Bears, a member of the Pacific Coast Professional Football League, went 8–0–0 in 1941. *The Hollywood Rangers were a member of the American Football League of 1944 (formerly the Northwest War Industries League), a short-lived competitor to the Pacific Coast Professional Football League on the West Coast. In their 1944 season, they went 11–0–0 and defeated the PCPFL champion San Diego Bombers (who had also had a perfect season in their league, going 9–0–0) in a two-game series. *The Charleston Rockets of the
Continental Football League The Continental Football League (COFL) was a professional American football Minor league football (gridiron), minor league that operated in North America from 1965 through 1969. It was established following the collapse of the original United Fo ...
won all 14 games of the league's inaugural season in 1965, going on to defeat the
Toronto Rifles The Toronto Rifles were a minor-league professional American football team active between 1964 and 1967. It was based in Toronto, Ontario. The team's home fields were Maple Leaf Stadium (1965) and Varsity Stadium from 1966 to 1967.http://virology-o ...
in the league's championship. *The Hartford Knights went 17–0–0 in 1972 as a member of the Seaboard Football League, including a victory over the Chambersburg Cardinals in the league's championship. The Knights, unhappy with the level of competition (many of the Knights games had margins of victory of 40 points or more), quit the league the following year. In indoor football, the following teams have had perfect seasons: *The
Quad City Steamwheelers The Quad City Steamwheelers were a professional arena football team. They were a charter member of the AF2 and played their home games at iWireless Center in Moline, Illinois. The team was founded on September 1, 1999, when the Quad Cities was ...
went undefeated in the inaugural season of arenafootball2, accruing a record of 19–0–0 including playoffs and an ArenaCup I win. *The Ohio Valley Greyhounds of the
National Indoor Football League The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, ...
accrued a perfect season in 2003. *The Sioux Falls Storm of
United Indoor Football United Indoor Football (UIF) was an indoor American football league in the United States that operated from 2005 to 2008. Ten owners from the National Indoor Football League, including one expansion (the Dayton Warbirds, which never played a ...
won back-to-back perfect seasons in 2006 and 2007, winning the United Bowl championship both years. *The
Fayetteville Guard The Fayetteville Guard was a professional indoor football team in the National Indoor Football League (NIFL) and American Indoor Football Association (AIFA). They played home games at the Cumberland County Crown Coliseum from 2005 to 2010. The ...
won a perfect season in 2007 in the NIFL. *The Rochester Raiders won a perfect season in
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
in the
Continental Indoor Football League The Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) was an indoor American football, indoor American football, football league based along the Midwestern United States region that played nine seasons from 2006 to 2014. It began play in April 2006 as ...
, but withdrew from that league during the playoffs in a dispute. *The
Chicago Slaughter The Chicago Slaughter were an American professional football team based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Having been inactive since 2013, the franchise was a part of the CIFL from 2007 to 2009, winning the championship in 2009. The Slaughter joine ...
won a perfect season in
2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
in the CIFL. *The Baltimore Mariners won a perfect season in
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
in the
American Indoor Football Association American Indoor Football (AIF) is a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...
. *The Erie Explosion won a perfect season in
2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
in the Continental Indoor Football league, winning all ten regular season games, a semifinal playoff, and the CIFL Championship. *The
Omaha Beef The Omaha Beef are a professional indoor American football, indoor football team based in Omaha, Nebraska. The Beef plays their home games at Liberty First Credit Union Arena in nearby Ralston, Nebraska, Ralston. The Beef competes in the National ...
won a perfect season in 2023 in the CIF and again in 2024 in the NAL. The Beef's two-year winning streak would be broken in 2025 with a surprise loss to the semi-pro Minneapolis Warriors at the start of the 2025 season. *The Columbus Lions won all games in the 2023 AIFA season and the 2024 AIF season. *The Albany Firebirds won all games in the 2025 Arena Football One season, with their postseason result pending. At least twenty-three other semi-professional football teams have had perfect seasons, seven of them being at least 17 games long. The Chambersburg Cardinals won a record 72 straight games between 1977 and 1984. There were no perfect seasons (or even perfect regular seasons) in the American Association,
World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 in sports, 1974 and most of its second in 1975 in sports, 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a w ...
, either incarnation of the
United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...
, the original XFL, any of the three incarnations of the
Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...
or the
Alliance of American Football The Alliance of American Football (AAF) was a professional American football minor league. The AAF consisted of eight centrally owned and operated teams in the southern and western United States, seven of which were located in metropolitan area ...
, all of which are now defunct. The 2009-2012 incarnation of the United Football League had two perfect regular seasons, but neither qualify for the list: the 2009 Florida Tuskers finished 6–0, but that team lost the subsequent championship game; the 2012 Las Vegas Locomotives had a record of 4–0 when the league abruptly suspended operations halfway through the season. Likewise, the 2020 Houston Roughnecks of the second incarnation of the XFL were undefeated at 5–0 at the time the season was canceled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in the United States On December 31, 2019, China announced the discovery of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. The first American case was reported on January 20, and United States Department of Health and Human Services, Health and Human Services Secreta ...
. The The 1933 Providence Huskies (possibly a successor to the Providence Steam Roller) played arguably the most perfect season ever recorded by a professional or semi-professional team: a ten-game season in which they won every game and did not concede a single point during any game.


Leagues outside North America

In the 2014 German Football League the Braunschweig Lions compiled a perfect season (12–0 postseason 3–0), losing only in the BIG6 European Football League which is a different competition. They crowned the season with another German Bowl triumph. Similarly in the 2016 German Football League the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns achieved a perfect regular season with a 14–0 record, similarly their lone defeat came in the BIG6 European Football League which is not considered for league standings. However, unlike Braunschweig before them, Schwäbisch Hall ultimately lost the German Bowl, in this case to Braunschweig. In the 2017 German Football League season, Schwäbisch Hall once more compiled a perfect season (14–0) but this time also won the German Bowl, again against Braunschweig. Interestingly, their opponent in the final had also entered the game with a 14–0 regular season record. Overall the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns posted five consecutive perfect regular seasons (GFL games only) between 2016 and 2021 (both inclusive) — their only losses in that span coming in German Bowl XXXVIII (2016), German Bowl XLI (2019), and German Bowl XLII (2021). In
2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...
Rhein Fire Rhein Fire may refer to either of two American football franchises: * Rhein Fire (NFL Europe) The Rhein Fire were a professional football team in the NFL Europe, formerly the World League of American Football. Established in Düsseldorf, Germany ...
managed a perfect season in the
European League of Football The European League of Football (ELF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football sports league, league based in Europe, continuing some team names and logos of the former NFL Europe. The ELF played its first season in 2 ...
with 12 wins in the regular season and 2 wins in the playoffs including the final of the league.


Association football


Domestic teams

No
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
team has ever achieved a perfect season across all competitions entered, but some have achieved a perfect record in their respective domestic league competitions, although that feat itself is rare. The earliest known perfect league season is that of Rangers F.C. of Scotland who, in 1898–99, won all of their 18
Scottish League Division One The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional association football, football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers F.C., Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tw ...
matches. Other football clubs to have achieved perfect league seasons since then are: Racing Club of Argentina in 1919 (13 wins out of 13), Al-Arabi of Kuwait in 1961–62 (12 wins out of 12), Ferencvárosi of Hungary in 1931–32 (22 wins out of 22), Dresdner SC of Germany in 1942–43 (23), Sunrise Flacq United of
Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...
in 1995–96 (22), and Nacional of
Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
in 1941 (20).
FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...
managed a 11–0–0 perfect record en route to winning the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League, the first team to do so. The competition's format was reformulated in a single elimination match since the quarterfinals due to
COVID-19 pandemic in Europe The global COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Europe with its first confirmed case in Bordeaux, France, on 24 January 2020, and subsequently spread widely across the continent. By 17 March 2020, every country in Europe had confirmed a case, and al ...
and its following
lockdown A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...
. Many teams have achieved an unbeaten domestic season with zero losses, but with several draws. In women's football, English club
Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
won the 2006–07 FA Women's Premier League with a perfect record (22–0–0) in their 2006–07 season, alongside the FA Cup, Premier League Cup, Community Shield, London FA Cup, and UEFA Women's Cup, with their only draw a goalless one in the second leg of the UEFA Women's Cup final, an unprecedented feat. Italian club
Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...
become the first to win the
Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...
with a perfect record (22–0–0) in the 2020–21 season, an unprecedented feat in Italian men's or women's football history. The following season,
FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...
did the same in Spain's Women's Primera División with 30 wins from 30 matches.


FIFA World Cup

The likelihood of a national team in the
FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
winning all its matches in regulation time to become the champion is much higher than most clubs in their domestic league, as the finals tournament in its current format lasts only seven games. This feat has been achieved three times, by
Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
in the inaugural
1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be on J ...
tournament, and by
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
in
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...
and
2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
. This is not counting the qualifying round of the tournament, which lasts over a year and has had a varied format since
1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...
. Only the Brazilian team of 1970 has won every game in the qualification and final rounds of a single tournament, a total of 13 games. As there was no qualifying phase for the 1930 tournament, Uruguay also won all the games they played to become champions. In 2010, the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
came very close achieving the same feat as Brazil did in 1970. The Netherlands won 8 out of 8 qualifying games and went on to win the next 6
World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...
matches in regulation time only to lose in
extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...
to
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
in the final, ending with a 14–0–1 record.


FIFA Women's World Cup

Through
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
, the likelihood of a national team winning all of its matches in the
FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...
was slightly greater than in the men's version. The Women's World Cup began in
1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...
with 12 teams and expanded to 16 effective in
1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
. Under both structures, the winning team only had to win six games (three in group play and three in the knockout stage) to win the title unbeaten. The tournament expanded to 24 teams in
2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
, at which time the number of games that the champion must play increased to seven (the same total as in the men's World Cup). The 2011 event, won by
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, was the first in which the champion lost in group play; the other finalist, the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, had also lost in group play. Each previous team to have won the title — the United States in 1991 and 1999,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
in
1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...
, and
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
in
2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...
and
2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
— won all of its group stage matches. In fact, only one of these teams, the United States in 1999, had a knockout match go to extra time—specifically the final against
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, which ultimately went to a
penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
. Germany won all of its matches in the 2007 final tournament without giving up a goal, becoming the first team in either the men's or women's World Cup to accomplish this feat. The United States' third championship team in 2015 had one draw in the group stage; in
2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...
, the United States won all seven games in regulation, by a combined score of 26–3, en route to their fourth title. As of the 2019 tournament, four undefeated, untied Women's World Cup champions also went through their qualifying stage without a loss or draw: * United States, 1991 ( 5 wins, 49 goals for, 0 against) * Germany, 2003 ( 6 wins, 30 goals for, 1 against) * Germany, 2007 ( 8 wins, 31 goals for, 3 against) * United States, 2019 ( 5 wins, 26 goals for, 0 against) Of the other two teams to win the Women's World Cup without a loss or draw in the finals: * Norway went through their 1995 qualification campaign with 8 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. * The United States automatically qualified for the 1999 edition as hosts.


Australian rules football


Australian Football League (AFL)

The
Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...
(AFL) began in 1897 as the Victorian Football League (VFL); initially based entirely in the state of Victoria, it expanded through the 1980s and 1990s to become the highest-level national competition in the sport of Australian rules football. The length of a complete season (including finals matches) has typically been between 18 and 26 games. Throughout the history of the league, no team has ever completed a perfect season. One team, in
1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...
, completed a perfect home-and-away season, finishing with a record of 18–0; the club won the premiership, but did not complete a perfect season after losing the second semi-final against .


South Australian National Football League (SANFL)

The SANFL has existed since 1877 within South Australia. The only perfect season to be completed was by the 1914
Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...
team, known as the "Invincibles". Port won all four of its pre season matches. It finished the minor round with a 12–0 record, before winning both finals to finish with a 14–0 record and a perfect season. They also won the Championship of Australia against VFL premiers Carlton, to extend that record to 15–0. In addition to this the club played a combined team from all the other SAFL clubs and won to extend the record to 16–0. The closest any team got to Port Adelaide was
North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct (Australia), precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. Laid out in a grid plan in three section ...
, losing by 21 points in Round 10. This is the only instance in the big three Australian football leagues (VFL/SANFL/WAFL) where a club has gone undefeated in the pre-season, season main and post season. In 1912, Port Adelaide had a perfect minor round and then beat West Torrens in its semi-final but lost both the final and Grand Final to West Adelaide.


West Australian Football League (WAFL)

The WAFL has existed since 1885 within Western Australia. The
1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...
East Fremantle team was the first club in senior WAFL football to have managed a perfect season, winning all twenty-one of its games; it is noted that the playing lists of many of its opponents had been seriously depleted by World War II. The only loss for the season came against Victorian club Collingwood in a post season exhibition match. The
2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
Subiaco team was the second team to complete a perfect season, winning all of its 18 games in the minor round before winning both their second-semi-final against South Fremantle and the Grand Final against West Perth.


Victorian Football League (VFL)

The Victorian Football League, known until 1996 as the Victorian Football Association, began in 1877 and was Victoria's premier football league until 1897, and has been the second-tier league in the state since. Perfect seasons have been completed on five occasions in VFA/VFL history, but only twice in full-length seasons: #by
North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...
during a war-shortened
1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January *January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 * ...
, with a record of 15–0 #by North Melbourne in
1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...
, which was also shortened by the war, with a record of 12–0; #by Geelong West in 1972 Division 2, with a record of 20–0 #by
Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Port Phillip, Port Phillip Local government ...
in
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
, with a record of 21–0. #by the Footscray reserves during a pandemic-shortened
2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
, with a record of 10–0 There were also cases of teams going undefeated through the season in the nineteenth century, but none completed perfect seasons because some of their matches were drawn. Of those, could be interpreted as having been perfect in
1879 Events January * January 1 ** The Specie Resumption Act takes effect. The United States Note is valued the same as gold, for the first time since the American Civil War. ** Brahms' Violin Concerto is premiered in Leipzig with Joseph Joachim ...
; it had a record of 15–0–1, and the draw came by agreement when a match which Geelong led 1–0 was abandoned due to inclement weather. Four other teams have completed perfect home-and-away seasons, but subsequently lost finals matches: #
North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...
in
1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (later Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off th ...
won all eighteen home-and-away games before losing to Brunswick in the second-semi-final and Footscray in the Grand Final. #
Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...
in
1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the BBC, British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, John Reith becomes the first ...
won all eighteen home-and away games before drawing with Port Melbourne in the second semi final, losing the replay, then winning the Grand Final. # Coburg in
1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...
won all twenty home-and-away games before losing to Williamstown in the second semi-final and being eliminated by Port Melbourne in the preliminary final. # Williamstown in
1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...
won all twenty home-and-away games before losing to Moorabbin in the second semi final, and being eliminated by Port Melbourne in the preliminary final.


Canadian football

A true perfect season (no losses and no ties through the regular season and playoffs) has never been achieved in the modern era of professional Canadian football. Only one team, the 1948
Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium a ...
(in the pre-CFL era), has completed a perfect regular season; more on this can be seen below. The current
Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...
schedule in place since 1986 would require a team to win 20 games (18 regular season, 1 playoff after bye week, and the Grey Cup championship) to post a perfect record; the closest any team has come to such since the CFL's establishment in 1958 are the 1981
Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at Commonwealth Stadium. The E ...
, who went 14–1–1 in the regular season, en route to winning their fourth of five straight Grey Cup titles by winning both their playoff games, and the closest since the institution of the 18-game schedule coming in 1989, also set by the Edmonton Eskimos, by going 16–2 in the regular season, only to be upset by the
Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...
in the West Final.


1948 Calgary Stampeders

Under head coach Les Lear, the 1948
Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium a ...
completed a perfect regular season with a record of 12–0; they had two wins and a tie during the playoffs to finish with a record of 14–0–1, the only undefeated complete season in Canadian pro history. In the
Western Interprovincial Football Union The West Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League (CFL), its counterpart being the East Division. With a few exceptions, a senior men's football championship has been contested in Western Canada since 1911 ...
championship (a home-and-home aggregate series decided on total points) against the
Regina Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...
, the first leg was tied 4–4, and the Stampeders won the second 21–10, to win the aggregate 25–14. The Stampeders then defeated the
Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded on September 19, 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup cham ...
12–7 for the 36th Grey Cup. Despite the Stampeders' title, their achievement was only lightly regarded in the East. At the time, the Eastern and Western unions played separate regular seasons and met only in the Grey Cup. The Western union was openly regarded to be a weaker competition than the East, and Calgary's win (only the third for a Western team up to that time) was dismissed as a fluke.


Handball

In 2020–21 FC Barcelona Handbol had over all championships a perfect season. They won the following domestic championships:
Liga ASOBAL Liga Asobal is the premier professional handball league in Spain. It was founded in 1958 with the name of División de Honor, changing its name to the current name in 1990. The Liga ASOBAL, which is played under EHF rules, currently consists of ...
with 34 perfect games, the Copa del Rey de Balonmano, Copa ASOBAL and the Supercopa ASOBAL. At the European level they won the 2020–21 EHF Champions League with 20 perfect games. In total they won 61 games out of 61 in 2020–21.


Germany

In 2011–12, German handball champion
THW Kiel THW Kiel is a professional handball club from Kiel, Germany. Currently, they compete in the Handball-Bundesliga and are the record champion with 23 titles. 2007 and 2012 were the most successful years in the club's history, as THW completed t ...
achieved a perfect season of as many as 34 matches. Additionally, the team also won the national DHB Cup and the international
EHF Champions League The EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men's com ...
.


Spain

In the
Liga ASOBAL Liga Asobal is the premier professional handball league in Spain. It was founded in 1958 with the name of División de Honor, changing its name to the current name in 1990. The Liga ASOBAL, which is played under EHF rules, currently consists of ...
the FC Barcelona Handbol had 4 consecutive perfect seasons from the 2013–14 season to the 2016–17 season.


Croatia

In the Croatian Handball Premier League the RK Zagreb was unbeaten for 11 years, they won 190 consecutive games, last time they lost against Osijek Motormodul (38:39) on April 14, 2007. In that 190 games they just have one tie with RK Poreč (31:31), after that game they won 178 games in a row.


Lacrosse

In professional
lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...
, the
1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...
Buffalo Bandits The Buffalo Bandits are an American professional box lacrosse team based in Buffalo, New York, that competes in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The team plays its home games at KeyBank Center. The Bandits played in the Major Indoor Lacrosse L ...
are the only team to have won a perfect season in the
National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league comprises 14 teams8 in the United States and 6 in Canada. The NLL is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...
. The Bandits won all eight of their regular season games and won the championship in a two-round tournament; the season was the continuation of a multi-season winning streak that dated to the Bandits’ successful run for the previous year's championship. In
Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001 Major League Lacrosse season, 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This w ...
, which began play in 2001, the 2013 Denver Outlaws were the first team to complete a perfect regular season, winning all fourteen of their games. After beating the Hamilton Nationals, the Outlaws had a sequence of twenty consecutive regular season wins despite losing the 2012 championship. However, the Outlaws lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Charlotte Hounds, who had only gone 7–7 in the regular season.


Netball


Commonwealth Bank Trophy

The Commonwealth Bank Trophy was the main national netball competition in Australia from 1997 to 2007. There were eight teams in a double round robin format and finals. The
Sydney Swifts Sydney Swifts were an netball in Australia, Australian netball team based in Sydney. Between 1997 and 2007, they represented Netball New South Wales in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy league. Together with Sydney Sandpipers and Hunter Jaegers, they ...
were the only team to achieve a perfect season, winning all fourteen regular season games and both their finals matches for a record of 16–0.


ANZ Championship

The ANZ Championship, the principal netball competition for Australia and New Zealand was established in 2008 to replace the Commonwealth Bank Trophy. Comprising ten teams (five from Australia and five from New Zealand) there has so far been one perfect season, by the Mission
Queensland Firebirds Queensland Firebirds are an Australian professional netball team based in Brisbane, Queensland. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship and between 1997 and 2007, they pl ...
, based in
Brisbane, Queensland Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
in 2011. The Firebirds won thirteen regular season games and both their finals matches for a record of 15–0. In 2010, the New South Wales Swifts managed to win all thirteen regular season games, but lost both of their finals matches and ended with a 13–2 for that year.


Netball Superleague

The
Netball Superleague The Netball Super League is an elite netball league in the United Kingdom. The league is organised by England Netball but features teams based in Netball in England, England, Netball in Wales, Wales and previously Netball in Scotland, Scotland. ...
, the principal netball competition in the United Kingdom following its founding in 2005, has seen three invincible seasons in its history. Team Bath finished both the 2006–07 and 2008–09 seasons unbeaten, going 14–0 and 16–0 respectively in the regular season before winning the grand final. The most recent team to achieve this feat was Manchester Thunder in the 2022 season, who went 20–0 in the regular season before seeing off Team Bath and Loughborough Lightning in the playoffs.


Rugby league


National Rugby League

The
National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
has existed since 1908, being originally known as the New South Wales Rugby League and before the
Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...
war of 1995 as the Australian Rugby League. In its history, only one team has completed a perfect season: the
South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...
in
1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...
, who won all twelve games contested. Five other teams have gone undefeated but featured at least one drawn match: Balmain (
1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January *January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 * ...
),
North Sydney North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council. History The Indigenous people on the s ...
(
1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...
), Eastern Suburbs (
1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...
and 1937 NSWRFL season, 1937) and St George-Illawarra Dragons, St George (1959 NSWRFL season, 1959).


Brisbane Rugby League

The Brisbane Rugby League premiership began in 1909 and continued in varying forms until 1996, after which it was superseded by the Queensland Cup. Between the 1930s and the 1960s it was of comparable standard to the New South Wales Rugby Football League, but subsequently a huge drain of players to Sydney eroded the standard of play. Before World War II seasons were typically no more than twelve games long; however as the competition grew it was expanded to 21 games by 1960. The only BRL teams to manage a perfect season were: The following team managed an undefeated season but drew one game: The following teams managed an undefeated home-and-away season, but subsequently lost finals matches:


British Rugby League

Whilst no rugby league team in Britain has completed the perfect season in the top flight, this has been achieved on four occasions in lower divisions; twice in the 2nd division and twice in the 3rd. Hull F.C. achieved this feat in the 1978–79 Northern Rugby Football League season, 1978–79 Season, where they won 26 from 26 games, gaining promotion to the top division for the second time in three seasons. This was also achieved by the Dewsbury Rams in 2009 Championship 1, 2009 during their Championship (rugby league), Championship 1 (third division) season where they won all 18 games from a possible 18, winning promotion immediately after being relegated the previous season where they won just two games. Since their 2009 promotion, the Rams have so far stayed in the sports' second division, including two play off finishes. The third occasion came in 2021 when Toulouse Olympique finished the 2021 RFL Championship, 2021 Championship with a 100% record having won 13 games and awarded a 14th as a walkover. The season was badly affected by postponements and cancellations caused by restrictions imposed under COVID-19 regulations and Toulouse only managed to play 13 games (all away) while all the other teams in the division played 20 to 22 games. The fourth occasion was in 2022 when Keighley Cougars won all 20 games in taking the 2022 RFL League 1, League 1 title. In 2017 League 1, 2017, the Toronto Wolfpack completed the regular reason with a perfect 15–0 record, however after the 2017 League 1 results#Super 8s, Super 8s they finished with a 20–1–1 record. They lost in the Challenge Cup against the Salford Red Devils.


Rugby union


International Rugby

The New Zealand national rugby union team, New Zealand All Blacks were the first professional rugby team to produce a perfect rugby test season in 2013. They successfully defeated four times, three times, and twice and also beat , and in their incredible winning run. They produced a record of 14–0–0, defeating the top 5 ranked teams below them in the IRB world rankings. have matched this feat after producing a perfect test season in 2016 (winning all 13 matches) after recovering from getting knocked out of their own Rugby World Cup, World Cup in 2015 Rugby World Cup, 2015. The France national rugby union team, French recorded a perfect season in 2022 having won all 13 matches.


Super Rugby

The Southern Hemisphere's principal team competition, Super Rugby, established as Super 12 in 1996 and later known as Super 14 before adopting its current name in 2011, has seen only one perfect season. The Crusaders (rugby union), Crusaders, based in Christchurch and representing a large portion of the South Island of New Zealand, finished the 2002 Super 12 season with an 11–0–0 record and went on to win both of their finals matches to claim the season crown unbeaten. One other team has won a championship unbeaten: in 1997 Super 12 season, 1997, the Blues (Super Rugby), Auckland Blues (known simply as "Blues" since 2000), which at the time represented the central and southern parts of the Auckland area plus some adjacent regions to the south, finished the regular season with one draw from 11 matches. They also won both of their finals matches to claim the title.


Tennis (team)

In 2011 and 2012, the Washington Kastles of World Team Tennis completed back-to-back perfect seasons, the first pro sports franchise in the United States to do so. The Kastles swept each of the 2011 and 2012 regular seasons with a perfect 14–0 record, then in each season went on to win their two postseason games and league's championship, amassing a 32-game winning streak in the process. This streak stands one short of the all-time professional sports record in the United States by 1971–72 Los Angeles Lakers season, the 1971–72 Los Angeles Lakers.


Volleyball

In the 2012–13 Season, Vakıfbank Spor Kulübü, Vakıfbank İstanbul won all 52 games and reached five championship trophies in *2012–13 Turkish Women's Volleyball League, *2012–13 Turkish Women's Volleyball Cup, *2012–13 CEV Women's Champions League, *2013 Turkish Women's Volleyball Super Cup and *2013 FIVB Women's Club World Championship. Vakıfbank İstanbul won 6 games in Turkish Women's Volleyball Cup, 12 games in CEV Women's Champions League, 29 games (22 league, 7 play-off games) in Turkish Women's Volleyball League, 1 game in Turkish Women's Volleyball Super Cup and 4 games in FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship, and never lost in the 2012–13 Season. In addition, they won all 51 games they played in year 2013. Having started Turkish Women's Volleyball League's 2013–14 Season with 13 wins and 2013–14 CEV Women's Champions League with 8 wins, they extended their winning streak to 73 games as of January 23, 2014. Turkey women's national volleyball team won 22 consecutive match between June 29 and September 24, 2023. In that period, it completed the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League, Nations League, 2023 Women's European Volleyball Championship, European Championship and Volleyball at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Women's qualification#Pool B (Japan), Olympic Qualification Round / FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup, FIVB World Cup matches undefeated. Being the first team to do so in history.


Other North American professional sports leagues

In North America's three other major professional sports leagues (Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League), due to the fact there are a large number of games (82 in the NBA and NHL, and 162 in Major League Baseball), it is practically impossible for a team to finish with a perfect season. The Women's National Basketball Association's season has been between 28 and 40 games long, and it too has never produced a perfect season. It is possible for a baseball pitcher to achieve a perfect season, taking at least one win and any number of no-decisions throughout the year. This has happened 1,813 times in baseball's history, though the majority (1,171) were 1–0 seasons, mostly by relief pitchers. The best perfect season belongs to Tom Zachary of the 1929 New York Yankees, who posted a 12–0 record in 119.2 innings. No pitcher has ever achieved a perfect season while qualifying for the Earned run average, ERA title. In the NHL, the 1976–77 NHL season, 1976–77 Montreal Canadiens played nearly a perfect home season. They went 39–1 (.975) at home, their lone loss coming on October 30, 1976, against the Boston Bruins. The Canadiens only lost 8 games all year, finishing with a 60–8–12 record. In the NBA, the 1985–86 NBA season, 1985–86 1985–86 Boston Celtics season, Boston Celtics played a nearly perfect home season. During the regular season, they were 40–1 (.976) in front of their home crowd. The Boston Celtics, Celtics' only regular-season home loss occurred on December 6, 1985, to 1985–86 Portland Trail Blazers season, the Portland Trail Blazers, by the score of 121–103. The Celtics would also win all 10 of their home games in the postseason, to finish 50–1 at home. The 2015–16 NBA season, 2015–16 2015–16 San Antonio Spurs season, San Antonio Spurs also played a nearly perfect home regular-season with a 40–1 (.976) record in front of their home crowd, with their only home loss occurring on April 10, 2016, vs. the Golden State Warriors by the score of 92–86. The Spurs were eliminated in the Western Conference Semi-finals by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2016 NBA Playoffs. The Spurs played a total of 5 home games in the post season, finishing 43–3 at home, losing twice to the Thunder. The three-on-three basketball league BIG3, which featured an eight-game regular season and two-round playoff, had a perfect team in its inaugural season of 2017 Big3 season, 2017 when Trilogy (basketball), Trilogy swept all ten games on their schedule.


Individual professional sports

For other sports leagues for individuals, such as the PGA Tour or Formula One, a perfect season would represent winning every event in a season. Considering the number of tournaments or races in those leagues, and the fact that each individual faces over 40 opponents as opposed to one, a perfect season is almost impossible.


Auto racing

In Formula One, prior to 1991, a driver could only count a certain number of their best results towards the championship, meaning it was possible to score 100 percent of the maximum championship points without winning every race in the season. This was accomplished by Alberto Ascari in 1952 and twice by Jim Clark in 1963 and 1965, both of his championship seasons. The record for the highest percentage of wins in a season was held by Ascari for his 1952 effort in which he won 6 out of 8 (75.00%) races on the calendar. This feat was surpassed by Max Verstappen in the 2023 season with 19 wins out of 22 races (86.36%) in the calendar. In 1988, the McLaren team won 15 of the 16 Grands Prix held that year. The only race victory that eluded them was the Italian Grand Prix, where their driver Ayrton Senna was eliminated after a collision in the closing stages whilst leading the race. Colin McRae won every round of the 1992 British Rally Championship, driving a Subaru Legacy for the Prodrive team. In IndyCar, A. J. Foyt won 10 out of 13 races on his way to his 4th national championship in 1964 USAC Championship Car season, 1964. In NASCAR, Richard Petty holds most of the records for most wins in a season; he won 27 races out of 48 appearances in 1967, 10 of which were consecutive. Since the number of races in a season was reduced from upwards of 50 to approximately 30 in 1972, Petty also holds the "modern-era" record for most wins in a season with 13, a record he shares with Jeff Gordon. In 1997, road racing, road racer Tommy Kendall started the 13-race Sports Car Club of America, SCCA Trans-Am Series season 11–0, the longest documentable win streak in worldwide professional road racing. In the 12th race, Kendall was battling for the lead on the final lap, but spun out and finished second. The feat would be extremely difficult in a series with a longer schedule, such as the NASCAR Cup Series which has 36 race seasons, Formula One which typically has between 17 and 23 race seasons, or the British Touring Car Championship which typically has 30 race seasons. However, in the 2013 British Formula Ford Championship season, a then support series to BTCC following its schedule, Dan Cammish won all of first 24 out of 30 races and then opted out of the remaining 6 with the championship already decided. In MotoGP/500cc perfect seasons have been achieved by John Surtees winning 7/7 races in 1959 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, 1959 and Giacomo Agostini winning 10/10 races in 1968 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, 1968. These were in the earlier years of the 500cc championship where the racers were rewarded for their "best of number of races" at the end of the season but they won every race in the season. In the AMA Motocross Championship, Ricky Carmichael had perfect seasons in 2002 and 2004 winning both races at all 12 rounds in the premier 250cc 2-stroke class. This was repeated by James Stewart Jr., James 'Bubba' Stewart in 2008 when the premier class was 450cc 4-stroke. and then by rookie Jett Lawrence in 2023. In World Championship motocross Stefan Everts has come the closest with 17 wins in 18 races during the 2006 Motocross World Championship season.


Cycling


Cross-country

In the 2017 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup#Cross-country, 2017 season the Swiss mountain biker Nino Schurter won 6 out of 6 races and additionally at the 2017 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, World Championships he won the gold medal at the single and at the mixed race and the Cape Epic.


Downhill

In the 2016 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup#Downhill, 2016 season the British mountain biker Rachel Atherton won 7 out of 7 races and additionally at the 2016 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships, World Championships she won the gold medal.


Golf

Golf instead considers the Grand Slam (golf), Grand Slam, a sweep of the four men's major golf championships deemed to be the most difficult contests in professional golf, to be analogous to perfection. The only time the Grand Slam has been swept in any given year was 1930, when Bobby Jones (golfer), Bobby Jones won all four majors (at the time, The Amateur Championship, The (British) Amateur Championship and U.S. Amateur were still considered majors); since 1934, when Masters Tournament, The Masters was added as a major, no player has won all four in one year. Tiger Woods is the only professional golfer to win four consecutive professional majors; he did so over two years in 2000 and 2001. The record for most consecutive wins in professional golf is 11, set Byron Nelson in 1945; Nelson would win 18 tournaments overall that year, a year when wartime manpower shortages were still limiting the number and quality of professional golfers for Nelson to compete against.


Tennis

Tennis also uses the term Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam for winning all four major tennis tournaments in a single year. This has only been achieved by five players in singles: Don Budge, Rod Laver, Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court and Steffi Graf. Graf was the most recent to achieve the feat, in 1988, while Laver is the only one who did the feat twice, in 1962 and 1968. Three other singles players have won four consecutive major tournaments in a row, but not in a single year: Novak Djokovic, Martina Navratilova, and Serena Williams, with Williams having done so twice. Graf has a non-consecutive singles Grand Slam in addition to her calendar-year Grand Slam. In doubles, only three teams have won the calendar-year Grand Slam. Ken McGregor and Frank Sedgman achieved the feat in men's doubles in 1951; Court and Ken Fletcher did so in mixed doubles in 1963, and Navratilova and Pam Shriver did so in women's doubles in 1984. One man and three women have individually won all four Grand Slam events in a year, but with different partners—Maria Bueno in women's doubles in 1960; Court in mixed doubles in 1965, Owen Davidson in mixed doubles in 1967, and Martina Hingis in women's doubles in 1998. The non-calendar Grand Slam has been equally rare in doubles. The only men's team to win a non-calendar Grand Slam is the Bryan brothers, who did so in 2012–13. In women's doubles, Louise Brough won with two different partners in 1949–50; Navratilova won five consecutive Grand Slam events with two different partners in 1986–87, teaming with Shriver for the last four of these; Gigi Fernández and Natasha Zvereva won six consecutive Slam events in 1992–93; Zvereva herself won four consecutive Slam events with different partners in 1996–97; and the Williams sisters (Serena and Venus Williams, Venus) achieved the feat in 2009–10. In mixed doubles, Billie Jean King teamed with Davidson for the last three events of his 1967 Grand Slam and completed the non-consecutive Grand Slam the next year with Dick Crealy.


American collegiate sports


NAIA Football

In 1966 Waynesburg College went 11–0 after a 9–0 regular season record. In December 1966 Waynesburg defeated New Mexico Highlands in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the playoff game and defeated Whitewater Wisconsin in the NAIA Champion Bowl at Tulsa Oklahoma.


NCAA Football

Due to relatively short seasons through most of college football history, the List of undefeated NCAA Division I football teams, list of undefeated Division I football teams includes dozens of teams.Dolphin Historical Football Rankings
Retrieved December 7, 2006
The highest level of college football, the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (introduced as Division I-A in 1978), did not use a playoff to determine a champion prior to the introduction of the four-team College Football Playoff (CFP) in 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season, 2014. The system replaced by the CFP relied on a combination of polls and computer rankings to choose two teams to play one BCS National Championship Game, title game in a system known as the Bowl Championship Series. Prior to 1992, no official attempt was made to match up the top two teams in a championship game, further increasing the chances of multiple teams achieving a perfect season. The record for most wins in an undefeated FBS season is 15–0 accomplished in 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season, 2018 by 2018 Clemson Tigers football team, Clemson, in 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season, 2019 by 2019 LSU Tigers football team, LSU, in 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season, 2022 by 2022 Georgia Bulldogs football team, Georgia, and in 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season, 2023 by 2023 Michigan Wolverines football team, Michigan. Following that the record is 14–0, accomplished in 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season, 2002 by 2002 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, Ohio State, twice in 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season, 2009 by 2009 Boise State Broncos football team, Boise State and 2009 Alabama Crimson Tide football team, Alabama, in 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season, 2010 by 2010 Auburn Tigers football team, Auburn, and in 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season, 2013 by 2013 Florida State Seminoles football team, Florida State. The Washington Huskies football, University of Washington's FBS record 64-game unbeaten streak (including ties) included five straight perfect seasons from 1909 to 1913. The Oklahoma Sooners football, University of Oklahoma's FBS record 47 game winning streak included three straight perfect seasons from 1954 to 1956. Many teams had undefeated seasons in which they never allowed another team to score a point against them. The 1901–02 Michigan Wolverines football team outscored its opponents 550–0.


NCAA Division I Basketball


Men

Before the establishment of the National Invitation Tournament in 1938 and the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in 1939, perfect seasons were more common; each season consisted of fewer games and top teams from different parts of the country might never meet. Eight teams have completed perfect seasons, including postseason tournament victories, since the tournament era began in 1938: * 1938–39 Long Island Blackbirds men's basketball team, 1939 LIU Blackbirds (24–0) — 1939 National Invitation Tournament, NIT champion, which at the time was more prestigious than the NCAA tournament * 1955–56 San Francisco Dons men's basketball team, 1956 San Francisco Dons (29–0) — NCAA champion * 1956–57 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team, 1957 North Carolina Tar Heels (32–0) — NCAA champion * 1963–64 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team, 1964 UCLA Bruins (30–0) — NCAA champion * 1966–67 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team, 1967 UCLA Bruins (30–0) — NCAA champion * 1971–72 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team, 1972 UCLA Bruins (30–0) — NCAA champion * 1972–73 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team, 1973 UCLA Bruins (30–0) — NCAA champion * 1975–76 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team, 1976 Indiana Hoosiers (32–0) — NCAA champion In addition, four other teams in the tournament era had unbeaten records, but did not play in any postseason tournament: * 1940 Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball, Seton Hall Pirates (19–0) — not invited to either the NCAA Tournament or NIT. * 1943–44 Army Cadets men's basketball team, 1944 Army Cadets (15–0) — not invited to either the NCAA Tournament or NIT. (Given that this season was during World War II, it is also possible that Army chose to turn down tournament invitations.) * 1953–54 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team, 1954 Kentucky Wildcats (25–0) — declined a bid to the NCAA Tournament due to an NCAA ruling that graduate students could not compete. * 1973 NC State Wolfpack men's basketball, NC State Wolfpack (27–0) — ineligible for postseason competition due to rule violations earlier that season. The UCLA Bruins are the only team to have back-to-back perfect seasons (1971–1972, 1972–1973), and all four of the college's perfect seasons were under Hall of Fame head coach John Wooden. Additionally, under Wooden, UCLA had a record Basketball winning streaks#UCLA streak – men's basketball – 88 games, 88-game winning streak, from 1971 to 1974. The following teams completed a perfect regular season, but lost in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, NCAA tournament or other postseason action: *1939 National Invitation Tournament, 1939 Loyola Ramblers men's basketball, Loyola Ramblers (finished regular season 20–0 and lost in the NIT final to 1938–39 Long Island Blackbirds men's basketball team, LIU to finish 21–1) *1941 National Invitation Tournament, 1941 Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball, Seton Hall Pirates (finished regular season 19–0; lost in the NIT semifinals to 1940–41 Long Island Blackbirds men's basketball team, LIU and third-place game to CCNY to finish 20–2) *1951 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, 1951 Columbia Lions men's basketball, Columbia Lions (finished 21–1 after losing in the first round) *1960–61 Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team, 1961 Ohio State Buckeyes (finished 27–1 after losing in the 1961 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, championship game to 1960–61 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team, Cincinnati) *1967–68 Houston Cougars men's basketball team, 1968 Houston Cougars (finished regular season 28–0, then lost the semifinal and consolation games at the 1968 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, Final Four) *1968 St. Bonaventure Bonnies men's basketball, St. Bonaventure Bonnies (finished regular season 22–0, lost in regional semifinals) *1971 Penn Quakers men's basketball, Penn Quakers (finished the regular season 26–0, lost in the regional finals) *1970–71 Marquette Warriors men's basketball team, 1971 Marquette Warriors (finished regular season 26–0, lost in regional semifinals) *1974–75 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team, 1975 Indiana Hoosiers (finished regular season 29–0, but lost to 1974–75 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team, Kentucky in the 1975 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, Mideast Regional final) *1976 Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's basketball, Rutgers Scarlet Knights (finished regular season 28–0, won 3 more games in the 1976 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, NCAA tournament to go to 31–0, but lost in the Final Four to 1975–76 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team, Michigan and in the consolation game to 1975–76 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team, UCLA) *1978–79 Indiana State Sycamores men's basketball team, 1979 Indiana State Sycamores (finished regular season 29–0, but lost in the 1979 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, championship game to 1978–79 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team, Michigan State. Finished 33–1.) *1979 Alcorn State Braves basketball, Alcorn State Braves finished the regular season with a perfect 27–0 record, but were not invited to the NCAA Tournament. The Braves lost in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament to 1978–79 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team, Indiana. *1990–91 UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball team, 1991 UNLV Runnin' Rebels (entered the tournament 30–0, lost in the 1991 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, Final Four to eventual champion 1990–91 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team, Duke. Finished 34–1.) *2003–04 Saint Joseph's Hawks men's basketball team, 2004 Saint Joseph's Hawks (finished the regular season 27–0, lost to 2003–04 Xavier Musketeers men's basketball team, Xavier in the quarterfinals of the 2004 Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament. Finished 30–2 after losing to 2003–04 Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball team, Oklahoma State in the NCAA East Regional final.) *2013–14 Wichita State Shockers men's basketball team, 2014 Wichita State Shockers (entered the tournament 34–0, lost to eventual runner-up 2013–14 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team, Kentucky in the 2014 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament#Midwest Regional – Indianapolis, Indiana, round of 32. Finished 35–1.) * 2014–15 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team, 2015 Kentucky Wildcats (entered the tournament 34–0, lost to 2014–15 Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team, Wisconsin in the 2015 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, Final Four. Finished 38–1.) * 2020-21 Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team, 2021 Gonzaga Bulldogs (entered the tournament 26–0, but lost to 2020-21 Baylor Bears men's basketball team, Baylor in the 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, championship game. Finished 31–1.)


Women

In the women's game, the following national championship teams have had perfect records since the AIAW women's basketball tournament, AIAW began sponsoring a championship tournament in 1972 (which was followed by the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship, NCAA tournament in 1982): * 1973 Immaculata University#Women's basketball, Immaculata Mighty Macs (20–0) * 1975 Delta State Statesmen and Lady Statesmen, Delta State Lady Statesmen (28–0) * 1981 Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters basketball, Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (34–0) * 1985–86 Texas Longhorns women's basketball team, 1986 Texas Longhorns (34–0) * 1994–95 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team, 1995 UConn Huskies (35–0) * 1997–98 Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team, 1998 Tennessee Lady Vols (39–0) * 2001–02 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team, 2002 UConn Huskies (39–0) * 2008–09 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team, 2009 UConn Huskies (39–0) * 2009–10 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team, 2010 UConn Huskies (39–0) * 2011–12 Baylor Lady Bears basketball team, 2012 Baylor Lady Bears (40–0) * 2013–14 UConn Huskies women's basketball team, 2014 UConn Huskies (40–0) * 2015–16 UConn Huskies women's basketball team, 2016 UConn Huskies (38–0) * 2023–24 South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team, 2024 South Carolina Gamecocks (38–0) The following teams completed perfect regular seasons, but lost in the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship, NCAA tournament or other postseason action: * The 1983 Oral Roberts Golden Eagles women's basketball, Oral Roberts Lady Titans (now nicknamed Golden Eagles) finished the regular season 24–0, but were not invited to 1983 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, the NCAA tournament. They played in the National Women's Invitational Tournament, losing to Memphis Tigers women's basketball, Memphis State (now known as Memphis) in the second round. After winning a consolation game against Weber State Wildcats women's basketball, Weber State, they finished the season 26–1. * The 1990 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, 1990 Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters basketball, Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters entered the NCAA Tournament at 28–0, but lost in the Final Four to Auburn Tigers women's basketball, Auburn to finish 32–1. * The Vermont Catamounts women's basketball, Vermont Catamounts were unbeaten entering the NCAA Tournament in both 1992 (29–0) and 1993 (28–0). They lost in the first round to George Washington Colonials women's basketball, George Washington in 1992 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, 1992 and Rutgers Scarlet Knights women's basketball, Rutgers in 1993 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, 1993. * The 1997 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, 1997 UConn Huskies women's basketball, UConn Huskies entered the NCAA Tournament at 30–0, but lost in the final of the Midwest Regional to eventual national champion Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball, Tennessee, finishing 33–1. * The 1998 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, 1998 Liberty Lady Flames basketball, Liberty Lady Flames entered the NCAA Tournament 28–0, but were seeded #16 in the Mideast Region and matched against Tennessee, with the Lady Vols crushing the Lady Flames 102–58. * The 2002–03 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team, 2003 UConn Huskies finished the regular season at 29–0, but lost to Villanova Wildcats women's basketball, Villanova in the final of the Big East tournament, ending their then-record winning streak at 70 games. The Huskies went on to win the 2003 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, NCAA tournament, finishing 37–1. * The 2007 Duke Blue Devils women's basketball, Duke Blue Devils finished the regular season at 29–0, but lost in the semifinals of the ACC women's basketball tournament, ACC tournament to NC State Wolfpack women's basketball, North Carolina State. In the 2007 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, NCAA tournament, they lost in the semifinals of the Greensboro Regional to Rutgers Scarlet Knights women's basketball, Rutgers to finish 32–2. * The 2009–10 Nebraska Cornhuskers women's basketball team, 2010 Nebraska Cornhuskers finished the regular season at 29–0, but lost in the semifinals of the 2010 Big 12 women's basketball tournament, Big 12 Tournament to Texas A&M Aggies women's basketball, Texas A&M. In the 2010 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, NCAA tournament, they lost in the semifinals of the Kansas City Regional to 2009–10 Kentucky Wildcats women's basketball team, Kentucky to finish 32–2. * The 2013–14 Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team, 2014 Notre Dame Fighting Irish entered the NCAA Tournament at 32–0 and lost in the championship game to UConn, finishing 37–1. * The 2014–15 Princeton Tigers women's basketball team, 2015 Princeton Tigers entered the NCAA Tournament at 30–0 and lost in the second round to 2014–15 Maryland Terrapins women's basketball team, Maryland to finish 31–1. * The 2016–17 UConn Huskies women's basketball team, 2017 UConn Huskies entered the NCAA Tournament at 32–0 and lost in the national semifinals to 2016–17 Mississippi State Bulldogs women's basketball team, Mississippi State, ending their most recent record winning streak at 111 games. The Huskies finished 36–1. *The 2017–18 UConn Huskies women's basketball team, 2018 UConn Huskies entered the NCAA Tournament at 32–0 but lost to 2017–18 Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team, Notre Dame to finish 36–1. Notably, the 2015–16 season saw ''all three'' NCAA women's champions finish with unbeaten seasons. In NCAA Division II, Division II, Lubbock Christian Chaparrals and Lady Chaps, Lubbock Christian went 34–0. In NCAA Division III, Division III, Thomas More University#Athletics, Thomas More went 33–0 for the second straight season.


NCAA Ice Hockey

Among schools in the top level of men's ice hockey, the 1969–70 Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey, Cornell Big Red went 29–0–0 in the University Division (the predecessor to today's Division I) en route to a national championship. Since Cornell's 29–0–0 season in 1969–70, the closest Division I Men's Ice Hockey Team to having a perfect season was the 1992–93 Maine Black Bears men's ice hockey, Maine Black Bears, who finished that year at 42–1–2, including a national title game victory against Lake Superior State Lakers men's ice hockey, Lake Superior State. Their only loss came on February 19, 1993, against Boston University Terriers men's ice hockey, Boston University, where they lost 7–6 in overtime, and their only ties were on October 24 against Providence Friars men's ice hockey, Providence, 3–3, and on January 15 against Clarkson Golden Knights men's ice hockey, Clarkson, 4–4. The last men's team to finish unbeaten and untied and be national champions was the 1983–84 Bemidji State Beavers men's ice hockey, Bemidji State Beavers (31–0–0), who were then competing in NCAA Division II, Division II, a level of competition that no longer conducts a championship. The 1955–56 Clarkson Golden Knights were undefeated and untied (23–0–0), but skipped the NCAA tournament because as the team had seniors with four years of college play which was against NCAA tournament rules, although not ''regular'' season rules, at that time. The 1967–68 Iona Gaels men's ice hockey, Iona Gaels went 16–0–0 in their inaugural season as an independent in Division III, but did not participate in a national championship as none existed for Division III at that time. The most recent unbeaten and untied season in NCAA ice hockey at the highest level was in 2012–13 Minnesota Golden Gophers women's ice hockey season, 2012–13 when Minnesota Golden Gophers women's ice hockey, the Minnesota Golden Gophers became the first NCAA women's team ever to accomplish the feat (41–0–0).


ACHA Hockey

The 2007–08 University of Illinois Fighting Illini, a club team, are the only American Collegiate Hockey Association team to record a perfect season with a record of 38–0–0.


NAIA baseball

In 2025, the LSU–Shreveport Pilots, LSU Shreveport Pilots went 59–0 on their way to an NAIA championship, becoming the first recorded team at any level of college baseball to finish a season unbeaten. Their team earned run average was more than a run better than that of any other NAIA team; they also led the NAIA in fielding percentage, were second in runs per game, and were third in team batting average.


Canadian collegiate sports


U Sports Canadian Football


1975 University of Ottawa Gee-Gees

In 1975 the number-one-ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees football, University of Ottawa Gee-Gees had the first Canadian Interuniversity Sport (now U Sports) undefeated season. After completing their perfect regular season at 8–0, the Gees Gees won their first play-off defeating the number-two-ranked Toronto Varsity Blues 14–7. The Gees Gees then demolished the Windsor Lancers 45–6 to win the Yates Cup and the right to play for the national championship and the Vanier Cup. The undefeated season was completed on November 21, 1975, when the Gee Gees defeated the University of Calgary Dinos 14–9 at CNE Stadium in Toronto. That night the Gee Gees became the first undefeated team in CIS and Vanier Cup history. The 1975 Gees Gees roster had a big impact on the CFL. Gee Gee Players from the 1975 team played in the CFL for a cumulative total of 96 years and throughout their professional careers in the CFL accomplished: one Canadian Football Hall of Fame Inductee, one Grey Cup Canadian MVP, two Frank M. Gibson Trophies for Outstanding Rookie Eastern Division, two CFL Leo Dandurand Trophy Outstanding Lineman Eastern Division, twenty CFL and Divisional All-Star Selections, twenty-three Grey Cup Appearances and a total of twelve Grey Cup rings.


2003, 2005 Saskatchewan Huskies

In 2003 and 2005, the Saskatchewan Huskies football, Saskatchewan Huskies completed perfect regular seasons. However, in both years they lost in the playoffs: in the Vanier Cup to the Laurier Golden Hawks in 2005, and in the Canada West semi-final to Alberta Golden Bears football, Alberta Golden Bears in 2003.


2007 Manitoba Bisons

A perfect season was attained in 2007 by the Manitoba Bisons football, Manitoba Bisons, the football squad representing the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg. The Bisons were undefeated in Canada West Universities Athletic Association play during the 8-game schedule. In the playoffs, Manitoba comfortably handled the Calgary Dinos 27–5 in the opening round. The Bisons followed up with a 48–5 defeat of the Regina Rams in the Hardy Trophy and a strong 52–20 showing against the perennial contenders from the University of Western Ontario, the Western Ontario Mustangs, in the Mitchell Bowl. On Friday, November 23, 2007, two days before the 95th Grey Cup game in Toronto, the Bisons defeated the Saint Mary's University (Halifax), Saint Mary's University squad, known as the Saint Mary's Huskies, 28–14 to claim their first Vanier Cup championship since 1970, and third overall title. That victory capped their perfect 12 win season.


2010 Laval Rouge et Or

In 2010, the Laval Rouge et Or football, Laval Rouge et Or in Quebec City, had a perfect season of 13–0. They were undefeated with an 8–0 record in the QUFL. During the playoffs, they beat the Bishop's Gaiters 56–1 in the opening round. The Rouge et Or won the QUFL championship and the Dunsmore Cup by a close win of 22–17 against the Sherbrooke Vert et Or. They followed with a win of 13–11 against the Western Ontario Mustangs in the Uteck Bowl. Finally, on Saturday, November 27, 2010, in their home stadium in Quebec City, they won the Vanier Cup 29–2 against the Calgary Dinos, capping a 13–0 season.


U Sports Hockey


Men

The 1962–63 McMaster Marlins (16–0–0) of Hamilton, Ontario, were the first team to have their name etched on the University Cup and did so by winning all their games in the regular season and post season. The Marlins concluded the regular season atop the West Division of the Quebec-Ontario Athletics Association with 12 wins, no losses and no ties. In the two-game total-goal final to determine the QOAA champion, McMaster outscored Laval University 5–3 and 7–4. At the University Cup, McMaster edged St. Francis Xavier X-Men ice hockey, St. Francis-Xavier 4–3 and the UBC Thunderbirds#Men's ice hockey, University of British Columbia 3–2. The 1972–73 Toronto Varsity Blues men's ice hockey, Toronto Varsity Blues (23–0–0) were the second men's hockey team in U Sports to win a national championship with no losses and no ties in the regular season and post season. The Varsity Blues won all 17 regular season games to place first in the Ontario University Athletics Association's East Division. In sudden-death OUAA playoff action, the U of T defeated the Waterloo Warriors#Men's Ice Hockey, University of Waterloo 13–2 and the Western Mustangs men's ice hockey, University of Western Ontario 8–1. The University of Toronto downed the Alberta Golden Bears and Pandas#Men's Ice Hockey, University of Alberta 5–2 and 5–3 in the University Cup semifinal at Edmonton and shaded Saint Mary's Huskies men's ice hockey, Saint Mary's University 3–2 in the University Cup final at Toronto. The 2023–24 University of New Brunswick Reds (38–0–0) from Fredericton, New Brunswick swept the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) best-of-five semifinal series against Saint Mary's University and the AUS best-of-three championship final series against Université de Moncton after posting 30 victories in the AUS regular season. At the U Sports Championship, UNB blanked Brock University 4–0 in the quarter final, Toronto Metropolitan University 7–0 in the semifinal and Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières 4–0 in the championship final.


CCAA Hockey


Men

The 1975–76 St. Clair College Saints (26–0–0) of Windsor, Ontario were the first of two Canadian Colleges Athletic Association men's hockey teams to go unbeaten and untied in the regular season and post season en route to a national title. After winning all 20 regular season games to finish atop the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association's Western Division, St. Clair outscored Fanshawe 5–2 and 6–3 to win the division playoff series and advance to the conference championships where they topped Algonquin 8–2 and Humber 11–2. At the CCAA Hockey National Championships in Camrose, Alberta, St. Clair downed Cape Breton 10–4 in the semi-final and Selkirk 11–2 in the final. The 1984–85 Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) Ooks (33–0–0) of Edmonton won all 25 of their regular season games in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference prior to sweeping the Camrose Lutheran College Vikings in a best-of-three conference semifinal series and the Red Deer College Kings in a best-of-five conference final series. At the CCAA Hockey National Championships in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, NAIT outscored the Cariboo College Chiefs 8–2, the Seneca College Braves 5–2 and the Victoriaville College Vulkins 9–2 to hoist the CCAA Championship Bowl.


See also

* List of winless seasons, Winless season, the opposite of a perfect season, where a team either fails to win any game or loses every game * The Invincibles (football), name given to some teams who finish unbeaten * Winning streak (sports), Winning streak


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perfect Season NFL lists Sports terminology Terminology used in multiple sports Association football terminology Basketball terminology Cricket terminology Rugby league terminology Rugby union terminology Motorsport terminology Superlatives in sports NFL records and achievements Perfect scores in sports