MANCHESTER CITY
Julián Álvarez wins the treble and World Cup in the same year as Guardiola gets second treble
The Argentine forward won the Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League and World Cup in one season, breaking all previously held trophy records.
Argentina striker Julián Álvarez won’t forget the 2022/23 season in a hurry. The 23-year-old has capped off an already historic season in the best fashion: winning the Champions League. Normally, for a player, winning Europe’s elite award would be a dream come true, a highlight that sits above everything else and never moves from top spot. For ‘The Spider’, it is another trophy on an already long list of fantastic achievements.
The young forward moved to Manchester City in July 2022 and 11 months later has claimed the Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League and World Cup, scoring goals all the way. But how many players have achieved this feat?
How many players have won the treble and World Cup in a single season?
Let’s start off with players who have won the Champions League/European Cup and World Cup in a single season. In the 73/74 season, Maier, Breitner, Schwarzenbeck, Beckenbauer, Müller, Hoeneß and Kapellmann all won the European Cup with Bayern Munich and World Cup with Germany, becoming the first players to do so in history.
Over 20 years later, in the 97/98 season, Karembeu won the Champions League with Real Madrid before winning the World Cup shortly after with France. Roberto Carlos, another Real Madrid player at the time, did the same thing with Brazil in the 01/02 season.
The Real Madrid winning streak continues
It took until 2013/14 for history to repeat itself at Real Madrid, when Sami Khedira triumphed with Germany after Madrid claimed the historic Décima against Atlético Madrid in Lisbon. It’s telling that most of the examples are Madrid players, and the next is no different: Raphaël Varane won the 2018 World Cup with France in the same year that Madrid claimed yet another European trophy.
And now, Julián Álvarez has added his name to the list. But not only has he won the Champions League and World Cup, but he has the treble, becoming the first player to do so in the history of football. To add to the magnificence of the record, only six other players have won the Premier League, Champions League and World Cup in the history of football: Thierry Henry, Fabien Barthez, Juliano Belletti, Gerard Piqué, Pedro, N’Golo Kante and now, Julián Álvarez.
Pep Guardiola wins his second treble as a manager
Guardiola, in winning the three trophies with Manchester City, becomes the only manager in history to achieve the feat on two separate occasions and/or with two different clubs. His first treble came with FC Barcelona in the 2008-9 season, in which they won LaLiga, the Copa del Rey and Champions League.
