Top five clubs with most promotions to the Premier League

These teams have bounced back the most to return to the English top flight

Similar to all football leagues in Europe's top-five, Premier League also have relegation and promotions at the end of the season for the teams finishing with the worst results in top-flight to the teams sitting on the top of the table in the EFL Championship.

Almost every top-flight club has faced relegation to 2nd division since the inception of the league so it's just a matter of time for a team to bounce back and reclaim the spot in the Top 20 clubs in England.

However, there are few teams who have been swinging between these two leagues quite often, so much that it has become customary for their fans and players to be in despair of relegation battles to be in pure ecstasy of gaining a promotion by winning or finishing in top three of the championship. Let's take a look at the top five clubs who have secured more promotions to the Premier League than any other side.

5. Crystal Palace - 4 promotions

1993-94, 1996-97, 2003-04 & 2012-13

One club on the list who are currently in top flight currently and in a tight battle to get to safety. They currently will be feeling rejuvenated after getting 7 points in their last 03 games under the guidance of Roy Hodgson who was just recently appointed after the sacking of Patrick Vierra. Crystal Palace had three prior attempts to establish themselves in the Premier League, all of which failed. Although the Selhurst Park team played in the initial season as Middlesbrough, the mid-1990s were a similar story.

Palace received three of its four Premier League promotions via the Play-Offs. The Eagles have now successfully preserved their position in the top division of English football, and they will play at this level for the ninth straight season since their last promotion in 2013. Now established as a top-flight outfit for the past nine seasons, no side can better Palace’s record in the second tier play-offs in the Premier League era – the Eagles having navigated three successful play-off campaigns.

4. Middlesbrough - 4 promotions

1991-92, 1994-95, 1997-98 & 2015-16

Since the Premier League changed its name in the early 1990s, the North East side has had an impressive run, bouncing between the top two divisions and experiencing cup finals, exotic signings, and unforgettable European trips. Middlesbrough were demoted to the second division after being promoted before the first Premier League season in 1992, but they quickly recovered and made a comeback in 1994–1995 under Bryan Robson’s leadership.

Despite making well-known transfers, the team failed to maintain its spot and was relegated but made a comeback in 1997. The team was relegated again in 2009, after which it made a comeback in the 2016-17 season. Their stay in the top division was short-lived as at the end of the season got relegated as well along with Sunderland and Hull City.

3. Sunderland - 4 promotions

1995-96, 1998-99, 2001-02, 2004-05 & 2006-07

The Black Cats are yet another yo-yo club (a team that faces constant relegations and promotions) between the highest tiers of English football. However, they are currently outside the top division as Sunderland is currently languishing in the third tier at present, but the North East side has been top flight regular in the past, the club having secured four promotions to the Premier League.

Remarkably, each of those promotions has come after winning the second-tier title, though twice the Black Cats have suffered an instant relegation after regaining their place in the top-flight. Their most recent promotion under Roy Keane would see the club consolidate their position in the Premier League, spending a decade at the highest level before back-to-back relegations left the club in League One and playing third-tier football for the first time since the late eighties. Unlike some on this list, Sunderland will hope to add to this record in the near future, the club currently building and are currently placed 06th in the championship after getting promoted last season ending their 04-year stay in the third division.

2. West Bromwich Albion - 5 promotions

2001-02, 2003-04, 2007-08, 2009-10 & 2020-2021

West Bromwich Albion Football Club was founded as West Bromwich Strollers in 1878 by workers from George Salter's Spring Works and turned professional in 1885. From 1986–87 to 2001–02, they spent sixteen consecutive seasons outside the top division, recording their lowest-ever league finish of seventh in Division Three in 1991–92. Albion has been promoted eleven times and relegated twelve times, with seven of the 23 changes of division coming between 2002 and 2010. The team played in the Premier League for the first time in 2002–03.

Despite becoming the first team in Premier League history to survive relegation after being bottom at Christmas the following year, their stay would again prove brief as they once more dropped into the Championship in 2006. Two more promotions and one relegation would be experienced before a relative period of stability, with West Brom spending eight seasons in the Premier League before finishing bottom of the pile in 2018.

Following which they were favourites for promotion again in the 20-21 season, Slaven Bilic’s side got promoted to the premier league for the 05th time just to get relegated for the joint-record fifth time along with Norwich City the same season following a string of bad performances under Sam Allardyce which also saw him suffer relegation for the first time in his 30-years managerial career.

1. Norwich City - 5 promotions

2003-04, 2010-11, 2014-15, 2018-19 & 2020-2021

The 2003–04 season saw the club win the First Division title, finishing eight points clear of second-placed West Bromwich Albion and returning to the top-flight for the first time since 1995. For much of the 2004–05 season, the club struggled and a last-day 6–0 defeat away to Fulham condemned them to relegation. After 05 seasons, Norwich got promoted to the Premier League, finishing second in the table and completing the first back-to-back promotions from the third tier to the first since Manchester City in 2000.

The club finished in 12th place in their first season back in the Premier League with a newly appointed manager, Hughton led Norwich to an 11th-place finish, including a ten-game unbeaten run in the league, but they were relegated back to the Championship after the 2013–14 season and victory in the 2015 Championship play-off final secured an immediate return to the top division of English football. This was only temporary relief, as at the end of the next season they were relegated again to play the 2016–17 season in the Championship.

In May 2017, the club appointed German coach Daniel Farke as head coach, becoming the first head coach of the club in its 114-year history that was not from the British Isles. The following season was far more successful; helped by top scorer Teemu Pukki, the club was promoted back to the Premier League after a three-year absence as Championship winners.

However, Norwich was once again relegated back to the Championship after just a single season back in the top flight, becoming the first team in Premier League history to be relegated five times from the division. The yo-yo effect continued unabated: in May 2021, Norwich was crowned winners of the Championship, securing promotion back to the top flight for the first time of asking, but they failed to win a match in their first nine games back in the Premier League in the 2021–22 season.