yo-yo club

plural yo-yo clubs

1. ball gamesA club that experiences a run of alternating promotions and relegations in quick succession.

   A yo-yo club usually found bouncing between the top flight and the second tier, Leicester had spent the majority of the Premier League era outside of the Premier League.

   2018 December 12, Jonathan Clegg, Joshua Robinson, The Club: How the Premier League Became the Richest, Most Disruptive Business in Sport, Hachette UK, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   The late 1970s and early '80s were notable for three clubs that had a particular notoriety as 'yo-yo clubs': they were Leicester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Birmingham City

   2020 July 24, Richard Cox, Dave Russell, Wray Vamplew, Encyclopedia of British Football, Routledge, →ISBN

   It would do nothing, however, to increase those clubs' chances of surviving in that top division as their financial resources would be diminished compared to the existing yo-yo clubs and would be likely to result in more 'one-season wonder' clubs.

   2023 January 24, Stephen Morrow, The People's Game?: Football, Finance and Society, Springer Nature, →ISBN, page 25