Premier League
Liverpool, Real Madrid, Bayern…Nottingham Forest: the shock feat eight clubs have in common
Ahead of Tuesday’s Forest vs Liverpool Premier League game, Forest have emerged as surprise title contenders, evoking memories of past successes.
When the 2024/25 Premier League season started in August last year, few would have foreseen a January game between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool being billed as a top-of-the-table clash. Nuno Espírito Santo’s team go into Tuesday’s game at the City Ground (January 14, kickoff at 3pm ET) knowing a win will move them to within three points of The Reds, the current league leaders.
While Liverpool are regularly expected to be in the mix for Premier League titles, Forest are not. Prior to the 2022/23 season, the club had been out of the English top division for 23 years after being relegated at the end of the 1998/99 campaign.
In that time, they even dropped into the third tier for three seasons in the mid 2000s, the first time they had fallen that far since the early 1950s.
In two seasons back in the Premier League, they have only just avoided relegation, with 16th and 17th-place finishes doing little to suggest they were capable of (almost) keeping pace with the very best this time around. Yet here we are.
Nottingham Forest’s unique achievement
And, of course, Forest have previous when it comes to springing a surprise shortly after being promoted. Some call what you’re about to read the most impressive achievement in history of any club team from England, and perhaps even further beyond.
The year after being promoted from the English second tier under legendary manager Brian Clough in 1977, Nottingham Forest won their first ever English Division One title (the name for the top league at the time), making them the most recent promoted team to achieve that feat in England.
That, though, was only the beginning. In 1978/79, they sent shockwaves through European soccer by winning the European Cup (which became the Champions League) at the first attempt, defeating holders Liverpool in the first round. And perhaps even more incredibly, they defended their trophy the following season, a semifinal victory over Ajax the highlight of their 1979/80 win.
Which clubs have won consecutive Champions Leagues?
Forest’s double triumph followed on from back-to-back victories for Liverpool in the competition. The Premier League clubs are two of only eight clubs to win consecutive European Cups/Champions Leagues, the others being Real Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Ajax and Benfica.
That also makes Forest the only team to have won the European Cup/Champions League more times than their domestic league.
The club hasn’t played in the European Cup/Champions League since 1980/81, the season after their second and last victory, when they were knocked out in the very first round. That could change next season, but is there even a chance they could do so as Premier League champions? Tuesday’s game against Liverpool will almost certainly be pivotal if they are to sustain their shock challenge.
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