How many times have Manchester City won the Premier League?
Domestic success didn’t come until fairly recently for Manchester City. The club was founded in 1880 but had to wait until 1937 for their first league title.
Continued success on the domestic front didn’t come until fairly recently for Manchester City. The club was founded in 1880 but their first league title, the old Division One, didn’t arrive until the 1936/7 season and they had to wait another 30 years for the second one. After ending as runners-up in 1903 and 1921, City clinched their first league title in 1937, finishing three points ahead of Charlton Athletic. Wilf Wild’s team went from one extreme to the other, the defending champions dropped down a division the following season in spite of scoring 80 goals - more than the team who lifted the trophy, Arsenal.
City flourished under the great Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison during a golden period in the mid-to-late 60s. Mercer built a formidable side which featured club icons such as Joe Corrigan, Mike Summerbee, Francis Lee, Mike Doyle and Colin Bell, the ‘King of the Kippax’. That team lifted the Division One title in 1968, pipping neighbours Manchester United to the trophy by just two points. More silverware was to follow - the FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup.
The team ended just one point behind Liverpool in the 1976/7 season but that was about as good as it would get until the old Division One was rebranded as the Premier League in 1992. City would watch United dominate the Premier League for the next two decades.
City’s first Premier League
Investment under new owners in 2008 enabled City to bring in star players including Yaya Touré, David Silva, Gareth Barry, Carlos Tevez and Patrick Vieira. Three years later, they won the FA Cup. City were on their way up. Roberto Mancini’s side delivered the first Premier League crown in dramatic fashion in May 2012. City and United went into the final game of the season level on 86 points, but City topped the standings on goal difference. While the games were played simultaneously, United’s game against Sunderland ended a few minutes earlier - they had won 0-1 at the Stadium of Light while City were losing 1-2 at home to QPR. Miraculously, City turned the game on its head with goals in stoppage-time from Eden Dzeko and Kun Agüero to snaffle the title from United’s grasp right at the death.
Manuel Pellegrini guided City to their second Premier League title two years later in 2013/14 after being pushed all the way by Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool.
Pep Guardiola continued the success, winning consecutive Premier League titles in 2018 and 2019 and rewriting the history books on the way. Guardiola’s City became the first champions to reach 100 points and also set a new goals record - 106.
City clinched their fifth Premier League, their third under Guardiola, last year with three games to spare as it finished with both Manchester teams occupying the top two positions. They followed that up with another in 2021/22 although again needed to win it in the final minutes of the final game of the season.
So in total, Manchester City have won eight league titles - two Division One titles and six Premier League titles.