5. ASM Clermont Auvergne (24x Runners-Up / 9 Finals Victories)
The final addition to this list is ASM Clermont Auvergne. There is no denying the success that Clermont have seen throughout the years, they are three-time European Challenge Cup winners, and have clinched the French Top 14 on two occasions. However, they have also been runners-up a staggering 24 times during their history, with their silver medals heavily outweighing their gold on display.
Clermont hold the unwanted accolade of being the joint-most unsuccessful team in Champions Cup Finals with three defeats and no wins. Clermont begrudgingly share this title with fellow French side Racing 92. Despite their trio of Challenge Cup titles, Clermont have also tasted defeat in European Rugby’s secondary division, as they ended the 2003/04 campaign as Runners-Up, after a bitterly close 27-16 defeat to Harlequins.
Clermont have been eager participants in the French first division, yet have only ever come away with two league titles (2010 and 2017). They have fallen in the competition’s Grand Final on 12 occasions, giving them the worst final win-loss ratio of any side from the four elite club leagues (Top 14, Premiership, Super Rugby and United Rugby Championship).
Every iteration of the French top division has featured a play-off stage and eventual final. This is a factor as to why Clermont’s silver medal tally is so high, as their first trip to the final was as far back as 1936. The Premiership and United Rugby Championship (or Celtic League) have only used play-off stages to decide the champions since the 2001/02 season. Super Rugby’s first final came in the aforementioned 1996 debut season, however no side from the top four elite rugby club leagues come close to Clermont’s collection of silver medals.
Clermont have also accrued numerous silver medals from France’s domestic club competitions. The equivalent of the historic Anglo-Welsh Cup on the British Isles, Clermont are six-time runners up (and three-time winners) of the Challenge Yves du Manoir. Also, the side formally known as AS Montferrand, are two-time Coupe de France runners-up, with the matches taking place in 1945 and 1947, following WWII.