In football, a double is momentous enough – but a treble elevates an already fine team to another level.
It’s a feat rarely achieved in the European game, giving any club that manages it a special place in history.
To qualify for our list, the treble success had to comprise the league title, a major domestic cup and one of the two biggest UEFA trophies (the European Cup / Champions League and UEFA Cup / Europa League).
IFK Goteborg, 1981/82
One of Sweden’s most successful clubs, IFK Goteborg became the first side from a Nordic country to win a major UEFA competition.
Under Sven-Goran Eriksson, IFK lifted their first of two UEFA Cups in 1982, defeating Bundesliga champions Hamburg 4-0 on aggregate in the final. They also won the 1981/82 Swedish Cup and 1982 league title.
Liverpool, 1983/84
Joe Fagan managed Liverpool for two years, and he picked up all of his silverware in his first campaign at the helm.
Fagan’s Reds, starring the likes of Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush, did a treble of First Division title, League Cup and European Cup – the Merseyside giants’ fourth – in 1983/84.
Galatasaray, 1999/2000
Galatasaray pulled off quite the upset to complete their 1999/2000 treble, beating Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal on penalties in the final of the UEFA Cup.
Gala, whose players at the time included Gheorghe Hagi and Claudio Taffarel, had already secured a domestic double, beating Istanbul rivals Besiktas to the Turkish top-flight title and winning a 5-3 thriller against Antalyaspor in the cup final.
Porto, 2002/03
Jose Mourinho laid the foundations for his trophy-laden managerial career by claiming his first three pieces of silverware at Porto.
Having won the Portuguese title by 11 points from Benfica, Mourinho’s men saw off Celtic 3-2 after extra time in the UEFA Cup final – before edging their boss’ former side Uniao de Leira to secure domestic cup victory.
CSKA Moscow, 2004/05
Historically among Russian football’s foremost forces, CSKA Moscow won their second of three league titles in four years in 2005.
They made it a treble by clinching their second Russian Cup and lifting their first European trophy, coming from behind to beat Sporting Lisbon 3-1 in the UEFA Cup final – at Sporting’s own stadium, no less.
Porto, 2010/11
Seven years after winning the two biggest domestic honours and the UEFA Cup under Jose Mourinho, Porto repeated the trick.
With another future Chelsea manager in charge, Andre Villas Boas, Porto won the title by a whopping 21 points – again from Benfica – before beating Braga 1-0 in an all-Portuguese UEFA Cup final, four days before thumping Vitoria de Guimaraes 6-2 to lift a third straight domestic cup.
Celtic, 1966/67
All but two of Celtic’s Lisbon Lions were born within 10 miles of the club’s home ground, Celtic Park, and they gained immortality by winning the European Cup in the Portuguese capital.
Celtic’s 2-1 comeback victory over Inter made them Britain’s first continental champions – and Jock Stein’s team actually did a quadruple that season, claiming the Scottish top-flight title and both major domestic cups.
Ajax, 1971/72
Ajax’s 1971/72 European Cup triumph was their second of an incredible three in a row, at a time when Dutch football firmly put itself on the map at club and international level.
Under the tutelage of Romanian boss Stefan Kovacs, Johan Cruyff and co. secured the Amsterdam giants’ third domestic double – and their first treble.
PSV, 1987/88
PSV became the second Dutch club to do the treble, coached by manager just beginning his successful managerial journey: Guus Hiddink.
Ronald Koeman and Eric Gerets were among the stars involved in an historic campaign for PSV, who topped the Eredivisie by nine points from Ajax, and won the Dutch Cup after extra time and the European Cup on penalties (nothing like a tense finale!).
Manchester United, 1998/99
Sir Alex Ferguson collected silverware like it was going out of fashion, so he had to do the treble at some point during his legendary Manchester United tenure.
Having pipped Arsenal to the Premier League title by a single point and beaten Newcastle 2-0 in the FA Cup final, Fergie’s United headed to Barcelona to complete the set – and they did it by mounting one of the most remarkable recoveries in football history, stoppage-time goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer downing Bayern Munich in the Champions League final.
Barcelona, 2008/09
Pep Guardiola wasted no time in showing off his managerial credentials, guiding Barcelona to the treble in his first season as the main man in the dugout.
Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi et al won the LaLiga title by nine points from arch-rivals Real Madrid, before thrashing Athletic Bilbao 4-1 to clinch the Copa del Rey then seeing off Manchester United 2-0 to secure Champions League glory. Easy…
Inter, 2009/10
Having led Inter to the 2008/09 Serie A title, Jose Mourinho made the Nerazzurri Italy’s first treble winners the following campaign.
After narrowly beating Roma to the Scudetto and Coppa Italia for a domestic double, Mourinho’s men dispatched Bayern Munich at the Bernabeu to secure the club’s first Champions League title in 45 years.
Bayern Munich, 2012/13
Bayern Munich had won the three biggest honours available on numerous occasions before 2013 – but never all in the same season.
That all changed during a glorious campaign under Jupp Heynckes, in which Bavaria’s finest took the Bundesliga title by 25 points from bitter rivals Borussia Dortmund – before defeating them late on in the first all-German Champions League final. Bayern then clinched the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) by winning a 3-2 thriller against Stuttgart.
Barcelona, 2014/15
Barcelona sealed their second treble triumph in 2015, this time with a different former player holding the reins, Luis Enrique.
LaLiga champions by two points from Real Madrid, scoring 110 goals along the way (Messi got 43 of them), Barca beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1 to win the Copa del Rey and Juventus by the same scoreline to be crowned European champions once more.
Bayern Munich, 2019/20
In winning an unprecedented eighth straight Bundesliga title (their streak would eventually end at 11), Bayern Munich did their second treble in eight years.
Hansi Flick oversaw DFB-Pokal and Champions League final victories over Bayer Leverkusen and PSG respectively, and steered his side to the German championship by 13 points from Dortmund in a campaign which finished behind closed doors amid the pandemic.
Manchester City, 2022/23
Ever the history-maker, Pep Guardiola became the first manager to do the treble twice when he achieved the feat with Manchester City.
Premier League champions ahead of Arsenal, and FA Cup and Champions League winners at the expense of local rivals Manchester United and Inter respectively, City might even have done a quadruple, their shock League Cup quarter-final defeat to Southampton a rare blemish in a near-perfect season.
