Liverpool are, on a major trophy count, the most successful team in English football. In 2024, they were gunning for an historic clean sweep of four major titles.
Although they had faded somewhat in recent decades, the arrival of Jurgen Klopp in 2015 revitalised the club. The German manager took Liverpool to back-to-back Champions League finals, and has seen them compete with Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, with the teams pushing each other close in domestic competitions.
Winning the EFL Cup (Carabao Cup) had been a routine for Guardiola, having lifted the trophy in every season from 2017/18 to 2020/21. However, the sequence was broken in 2021/22, when Man City were eliminated from the competition by West Ham in the fourth round. Liverpool made it to the final, where they faced Chelsea. After a goalless game, the final was decided on penalties, with the shootout reaching the 11th round.
In a repeat of that Carabao Cup final, Liverpool also won the 2021/22 FA Cup, downing Chelsea 6-5 on penalties after another 0-0 draw. An Alisson Becker shootout save and a Konstantinos Tsimikas conversion locked up the second of four pieces of silverware the club was chasing.
Ultimately, Liverpool fell agonisingly short of an historic quadruple, missing out on the league title to Man City by a single point and losing the 2022 UEFA Champions League final to Real Madrid. They were on track to attempt a similar feat until United inflicted that dramatic defeat in March.
Still, with the Carabao Cup won and campaigns in the league and UEFA Europa League ongoing, Klopp could celebrate a famous final season in charge at Anfield.
Has any team won the quadruple?
The fabled quadruple is extremely difficult — and has proven impossible in the modern (post-1992) era of the Champions League. No team has ever won a quadruple in the modern iteration of European football.
It involves a team winning their domestic league, continental competition, and both domestic cups. It's worth pointing out that, with these criteria, teams from Spain, Italy, Germany and France cannot win a quadruple. Unlike England, which has both the FA Cup and the EFL Cup (Carabao Cup), these countries only have one domestic cup competition.
France did have a second cup competition, the Coupe de la Ligue, that ran from 1993 to 2020, but it was dissolved amidst the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce the number of games in the season, and there has been no talk of bringing it back.
Some would argue that other competitions may constitute a quadruple, such as the FIFA Club World Cup, or the UEFA Super Cup. For example, German side Bayern Munich technically won four trophies in 2012/2013, including the Champions League, but there was also the one-off DFL-Supercup (the equivalent of the Community Shield). While these are certainly achievements, some purists wouldn't count them as part of a genuine quadruple.
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Bearing that in mind, a few English teams have come close to managing the quadruple feat in the past. In the 2018/19 season, Manchester City picked up all three domestic trophies but were eliminated from the Champions League at the quarterfinal stage, and so they only managed a treble.
Their city rivals, Manchester United, completed a treble of the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League in 1998/99. They were knocked out of the EFL Cup by Tottenham Hotspur in the quarterfinals. City replicated that treble feat in 2022/23, but their EFL Cup campaign ended in a surprise 2-0 loss to Southampton.
Liverpool came close to the quadruple in 2021/22, winning the EFL Cup and FA Cup, reaching the Champions League final and running City close in the league title race, but they ultimately finished the season winning only those two domestic cup competitions. They have another chance to achieve the feat in 2023/24, although they are competing in Europe's secondary competition, the Europa League, rather than the Champions League.
However, the quadruple has been done before, going back to the 1960's.
Scottish club Celtic did managed it in the 1966/67 season. Jock Stein's side won the European Cup, Scottish First Division, Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup, to complete a foursome of major trophies. They also won the Glasgow Cup, though the importance of that trophy can be debated.
🔥🦁🏆
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) May 21, 2017
Watch in slow-mo as Paradise pays a fitting tribute to the Lisbon Lions. #Lisboa50 pic.twitter.com/fWbxAyplbk
Barcelona win latest quadruple in European football history
The rise of women's club football in recent decades has seen European football gain another element. Despite a sharp increase in both parity and talent across top European clubs, Barcelona have dominated the continent from a trophy perspective.
Even so, it took until 2024 before the Blaugrana were able to accomplish their first women's European quadruple. Across the 2023/24 season, Barcelona won the Liga Femenino in dominant fashion on an 18-point gap, while also securing the Copa de la Reina and Supercopa de Espana Femenina.
With those three domestic titles in hand, Barcelona completed the set with an impressive 2-0 victory over European rivals Lyon in the Women's Champions League final, becoming the first women's European side to win a continental quadruple. The match fittingly featured goals from Spanish superstars Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas, both of whom have come off ACL tears over the last few years of their careers.
𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐒 𝐃'𝐄𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐀 🏆✨ pic.twitter.com/9ov1YxKxPj
— FC Barcelona Femení (@FCBfemeni) May 25, 2024
They were the second club to achieve such a feat, and first in the modern Women's Champions League era (since 2009).
Prior to that, Arsenal completed a European quadruple in the 2006/07 season by winning the UEFA Women's Cup as well as the English domestic league title, the Women's FA Cup, and the Women's National League Cup. The last of those, the Women's National League Cup, is no longer a major trophy in English football but was at the time, as it had not yet been replaced by the FA Women's League Cup which happened in 2011.
Which teams have won the treble?
Two English clubs have completed a treble of league title, FA Cup and European Cup/Champions League in the same season. Manchester United did it first, in 1998/99, with rivals Manchester City replicating that feat in 2022/23.
City were the first team to manage a domestic treble in 2018/19, when they lifted the Premier League, FA Cup, and EFL Cup in the same season.
Liverpool have managed two trebles in their history. In the 2000/01 season, they won the UEFA Cup, FA Cup, and EFL Cup. Previously, in 1983/1984, they managed to win the league, EFL Cup, and European Cup.
In addition to United and City, there have been eight more trebles from continental clubs that include European Cup success: Barcelona (2008/09 and 2014/15), Bayern Munich (2012/13 and 2019/20), Inter Milan (2009/10), PSV (1987/88), Ajax (1971/72) and Celtic (1966/67).
What's the most trophies Liverpool have won in a season?
The most trophies Liverpool have won in a season is three. In the 1983/84 season, the Reds won the league, EFL Cup, and European Cup, while in the 2000/01 season they lifted the UEFA Cup as well as both domestic cups (EFL Cup and FA Cup).
Liverpool have won numerous doubles in their history. They've managed the league and FA Cup double once, in 1985/86, and they've twice managed the league and EFL Cup double, successively in 1981/82 and 1982/83. In 2021/22, they won both domestic cups.
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Liverpool have also combined league and European success on multiple occasions. In 1976/77, they won the league and European Cup — their first continental triumph of six. Leading up to that success, they twice won the league and UEFA Cup, in 1972/73 and 1975/76.
When the Merseyside giants won their third European Cup, in 1980/81, they once again lifted a second trophy, the EFL Cup.