Played 26, lost 26: The story of Antigua Barracuda's record-breaking season


The USL side lost every game of the 2013 season, based in a hotel and playing every game away, but their fighting spirit earned their opponents’ respect

Football, as the saying goes, is a results business and teams are prepared to rip up blueprints and burn through personnel in order to get them. Losing runs can act like a virus, stripping confidence and cohesion from even the most stable side, but one way or another they end eventually – most of the time.

In 2013 Antigua Barracuda played 26 matches in the United Soccer League (USL) – then the third tier in the US – and lost them all. It was the club’s third and last full season, fleeting even by the standards of North America’s unstable development leagues. They are one of only a handful of professional sides to finish a season without a single point but, more than anything else, theirs is a tale of wasted potential.

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