Football often throws up bizarre storylines that seem incomprehensible at first, but somehow come to fruition later.
In the last couple of decades, Bayer Leverkusen, Leicester City and Greece have all shocked the world of football with monumental achievements no one thought possible.
However, a women's team in Swedish football has produced arguably the biggest anomaly of all, by spending an entire season unbeaten in which they failed to concede a single goal - and they still didn't lift the league title.
Swedish fourth tier side are invincible - but still not good enough for the league title
In Division 4 Skane Northwest, Angelholms FF managed to go undefeated in all 18 fixtures throughout the course of the season, drawing three times on their way to 48 points. In that time they also managed to score 78 goals, with their goalkeeper limited to picking the ball out of her net a grand total of zero times.
That still didn't prove enough, though, with Ljungbyheds IF pipping them to the title. In winning 16 of their 18 games, drawing once and losing the other - both of which were against Angelholms - Ljungbyheds finished with one point more than their title rivals come the end of the campaign.
Division 4 in women's football is crazy. ngelholms FF went invincible and didn't concede a goal during the season and still didn't win the league. pic.twitter.com/bj4XtHGwPhOctober 21, 2024
They also conceded 14 goals over the course of the campaign, suggesting they weren't quite as dominant as Angelholms in their defensive work. At the other end of the pitch, though, they bagged 121 times, poving superior in the race for the title.
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Two men's clubs in England's top flight have gone unbeaten since the late 1800s, with Arsenal's 2003/04 vintage predated by Preston North End in 1888. Chelsea also didn't lose one game in the Women's Super League in 2019/20, though some teams elsewhere in Europe have also gone unbeaten and still failed to win the league.
Perguia famously managed that feat in 1978/79, when they came second in Serie A behind Milan. Over the course of the campaign they won 11 games and drew 19, with their 41 points (only two points were awarded for a win then) not enough to topple Milan's 44, despite the Rossoneri losing on three occasions.
