Every league has its own impossible number
The idea behind the viral 38-0 game travels well, because every competition has its own version of the same fantasy: win everything, drop nothing. In basketball it's 82-0. In the NFL it's 17-0. At a World Cup it's 7-0 — the only one on this list a real team has ever finished. Here is the perfect record in every major league, who came closest, and where you can chase it yourself.
| League | Season | Perfect | Closest anyone came | Play it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premier League | 38 games | 38-0 | Arsenal 2003-04 — unbeaten, but 26-12-0 | Play 38-0 |
| World Cup | 7 matches | 7-0 | Brazil 2002 — actually did it | Play 7-0 |
| NBA | 82 games | 82-0 | Golden State 2015-16 — 73-9 | Play 82-0 |
| NFL | 17 games | 17-0 | Miami 1972 — perfect, but in a 14-game season | Play 17-0 |
| NFL + playoffs | 20 games | 20-0 | New England 2007 — 18-0, lost the Super Bowl | Play 20-0 |
| NRL | 27 rounds | 27-0 | No club has finished an NRL season unbeaten | Play 27-0 |
| AFL | 23 games | 23-0 | Collingwood 1929 went 18-0; Essendon 2000 fell at 21-1 | Play 23-0 |
| Bundesliga | 34 games | 34-0 | Leverkusen 2023-24 — unbeaten at 28-6-0 | — |
| La Liga | 38 games | 38-0 | Real Madrid 2011-12 — 100 points, still lost twice | — |
| Serie A | 38 games | 38-0 | Juventus 2011-12 — unbeaten, 23-15-0 | — |
| Süper Lig | 38 games | 38-0 | Galatasaray 2023-24 — 102 points, still beaten twice | — |
| Brasileirão | 38 games | 38 a 0 | Flamengo 2019 — 90 points, four defeats | — |
| MLB | 162 games | 162-0 | Seattle 2001 — 116-46 | — |
| NHL | 82 games | 82-0 | Boston 2022-23 — 65 wins | — |
Draws, mostly — and variance. League formats give every opponent a shot at you on a bad day, and the long formats (38, 82, 162 games) make one bad day statistically certain. Brazil 2002 could go 7-0 because seven matches is a sprint; nobody survives a marathon spotless. That's exactly the tension the games in this family simulate: even a flawless squad only converts a perfect run two times in three.
The format began in basketball as the 82-0 challenge, jumped to American football as 20-0, came home to the Premier League as the 38-0 game you're on right now, and is spreading league by league — World Cup, NFL, and Australia's NRL and AFL next. Bookmark this page; the table grows.
Start with the original — build your Premier League XI →
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