A treble in football is achieved when a team wins three major trophies in a single season. On a similar note, winning two trophies in a season known as a double.
Winning a treble in football typically involves winning a domestic league title, a domestic cup competition and a continental competition. The term ‘treble’ is most commonly associated with European football, particularly in reference to the UEFA Champions League, the team’s respective domestic league title and domestic cup.
While winning any three trophies in a season can be termed as a treble, a ‘genuine treble’ entails winning the most prestigious trophies available at the highest level of football. Winning the UEFA Europa League, Europe’s second-tier club competition, instead of the UCL is also considered a treble by some but is not universally recognised as a genuine treble.
Completing a genuine treble is a rare feat and it has only been achieved 10 times in the history of European football, by eight teams. English club Manchester City became the latest team to achieve the treble in football after they won the Premier League, the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League titles in the 2022-23 football season.
On June 10, 2023, Manchester City defeated Inter Milan 1-0 at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul. It was City’s maiden Champions League title win and helped seal the coveted ‘treble.’
Celtic and Ajax were the first two European teams to achieve the treble in 1966-67 and 1971-72, respectively. The other five teams to have accomplished the treble are PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich.
Barcelona and Bayern Munich are the only teams to have achieved the genuine treble twice. Portugal’s FC Porto, meanwhile, managed a treble twice, winning their domestic league, cup and the UEFA Cup/Europa League in 2002-03 and 2010-11.
Barcelona accomplished the genuine treble in 2008-09 and 2014-15, under the management of Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique, respectively.
With the treble with Manchester City, Pep Guardiola made history by becoming the first manager to win two European trebles in men’s football.
Bayern Munich completed the treble in 2012-13 and 2019-20, with Jupp Heynckes and Hansi Flick as their managers during those seasons.
Egyptian club El Ahly Cairo managed a genuine treble twice in African football after winning the CAF Champions League in 2005-06 and 2019-20 in addition to the Egyptian league and cup.