How Many Times Have City Won The Premier League? How Their Title Record Compares To Rivals

Manchester City’s recent trophy haul has been pretty remarkable, especially when you consider the club’s history.

Since the Premier League was formed in 1992, the Sky Blues have actually spent 5 seasons outside the top flight, including three relegations (one of which was to the third tier), and three promotions.

Following their last promotion in 2002, though, they have stayed in the Premier League, having gone on to establish themselves as one of the most successful English teams over the past couple of decades.


In this article, though, we will not only look at City’s achievements in the Premier League, but we will also delve further back in time to see how many First Division titles they have won; prior to the Premier League era.

How many times have Man City won the league?

If we put their First Division and Premier League titles together, City have won the top division on 9 occasions.


They first lifted the title in 1937 under the management of Wilf Wild, but they were famously relegated from the top flight the following season.

City had to wait another 30 years for their next title, when they sealed top spot in 1968 when Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison took charge.

Seven further titles have been won from 2012 to 2023 under the guidance of three other managers.

How many times have Man City won the Premier League?

In total, Man City have lifted the Premier League title seven times. The first came in 2012 when Roberto Mancini was in the dugout. 1st place was secured on the final day with a famous 3-2 win over QPR at the Etihad Stadium, with Sergio Aguero scoring in injury time.

The Cityzens only had to wait two more years for their second title, with Manuel Pellegrini’s side clinching top spot ahead of Liverpool.

However, Pep Guardiola’s arrival as manager in 2016 has led to the Manchester club establishing a period of unprecedented dominance in English football.

Since 2017, City have won 5 titles (2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2021-22, 2022-23) in 6 seasons with the only exception being the 2019-20 campaign.

How does Man City’s title record compare to their rivals?

The Sky Blues are the joint-fourth most successful team in English football. Everton have won the exact same number (9) of top-division titles as they have, with only three other clubs having had more success.

Rivals Manchester United (20) currently lead the way, while Liverpool (19) trail narrowly behind them. Arsenal (13) are third on the list.

In terms of the Premier League alone, only United (13) have won more than City, with the likes of Chelsea (4), Arsenal (3), Liverpool (1), Blackburn Rovers (1) and Leicester City (1) having secured far fewer titles.

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David Tully

David Tully

David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for National World's Football News Network.