![\"Three](\"https:\/\/www.bestonlinebettingsites.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/trophies.jpg\")
You may hear the terms double and treble frequently in relation to football and also with regards to betting on it. In this article, we are not concerned with the latter usage, where a double is a bet with two selections and a treble one with three. Instead, our focus is on what these terms mean with regards to a club winning multiple pieces of silverware in the same season.<\/p>\n
![\"Preston](\"https:\/\/www.bestonlinebettingsites.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/preston-north-end.jpg\")
Preston North End, 1889<\/p><\/div>\n
Traditionally, in order to \u201cdo the double\u201d in English football, a side had to win the top-flight league title and FA Cup in the same season. That is what most football fans understand by the term and is what some may call a \u201ctrue\u201d, \u201creal\u201d or \u201cproper\u201d double. The first side to ever achieve this feat was Preston North End, way back in 1889. Before we look at that feat, it should also be noted that \u201cdoing the double over<\/em>\u201d a team is another commonplace football phrase. This refers to when one side beats another both home and away in the league.<\/p>\n Returning to Preston, and not only did the Lancashire side manage the double in the first-ever season of league football, they also went the whole season unbeaten. As such, not only are they the original double team, they are also the first \u201cInvincibles\u201d \u2013 sorry Arsenal fans. It was only a 22-game campaign admittedly, the inaugural season of the Football League seeing just 12 teams compete. Even so, PNE won 18 of their matches, drawing four, to win the league by a massive 11 points \u2013 truly impressive considering it was just two points for a win and only achieved over 22 games.<\/p>\n In that year\u2019s cup final, played at Kennington Oval in front of 27,000 fans, Preston dismissed Wolves 3-0 to claim their first FA Cup. They had been runners-up in 1887\/88, the FA Cup being much older than the league and having first been contested in 1871.<\/p>\n Since then a number of sides have completed the double, with Aston Villa hot on the heels of North End in 1896\/97. After that there was a very long wait for the next double, with Spurs completing their own when Bill Nicholson\u2019s great side beat Leicester 2-0 in the FA Cup final having sealed the league almost a month earlier in the 1960\/61 season.\u00a0All English doubles can be seen below, with Man United and Arsenal the only clubs to have managed the feat on more than one occasion:<\/p>\n Of course, the concept of the double is not unique to English football and exists in most countries around the globe. In any league, the term simply means a season where the same side won the top tier of the league and also the country\u2019s principle cup competition. Much as English fans might bemoan the dominance of the big clubs, in actual fact English football is very competitive compared to many leagues around the world. This is nicely illustrated by the number of teams that have achieved a double in other nations, and how many doubles some clubs have managed in those leagues.<\/p>\nEnglish Doubles<\/h3>\n
\n\n
\n \nDoubles<\/th>\n Club<\/th>\n Season<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n 3<\/td>\n Arsenal<\/td>\n 1970\/71, 1997\/98, 2001\/02<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 3<\/td>\n Man United<\/td>\n 1993\/94, 1995\/6, 1998\/99<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 1<\/td>\n Aston Villa<\/td>\n 1896\/97<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 1<\/td>\n Chelsea<\/td>\n 2009\/10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 1<\/td>\n Liverpool<\/td>\n 1985\/86<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 1<\/td>\n Man City<\/td>\n 2018\/19<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 1<\/td>\n Preston North End<\/td>\n 1888\/89<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 1<\/td>\n Tottenham Hotspur<\/td>\n 1960\/61<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Doubles Achieved by Other Nations<\/h3>\n
\n\n
\n \nNation<\/th>\n Team with Most Doubles<\/th>\n Number Achieved<\/th>\n Number of Other Teams Who Have Won The Double<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n Bulgaria<\/td>\n Levski Sofia<\/td>\n 13<\/td>\n 3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Croatia<\/td>\n Dinamo Zagreb<\/td>\n 12<\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Georgia<\/td>\n Dinamo Tbilisi<\/td>\n 10<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Germany (Bundesliga era)<\/td>\n Bayern Munich<\/td>\n 13<\/td>\n 3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Greece<\/td>\n Olympiakos<\/td>\n 18<\/td>\n 3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Italy<\/td>\n Juventus<\/td>\n 6<\/td>\n 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Netherlands<\/td>\n Ajax<\/td>\n 9<\/td>\n 5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Portugal<\/td>\n Benfica<\/td>\n 11<\/td>\n 2 (those 2, Porto and Sporting, have a further 15 doubles between them)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Scotland<\/td>\n Celtic<\/td>\n 19<\/td>\n 2 (Rangers have won 18 doubles)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Spain<\/td>\n Barcelona<\/td>\n 8<\/td>\n 3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n What About the Treble in Football?<\/h2>\n
![\"Manchester's](\"https:\/\/www.bestonlinebettingsites.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/treble-medals.jpg\")
![\"Lisbon](\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Manchester_United_F.C.#\/media\/File:The_Champions_League_Winners_Medal_(Manchester_United_Museum)_(262769292).jpg\")
![Aloba<\/a> \/ Wikipedia.org)<\/p><\/div>\nWe have mentioned that the above \u201clesser\u201d doubles and trebles entail winning any two from four competitions. Four competitions: what about the quadruple then? Such has been the brilliance of Man City and Liverpool in recent seasons that the \u201cQ-word\u201d seems to get whispered earlier and earlier each season. As one, or even both, of these superb sides seemingly edge closer to a possible clean sweep of major honours, fans and pundits start to believe they might just do it.<\/p>\nIn 2021\/22, Jurgen Klopp\u2019s Reds came very close to completing a historic treble. That might seem a strange thing to say given they only won the two weakest competitions, the two domestic cups (completing their own double in the process of course). However, they made the final of the Champions League and came incredibly close to winning the Premier League too. They were pipped by Real Madrid in the former and missed out on the league thanks to a crazy Man City fightback on the final day.<\/p>\nIn making the final of all three cups they entered, they played every single game they possibly could that campaign. That was not the only time that had happened though, with Jose Mourinho achieving it twice with Porto. In addition, Middlesborough also featured in every game possible in 1996\/97, though with rather less success than The Special One. Boro were not in Europe but lost both domestic cup finals and, even worse, were relegated from the Premier League!<\/p>\nThe Lions of Lisbon<\/h3>\nThere is another team who played every game they possibly could and they are the only team to have won the<\/em> (as in the main, full, or \u201cproper\u201d one) quadruple. And that is Celtic, who, in 1966\/67 completed a still-unprecedented clean sweep of the four biggest honours available to them.<\/p>\nThe famous Lisbon Lions beat Inter Milan in the final of the European Cup and actually won all five competitions they entered that term, including the less prestigious Glasgow Cup. That last trophy was won by beating Rangers, Queen\u2019s Park and Partick Thistle (all 4-0), so should not be entirely discounted. In the Scottish Cup they bettered Aberdeen 2-0 in the final, whilst they beat Rangers 1-0 in the League Cup showpiece.<\/p>\nIn what was a remarkable season they lost just three games, including two in the league, winning that competition with 26 wins and six draws from their 34 games, ahead of Rangers. Including their 12 strikes in the Glasgow Cup, Jock Stein\u2019s side scored an amazing 196 goals that season!<\/p>\nRelatively few nations have two domestic cups of any real importance and so the quadruple is not necessarily available to all clubs. Even so, Celtic\u2019s achievement has to stand as one of the greatest in football and it will take a monumental effort by Man City, Liverpool or anyone else to match it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestonlinebettingsites.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/10381"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestonlinebettingsites.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestonlinebettingsites.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestonlinebettingsites.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lisbon_Lions#\/media\/File:Celtic_-_trophys.JPG\"){kind=link}