Highlights

  • Winning one major trophy in a season is hard enough, but to do the treble is often unthinkable even for the best of teams.
  • It's a sign of how rare such an achievement is, that only a small handful of the top European clubs have managed that feat in their histories.
  • GIVEMESPORT now takes a look at which European clubs have managed to do the extraordinary and win the treble in a season.

In modern European football, winning one major trophy in a season is often seen as a massive success, such is the competition and number of teams that are playing for the same prize. But putting your hands on another couple of titles to complete the treble is virtually unheard of in the modern age, and it is exactly why only a small number of teams across the continent have managed to do so in recent memory.

As Jurgen Klopp gets closer and closer to his final game in charge of Liverpool after a number of stellar years as manager at the club, all eyes at Anfield are on whether he can close out the campaign and his tenure on the biggest of highs. The Reds have already secured one trophy in the 2023/2024 season with the capture of the Carabao Cup thanks to a late Virgil van Dijk header in extra-time against Chelsea, and will be hoping to add to that in the coming weeks and months with the Premier League, FA Cup and Europa League. Not only do the Merseysiders have the chance to do the treble, but they even have the opportunity to lift an unprecedented quadruple.

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If Liverpool manage to pull off the continental treble, they will follow in the footsteps of a very select number of teams to do so. GIVEMESPORT has now taken a look at the sides in European football who have won the treble, although it is worth mentioning that this list only focuses on those teams who won their domestic league, major domestic cup and a European title.

8 Celtic (1966/1967)

Scottish League, Scottish Cup and European Cup

Celtic Park/Parkhead Stadium

Not only did Celtic win the three major trophies to be considered a European treble, but they also completed a clean sweep domestically, adding the Scottish League Cup and the Glasgow Cup to become the first side ever to do the quintuple. Over the course of the 1966/1967 season, the Bhoys scored a rather remarkable 196 goals in the major competitions that they took part in - unsurprisingly, a world record. A team now more commonly known as the 'Lisbon Lions' after winning the European Cup in the Portuguese city, Celtic would defeat Inter in the showpiece finale 2-1.

48,500 were in attendance to witness greatness, with defender Tommy Gemmell and forward Stevie Chalmers scoring in the second-half to secure a comeback victory over the Nerazzurri. Led by legendary manager Jock Stein, Celtic became the team that acted as a reference point for all future great club sides.

7 Ajax (1971/1972)

Eredivisie, KNVB Cup and European Cup

johan-cruyff-ajax

Any side with Johan Cruyff in it was always going to have a chance of doing special things, and the Netherlands legend did exactly that when he spearheaded Ajax's incredible treble triumph in the 1971/1972 season. The club had just lost another legendary and iconic figure in Rinus Michels that previous summer, so the task of winning the Champions League was simply made that much harder. But, Cruyff virtually put the team on his back on his way to securing his legacy as one of football's greatest ever players.

Ajax would lose just the one game over the course of the entire season, including both domestic and European fixtures too. In fact, such was their dominance, the side even registered a massive 12-1 victory over Vitesse, which for the better part of 48 years, stood as the Eredivisie's biggest ever win in history - a record broken by Ajax once again when they thrashed VVV-Venlo 13-0 in 2020.

6 PSV Eindhoven (1987/1988)

Eredivisie, KNVB Cup and European Cup

Everton manager Ronald Koeman looks on during Europa League press conference

Another Dutch side to have won the treble, PSV matched the achievements of arch-rivals Ajax from more than 15 years prior by lifting the Eredivisie, KNVB Cup and European Cup in the same season in 1999. It was a PSV side led at the back by Ronald Koeman, the Netherlands legend who of course went on to bigger stardom when he joined La Liga giants Barcelona and shone for them during the 1990s.

It was a testament of the kind of resilience and squad depth that PSV had, that even despite selling international superstar Ruud Gullit to Milan in what was then an eye-watering £6m deal, they still went on to enjoy the season that they had. PSV's hopes of a treble were only secured though after they came through on penalties in nail-biting fashion in the Champions League final when they edged out Portuguese fliers Benfia 6-5.

5 Manchester United (1998/1999)

Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League

Man Utd players after winning 1999 Champions League final

Onto the first English team to have won the big European treble, Manchester United laid their claim to being the most dominant side on British shores when they captured the Premier League, FA Cup and the Champions League all in the same season back in 1999. Sir Alex Ferguson's men had pipped Arsenal to the post in both the Premier League and the FA Cup, but were left dazed after Bayern Munich took the lead in the Champions League final.

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But, late goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sparked a dramatic comeback from the Red Devils, who secured a 2-1 win at the death at a stunned Nou Camp. Given that the treble-winning feat was not done by another English team for well over two decades speaks volumes of the incredible achievement of Ferguson's men back in 1999.

4 Barcelona (2008/2009 and 2014/2015)

La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League

Lionel Messi with the Champions League trophy in 2011

One of the greatest clubs in history and of the modern era, Barcelona did the magic treble on two occasions in less than a decade. Both times they were led by the genius of Lionel Messi up front, with their first triumph coming under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola - more on him later - and the second under Luis Enrique. Barcelona's front-three in both treble-winning seasons centred around Messi, but the players around him in terms of quality was equally as impressive.

Samuel Eto'o and Thierry Henry flanked Messi on either side during the 2008/2009 campaign, before South American duo Luis Suarez and Neymar teamed up with their Argentine contemporary to deliver Barca's second continent treble of the century. The Catalan giants would beat Juventus in that 2014/2015 Champions League final in Berlin, having beaten Spanish rivals Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey showpiece game just a week prior.

3 Inter Milan (2009/2010)

Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League

Diego Milito

Jose Mourinho's Inter shocked the world after lifting the Champions League in the 2009/2010 season. A squad built of seasoned pros and established veterans, the Nerazzurri were led by the fearsome strike duo of Diego Milito and Samuel Eto'o, while the likes of Wesley Sneijder and Esteban Cambiasso among others patrolled the midfield behind them, delivering both creativity and energy in abundance.

After seeing his stock fall somewhat with his ending at former club Chelsea, Mourinho was on the path to rebuilding his reputation in a way with Inter, and did so in emphatic fashion by winning the treble. Their Champions League final came against Bayern Munich, whilst they pipped the likes of Milan and AS Roma to the post in the Serie A. It was a season defined by consistency and grit; traits synonymous with the best Mourinho sides of the early 21st century.

2 Bayern Munich (2012/2013 and 2019/2020)

Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League

Bayern celebrate winning the UCL vs Dortmund

The all-conquering side in German football, Bayern Munich may be getting knocked off their perch in the 2023/2024 season by rivals Bayer Leverkusen, but that doesn't stop them being the number one side to beat in the Bundesliga. The Bavarians have been an utterly dominant force over the past decade or so, and as if to underline that point, completed the treble on two separate occasions.

Not only did they do it in the 2012/2013 campaign when they beat long-term rivals and arch-nemesis Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final at Wembley Stadium, but they also pipped their counterparts to the German league title too. Then, several years later, a Bayern side brimming with pace and power found themselves creating history once more as they repeated their treble-winning feat in the 2019/2020 season. The top dogs in Germany, Bayern have showed the way for a number of years now.

1 Manchester City (2022/2023)

Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League

The most recent team to do it in European football history, and the side Liverpool will be hoping to emulate come the end of the 2023/2024 season, Pep Guardiola's juggernaut of a Manchester City side obliterated the competition both domestically and across the continent to secure a remarkable season for the blue half of Manchester.

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While winning the Premier League and even the FA Cup had already been done before in City's recent storied and trophy-laden history, lifting the big European title was something that had eluded them ever since money began pouring in from their owners back in the late 2000s. However, Guardiola and his City team finally banished their hoodoo in the Champions League by defeating Inter in the final 1-0 thanks to a goal from Rodri, and thus securing their place in the annals of football history as the latest side to do the continental treble.