With just three matchdays remaining in the Primera División season, Colo Colo secured its thirty-fifth star. But the joy of the albos contrasts sharply with the mood of Universidad de Chile, a team that, after losing at the Claro Arena to UC, said goodbye to the title. An absence from the top of the podium that will already add up to a decade, if the blue university side manages to return to the title in the national championship next season, when a decade will have passed, on the 100th anniversary of the sports club. A drought that ranks among the longest of the three most important clubs in the national game, which together account for 68 of the 109 crowns contested in history. In other words, between them these institutions hold more than 62% of the total. A trend that also dominates the recent landscape, at least in the previous twenty editions of the national championship. The record of first-place finishes shows that, in only six of those twenty titles, the cup did not end up in the trophy cabinets of the three most important institutions in Santiago. The 2012 Clausura went into the trophy cabinet of Huachipato, while in the 2013 Transition competition the honor went to Unión Española. The triumvirate was completed by O'Higgins of Rancagua, a squad that won its only star in the 2013 Apertura. A couple of years later, in the first half of 2015, Cobresal matched the mark of the Rancagua side after lifting its first trophy in national championships. Since then, another ten editions had to pass before the steelmen appeared as champions again. Last year, Coquimbo Unido also made its debut as champion after claiming the first star in its history. Historic droughtBut the current frustration of La U is already taking on historic proportions. The team now coached by Fernando Gago has gone nine years without lifting the trophy as Chile's best team. If they win it in 2027, they will hit the decade mark, an absence that places the blues among the worst historical droughts between the Macul club and the universities. The longest absence as holder of the crown among these institutions belongs, precisely, to La U, a club that took 25 years to return to the gold, from 1969 until 1994, when Marcelo Salas's team ended the drought. The second-longest drought also belongs to the secular students, when they went 19 years dry, between 1940 and 1959. The third-longest mark belongs to UC, with 18 seasons between 1966 and 1984. The cruzados also hold fourth place in this particular ranking, after waiting a dozen years from their professional debut in 1937 until their first star, in '49. In that scenario, the current moment of La U ties for fifth place with the decade of struggles the franja endured between 1987 and the 1997 Apertura. In the universe of Colo Colo, its longest absence from the top of the podium stands at seven consecutive years. A crisis that extended only over two periods: from 1963 to 1970 and from '72 to '79. NEWSLETTEREl DeportivoMonday, 8:45 AMA special selection with coverage and analysis of the most important sporting events of the weekend, by the Sports team of La Tercera. By signing up you are accepting the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policies of La Tercera.