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A treble in
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
is achieved when a club team wins three trophies in a single season.
A ''continental treble'' involves winning the club's national league competition, main national cup competition, and main continental trophy. A ''domestic treble'' involves winning three national competitions—normally the league title, the primary cup competition, and one secondary competition.
Competitions which consist of a single match or a two-leg match are not normally counted as part of a treble (e.g., the
FA Community Shield
The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...
,
Supercopa de España
The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...
,
Trophée des Champions
The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries.
His ...
,
DFL-Supercup,
UEFA Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...
,
Recopa Sudamericana
The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana ( pt, CONMEBOL Recopa Sul-Americana), known also as the Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as the Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club association football, football compe ...
,
FIFA Club World Cup
The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...
,
Intercontinental Cup, and others).
Continental trebles
This list includes clubs who have won their country's top-tier league and the primary cup competition (
the double), in addition to the major continental tournament, all within a single season. Tokyo Verdy of Japan and Barcelona of Spain are the only clubs to win continental trebles for both their men's and women's sections, completing the feat in 2019 and 2021, respectively.
Men
21 men's clubs have achieved the feat, with the first being
TP Mazembe
Tout Puissant Mazembe, commonly referred to as TP Mazembe, is a Congolese professional football club based in Lubumbashi.
History
Tout Puissant Mazembe, the first sports club from the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a value of at least $10 ...
(then known as FC Englebert) of the DR Congo and
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
of Scotland, both in 1967.
Five men's clubs have won the continental treble two or more times:
Al Ahly SC
AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for:
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media
* Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera
* Al (''Fullmetal ...
of Egypt,
Auckland City FC
Auckland City Football Club is a New Zealand professional football club based in the suburb of Sandringham in Auckland, New Zealand. They currently compete in the Northern League (New Zealand), Northern League. Auckland City have established the ...
of New Zealand,
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.
Founded ...
of Spain,
FC Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...
of Germany, and
Cruz Azul
Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...
of Mexico.
Cruz Azul were the first team to win two of these trebles, winning their second in 1997.
Al Ahly and Auckland City are the only teams with more than two continental trebles, with Al Ahly having three and Auckland City having four.
Auckland City completed this achievement first, winning their third treble in 2015 and fourth in 2022.
Al Ahly and Auckland City are also the only men's clubs to win trebles in back-to-back seasons, though Al Ahly were the first to do this after winning in both 2006 and 2007.
European teams have won the most continental trebles with nine, coming from seven clubs. The only countries to have more than one team win a continental treble are New Zealand and the Netherlands, with two teams winning trebles.
No South American team has achieved the feat with the above stipulations, making it the only continent to never have a continental treble winner. This can in part be blamed on an absence of a domestic knockout cup in some of South America's nations until recently: the
Copa do Brasil
The Copa do Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de ...
only began in 1989, the
Copa Argentina
The Copa Argentina (English: ''Argentine Cup''), officially known as the "Copa Argentina AXION energy" due to sponsorship reasons, is an official football cup competition organized by the Argentine Football Association (AFA), with the aim of qual ...
restarted in 2011 after a 41-year hiatus, and many countries including Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay still do not have one. However, multiple Brazilian teams have won some combination of the
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A
The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...
, their
state championship, the Copa do Brasil, and the now-defunct
Taça Brasil
The Taça Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) was the Brazilian national football championship contested from 1959 to 1968.
Bahia, Cruzeiro and Botafogo were the only champions to have played all phases of the tournament, because until the 1968 edition tea ...
, plus the
Copa Libertadores
The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...
, but never by winning the Campeonato, Copa do Brasil, and Copa Libertadores.
Women
Six women's clubs have won a continental treble with these stipulations, five of which are European clubs. The first to do so was
1. FFC Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt is a German women's association football club based in Frankfurt. Its first team currently plays in the German top flight, Frauen-Bundesliga. From 1998 to 2020, the club was known as 1. FFC Frankfurt.
Eintracht have won sev ...
in 2002, who won the treble again in 2008.
The only other women's club to achieve it more than once is
Olympique Lyonnais Féminin
Olympique Lyonnais Féminin (; commonly referred to as Olympique Lyon, Lyon, or simply OL) is a French women's football club based in Lyon. The club has been the female section of Olympique Lyonnais since 2004. It is the most successful club ...
, who has done so five times (a record for both men's and women's clubs). Lyon are also the only women's club to win trebles in back to back years, and have completed this feat on two occasions.
The lack of women's continental trebles compared to men's can largely be attributed to the absence of continental competitions for women until recently. The
UEFA Women's Champions League
The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA.
The ...
did not begin until 2001, the
Copa Libertadores Femenina
The CONMEBOL Libertadores Femenina, named as "Copa Libertadores Femenina" ( pt, Copa Libertadores Feminina or Taça Libertadores Feminina) is an annual international women's association football club competition in South America. It is organized by ...
did not begin until 2009, the
AFC Women's Club Championship did not begin until 2019, the
CAF Women's Champions League
The CAF Women's Champions League (french: Ligue des Champions Féminine de la CAF; ar, دوري أبطال إفريقيا للسيدات), sometimes abbreviated as ''CAF WCL'', is an annual international women's association football club compet ...
did not begin until 2021, and CONCACAF and the OFC still do not sponsor a continental women's competition (though the CONCACAF Women's Champions League is set to begin in 2024). Additionally, many nations do not have a top level cup competition for women.
Domestic trebles
Domestic trebles are only possible in some countries, as most only give clubs the chance to win one league title and one cup. However, some countries, especially those which were once British or French possessions, also have
a secondary cup competition, usually only accessible to teams in the top few levels of their national league system. A secondary cup competition is the most common way for a team to earn a domestic treble, but there are other formats. For example, Brazil has state-level leagues alongside the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A and the Copa do Brasil; in the United States (plus the Canadian teams that play in the
MLS
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
), the domestic treble requires winning the "MLS double" (winning the
Supporters' Shield and
MLS Cup
The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...
) plus the
U.S. Open Cup or
Canadian Championship.
Men
89 men's clubs have won a domestic treble, 26 of whom have done it more than once. The first team to win a domestic treble was Northern Ireland's Linfield in 1921–22. Scottish sides Celtic and Rangers have won the most domestic trebles, each with seven.
Celtic and Bayern Munich are the only men's sides to win both a domestic treble and a continental treble, but Celtic are the only one to win both in the same season. Celtic also hold the record for the most consecutive men's domestic trebles with four.
Women
Five women's clubs have won domestic trebles, and three of those teams have won their domestic treble more than once. Scotland's Glasgow City has won the most domestic trebles, with five. Glasgow City also have the most consecutive women's domestic trebles, with four. Arsenal of England became the first women's club to win a domestic treble when they won it in 1992–93. Them, along with Tokyo Verdy Beleza of Japan are the only women's clubs to win both a continental treble and a domestic treble, and each team won the domestic treble in the same season they won the continental treble (2007 for Arsenal and 2019 for Tokyo Verdy).
Notes
See also
*
Double (association football)
The Double, in association football, is the achievement of winning a country's top tier division and its primary cup competition in the same season. The lists in this article examine this definition of a double, while derivative sections examin ...
*
Sextuple (football)
The term ''sextuple'' is mainly used in the sports press for winning six important national and international titles in sport, especially in football, within one sporting year or season.
During a football season, clubs typically take part in a nu ...
*
*
Triple Crown of Brazilian Football
The Triple Crown of Brazilian Football ( pt, Tríplice coroa do futebol brasileiro) is an unofficial title given to the club that won the three most important competitions of the Brazilian football in the same year:
Achievers
Santos Futebol C ...
*
Three-peat
In North American sports, a three-peat is winning three consecutive championships. The term, a portmanteau of the words ''three'' and ''repeat'', originated with the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association, during their unsuccess ...
References
External links
List of domestic treblesfrom
RSSSF
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Treble
Association football terminology
Association football records and statistics
pt:Tríplice coroa#Futebol