Clubs That Won Back-to-Back European Cup or Champions League Titles
- Think Football Ideas
- 6 hours ago
- 4 min read
Winning the European Cup is the pinnacle. Retaining it? That’s legacy.
In Europe, winning the biggest prize in club football once puts you in the conversation. Winning it twice in a row? That writes your name in permanent ink.
Very few have managed it. Since the European Cup’s inception in 1955 (now the Champions League), only a handful of clubs have defended their crown. It’s a feat that requires not just talent and tactics, but stamina, ego management, a little luck, and the rare ability to handle the weight of expectation.
Below Are The Clubs That Won Back-to-Back European Cup or Champions League Titles
1. Real Madrid (2016, 2017, 2018)
They say defending the Champions League is impossible. Zidane’s Madrid didn’t just defend it. They owned it. Three in a row. That’s not a title run, that’s a dynasty.
From a penalty shootout against Atlético in 2016, to a dominant 4-1 over Juventus in 2017, to that 2018 final where Gareth Bale scored one of the greatest overhead kicks in history, Los Blancos made the modern game their playground.
It was slick, chaotic, and sometimes controversial (ask Liverpool’s Loris Karius). But to a few, it cemented Cristiano Ronaldo’s GOAT credentials and made Zidane a manager who could win even more effortlessly than he played.
2. AC Milan (1989, 1990)
Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan didn’t just win, they rewrote the manual. High pressing. Fluid systems. A team that moved as one. The 1989 final? A 4-0 masterclass against Steaua Bucharest. The 1990 follow-up?
A tighter, moodier affair, but a win nonetheless over Benfica. With Rijkaard, Gullit, Van Basten pulling strings, and Baresi locking the doors at the back, this Milan side didn’t just retain their title. They modernised football while doing it.
3. Nottingham Forest (1979, 1980)
Yes. Nottingham Forest. Brian Clough took a club recently promoted from the second tier and turned them into European champions twice. First, it was Malmo. Then, Hamburg, with Kevin Keegan watching John Robertson bury the winner.
It wasn’t supposed to happen — and yet it did. A team that defined the word “underdog,” led by a manager who never saw himself that way.
4. Liverpool (1977, 1978)
Bob Paisley’s Reds didn’t mess about. After seeing off Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 in Rome, they followed it up with a gritty 1-0 win over Club Brugge at Wembley. Dalglish scored. Souness snarled. Neal converted.
And Liverpool kicked off an era of English domination in Europe. These weren’t just wins. These were statements that Liverpool had graduated from great to unstoppable.
5. Bayern Munich (1974, 1975, 1976)
Three in a row. On grit, guile, and Gerd Müller goals. They needed a replay to beat Atlético in '74. Squeaked past Leeds in a game filled with officiating drama in '75. Then did the business against Saint-Étienne in '76.
It was a team of icons: Beckenbauer, Maier, Müller. They didn’t just win — they outlasted everyone else. This was the start of Bayern’s long-standing affair with European silver.
6. Ajax (1971, 1972, 1973)
Total Football. Total dominance. Three straight titles without conceding a single final goal. Panathinaikos, Inter, Juventus, all swept aside by a Cruyff-led revolution that moved with poetry and purpose.
The 1972 final? Two Cruyff goals. Against Inter. In Feyenoord’s stadium. The sweetest of victories. Ajax didn’t just win, they changed the sport.
7. Inter Milan (1964, 1965)
Helenio Herrera’s Inter were defensively ironclad and tactically futuristic.
Real Madrid were stopped in '64. Benfica fell in '65. And it all happened at the San Siro, where Sandro Mazzola, the brain of the team, helped execute Herrera’s revolutionary "catenaccio" with precision. Inter played with discipline and daring, and left a tactical blueprint that echoed through the decades.
8. Benfica (1961, 1962)
Barcelona and then Real Madrid. Those were the teams Benfica beat.
It was football at full tilt. Eusébio became a legend in the '62 final, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 5-3 victory with a brace. It was bold, fast, and fearless; a style that temporarily halted Madrid’s reign.
And then... the curse.
Manager Béla Guttmann asked for a raise. The board said no. He walked, and supposedly said, "Not in a hundred years will Benfica win another European title."
Since then: eight European final losses. Zero trophies. Superstition? Maybe. Legacy? Undeniable.
9. Real Madrid (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960)
The origin story. Five in a row. Few reckon it is the reason the trophy glitters.
Di Stéfano. Puskás. Gento. This was the era when Real Madrid became more than a club, they became mythology. Finals in Paris, Madrid, Brussels, Stuttgart, and Glasgow.
Scores like 7-3 and goals like Puskás’s four in '60 turned European nights into Hollywood scripts. This run didn’t just shape a team. It created a template for dominance. The gold standard, literally.
What Does All This Mean
Only a few have done it. Even fewer have done it in style.
To retain the European Cup or Champions League is to become part of an exclusive, era-defining elite. It’s football’s version of royalty — earned, not inherited. So next time someone shrugs at back-to-back titles, just show them this list.
And remind them: Lightning doesn’t usually strike twice, but when it does in football, it leaves silver behind.
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