County cricket

English first-class county cricket 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 and 1929, 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 and twenty in 1972, though this was increased by two in 1977 and 1983. With an increase to four days for all games, sixteen or seventeen games have been played since 1993.

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,^[1] the only team to have competed a true perfect season—winning outright every game—was Yorkshire in 1867 when led by George Freeman's and Tom Emmett's deadly fast bowling on uncovered and unrolled pitches,^[2] they won all seven county games.^[3]

Since 1868 numerous county teams in longer schedules have finished a season unbeaten,^[1] but none have managed to win every single game outright:

National Football League

President Barack Obama talks with former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula in the Blue Room prior to a ceremony honoring the 1972 Super Bowl Champion Miami Dolphins at the White House, Aug. 20, 2013.

Since the National Football League began in 1920, 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, 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, denied this in a 2007 interview with ESPN.^[10] On August 20, 2013, four decades after their accomplishment, President Barack Obama hosted the 1972 Dolphins noting that they "never got their White House visit".^[11]

Pre-NFL era and competing leagues

NFL predecessors such as the Ohio League, New York Pro Football League and Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit had many perfect seasons. In Ohio, the Massillon Tigers (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 and 1901 Homestead Library and Athletic Club teams, as well as the 1903 Franklin Athletic Club, 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 and the First World War, 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.

Near-perfect seasons

Since the NFL expanded to a fourteen-game regular season in 1961 (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, who started 14–0 before losing their final two regular season games to the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills to finish 14–2, and the 2015 Carolina Panthers, who went 14–0 before losing to the Atlanta Falcons 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 but lost to the New Orleans Saints. The 2015 Panthers were not resting their starters at the time of their loss (at the time, the Arizona Cardinals 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.^[13]

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 won all 14 games of the league's inaugural season in 1965, going on to defeat the Toronto Rifles 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 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 accrued a perfect season in 2003.
• The Sioux Falls Storm of United Indoor Football won back-to-back perfect seasons in 2006 and 2007, winning the United Bowl championship both years.
• The Fayetteville Guard won a perfect season in 2007 in the NIFL.
• The Rochester Raiders won a perfect season in 2008 in the Continental Indoor Football League, but withdrew from that league during the playoffs in a dispute.
• The Chicago Slaughter won a perfect season in 2009 in the CIFL.
• The Baltimore Mariners won a perfect season in 2010 in the American Indoor Football Association.
• The Erie Explosion won a perfect season in 2013 in the Continental Indoor Football league, winning all ten regular season games, a semifinal playoff, and the CIFL Championship.
• The Omaha Beef won a perfect season in 2023 in the CIF.

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.^[14]

There have been no perfect seasons (or even perfect regular seasons) in the American Association, World Football League, United States Football League, original XFL, the Arena Football League or the Alliance of American Football, all of which are now defunct. The United Football League has 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.

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.^[15]

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 Rhein Fire managed a perfect season in the European League of Football with 12 wins in the regular season and 2 wins in the playoffs including the final of the league.

Domestic teams

No association football 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 matches.^{[16][17][18][19]} 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 in 1995–96 (22), and Nacional of Uruguay in 1941 (20).^[20] FC Bayern Munich 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 and its following lockdown.

Many teams have achieved an unbeaten domestic season with zero losses, but with several draws.

In women's football, Italian club Juventus become the first to win the Serie A with a perfect record (22–0–0) in the 2020–21 season,^[21] an unprecedented feat in Italian men's or women's football history.^[22] The following season, FC Barcelona did the same in Spain's Women's Primera División with 30 wins from 30 matches.^[23]

FIFA World Cup

The likelihood of a national team in the FIFA World Cup 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 in the inaugural 1930 tournament, and by Brazil in 1970 and 2002. This is not counting the qualifying round of the tournament, which lasts over a year and has had a varied format since 1934. 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.^[24][25] 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 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 matches in regulation time only to lose in extra time to Spain in the final, ending with a 14–0–1 record. In 1998 France became the only host nation to win all seven games of the FIFA World Cup and win the tournament. In the quarter-finals, however, they defeated Italy on penalties; wins (and also losses) on penalties are represented as a draw in statistics.

FIFA Women's World Cup

Through 2011, the likelihood of a national team winning all of its matches in the FIFA Women's World Cup was slightly greater than in the men's version. The Women's World Cup began in 1991 with 12 teams and expanded to 16 effective in 1999. 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, 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, was the first in which the champion lost in group play; the other finalist, the United States, had also lost in group play. Each previous team to have won the title — the United States in 1991 and 1999, Norway in 1995, and Germany in 2003 and 2007 — 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, which ultimately went to a penalty shootout. 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, 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 Football League (AFL)/Victorian Football League (VFL)

The VFL began in 1897. Based entirely in the state of Victoria, before it expanded through the 1980s, and 1990s to become the top level national league (AFL) 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, Collingwood in 1929, 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 Richmond.

South Australian National Football League (SANFL)

The SANFL has existed since 1877 within South Australia, and until the latter part of the twentieth century was of equivalent standard to the VFL. The only perfect season to be completed was by the 1914 Port Adelaide 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.^[26] 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, 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.^[27]

West Australian Football League (WAFL)

The WAFL has existed since 1885 within Western Australia, and until the latter part of the 20th century was of equivalent standard to either the VFL or SANFL. The 1946 East Fremantle team was the first club in senior WAFL football^{[lower-alpha 1]} 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.^[28] The only loss for the season came against Victorian club Collingwood in a post season exhibition match. The 2018 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 Association (VFA/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:

1. by North Melbourne during a war-shortened 1915, with a record of 15–0
2. by North Melbourne in 1918, which was also shortened by the war, with a record of 12–0;^[29]
3. by Geelong West in 1972 Division 2, with a record of 20–0^[30]
4. by Port Melbourne in 2011, with a record of 21–0.^[31]
5. by the Footscray reserves during a pandemic-shortened 2021, 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, Geelong could be interpreted as having been perfect in 1879; 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.^[32]

Four other teams have completed perfect home-and-away seasons, but subsequently lost finals matches:^[33]

1. North Melbourne in 1919 won all eighteen home-and-away games before losing to Brunswick in the second-semi-final and Footscray in the Grand Final.
2. Coburg in 1927 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.
3. Coburg in 1945 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.
4. Williamstown in 1957 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.

1948 Calgary Stampeders

Under head coach Les Lear, the 1948 Calgary Stampeders 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.^[34] In the Western Interprovincial Football Union championship (a home-and-home aggregate series decided on total points) against the Regina Roughriders, 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 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.

Germany

In 2011–12, German handball champion THW Kiel 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.^[36]

Spain

In the Liga ASOBAL 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 14.4.2007. In that 190 games they just have one tie with RK Poreč (31:31), after that game they won 178 games in a row.^[37]

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 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, based in Brisbane, Queensland 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.

National Rugby League

The National Rugby League has existed since 1908, being originally known as the New South Wales Rugby League and before the Super League war of 1995 as the Australian Rugby League. In its history, only one team has completed a perfect season: the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 1925, who won all twelve games contested.^[40]

Five other teams have gone undefeated but featured at least one drawn match: Balmain (1915),^[41] North Sydney (1921),^[42] Eastern Suburbs (1936 and 1937)^[43][44] and St George (1959).^[45]

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 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 during their 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 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.^[52]

The fourth occasion was in 2022 when Keighley Cougars won all 20 games in taking the League 1 title.^[53]

In 2017, the Toronto Wolfpack completed the regular reason with a perfect 15–0 record, however after the Super 8s they finished with a 20–1–1 record. They lost in the Challenge Cup against the Salford Red Devils.

International Rugby

The New Zealand All Blacks were the first professional rugby team to produce a perfect rugby test season in 2013. They successfully defeated France four times, Australia three times, South Africa and Argentina twice and also beat Japan, England and Ireland 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. England 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 World Cup in 2015.

The French recorded a perfect season in 2022 having won all 13 matches.^[54]

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, 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, the 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.

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.^[58]

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.^[59][60]

In IndyCar, A. J. Foyt won 10 out of 13 races on his way to his 4th national championship in 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.^[61]

In 1997, road racer Tommy Kendall started the 13-race 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.^[62]

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 and Giacomo Agostini winning 10/10 races in 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 'Bubba' Stewart in 2008 when the premier class was 450cc 4-stroke.

In World Championship motocross Stefan Everts has come the closest with 17 wins in 18 races during the 2006 Motocross World Championship season.

Cycling

Golf

Golf instead considers the 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 won all four majors (at the time, The (British) Amateur Championship and U.S. Amateur were still considered majors); since 1934, when 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 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.

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) 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.

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 Division I football teams includes dozens of teams.^[65] The highest level of college football, the 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. The system replaced by the CFP relied on a combination of polls and computer rankings to choose two teams to play one title game in a system known as the Bowl Championship Series.^[66] 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 by Clemson, 2019 by LSU, in 2022 by Georgia, and in 2023 by Michigan.^[67][68] Following that the record is 14–0, accomplished in 2002 by Ohio State, twice in 2009 by Boise State and Alabama, in 2010 by Auburn, and in 2013 by Florida State.

The University of Washington's FBS record 64-game unbeaten streak (including ties) included five straight perfect seasons from 1909 to 1913.^[69] The 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

NCAA Ice Hockey

Among schools in the top level of men's ice hockey, the 1969–70 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, who finished that year at 42–1–2, including a national title game victory against Lake Superior State. Their only loss came on February 19, 1993, against Boston University, where they lost 7–6 in overtime, and their only ties were on October 24 against Providence, 3–3, and on January 15 against Clarkson, 4–4.

The last men's team to finish unbeaten and untied and be national champions was the 1983–84 Bemidji State Beavers (31–0–0), who were then competing in 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 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 when the Minnesota Golden Gophers became the first NCAA women's team ever to accomplish the feat (41–0–0).^[76]

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.

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CCAA Hockey