Most Successful Premier League Captains of All Time

Eight of these club captains have led their team to one Premier League title. Tony Adams famously led Arsenal to their first Premier League win in 1997/1998. Steve Bruce, Eric Cantona and Nemanja Vidic each led Manchester United to win a title, with the Serbian being the last United captain to lift the trophy in 2012/2013.

Tim Sherwood was captain of Blackburn when the Rovers unexpectedly pipped Manchester United to win the Premier League in 1994/1995 and Wes Morgan was captain of Leicester City when the Foxes ran away with the league in 2015/2016, causing one of the biggest shocks in Premier League history.

Liverpool won the Premier League in 2019/2020 when Jordan Henderson led the Merseyside outfit to their first league title in 30 yearsm and Fernandinho is the latest player to join this coveted list as he captained Manchester City to their fifth title in 2020/2021.

Here, we take a look at the most successful Premier League captains ever.

Bryan Robson was club captain of Manchester United when they won the first two Premier League’s in 1992/1993 and 1993/1994. However, Robson, who was once labelled as “the greatest English player of all time” and was voted as United’s greatest ever player in 2011, was in the twilight of his career during these title wins and only made 32 Premier League appearances.

He may have only won two, but it's more than almost everyone.

Patrick Vieira was in the Arsenal team for all three of their Premier League wins and was club captain for the victories in 2001/2002 and 2003/2004. The latter was of course the famous Arsenal Invincible side, who went the entire season without losing a league game and he remains one of the best to ever do it in his position, as well as one of the Premier Leagues most successful captains and best at that.

Gary Neville has the most Premier League winners medals out of all the players on this list, winning eight titles during his career with Manchester United. Four of these titles were won while Neville was club captain between 2007 and 2011.

However, similar to United legend Robson, the latter years of Neville’s career were blighted with injury. Neville made 400 Premier League appearances and was also wearing the captain's armband when United throughout the 2008 and 2009 Champions League finals pursuits.

Vincent Kompany well and truly inserted himself into legendary status at Manchester City when he led the Citizens to their first Premier League title in 2011/2012.

The Belgian was one of the few players who remained at City following the takeover by Sheikh Mansour in 2008 and he actually came in before the takeover was completed. In total, Kompany led City to four Premier League title wins with his last win coming in his final season with the Sky Blues in 2018/2019.

One of the best ever Premier League defenders and a true captain and leader.

Also with four Premier League wins as club captain is Roy Keane, despite the Irishman winning seven league titles in total. He was, however, captain of the club when Manchester United won the treble in 1999 and was one of their best players en route to making history.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest captains in Premier League history, Keane’s spell with the Red Devil’s came to an abrupt end following a dispute with manager Sir Alex Ferguson in 2005. Nevertheless, in the eyes of many, it doesn't get any better than him.

Taking top spot with five Premier League wins while being club captain is Chelsea’s John Terry. The former England defender was made Chelsea captain by Jose Mourinho in 2004 and led the Blues to their first Premier League title the same season.

Terry enjoyed a very successful career during his 12 years as Chelsea captain winning five FA Cups, three League Cups, the Europa League and the Champions League in 2012. Terry made 492 Premier League appearances and scored 41 league goals, making him the highest-scoring defender in the history of the Premier League.