8 Teams to Win the Champions League in Consecutive Seasons

Since the first season of the Champions League, or European Cup as it used to be known, in 1955, only nine teams have retained their title. Real Madrid’s triumph in the 2023/2024 edition means they will have an opportunity to cling on to their crown this season, but the task ahead is an enormous one.

Previously, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola revealed how difficult it is to win the competition consecutively. He said (via ESPN), “It’ll be easier. The most difficult to win is the first one. It is incredible for us but it is just one.” This didn’t quite work out for Guardiola, but it has for managers and iconic teams in the past. As a result, this article lists all the teams that have won Europe’s most prestigious trophy twice in a row – including one team who did it on two separate occasions.

Real Madrid – 1955/56, 1956/57, 1957/58, 1958/59, 1959/60

The first edition of the European Cup was in the 1955/56 season, and in the following five campaigns, Real Madrid won the competition every time. This remains one of the most memorable Madrid dynasties, with the likes of Ferenc Puskas and Alfredo Di Stefano dominating European defences in the late 1950s.

In this period, Real Madrid beat Reims, Fiorentina, AC Milan, and Eintracht Frankfurt. One of the most notable final victories was the victory against Milan in the 1957/58 final, which saw Madrid win the match in extra-time. Paco Gento’s 107th minute goal secured the Spanish club’s third consecutive European Cup title. Finally, in the 1959/60 campaign, Madrid beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3, thanks to a hat-trick from Di Stefano and four goals from Puskas at Hampden Park in front of over 120,000 spectators.

Benfica – 1960/61, 1961/62

Next up is the Portuguese giants, Benfica. Consecutive final victories over Barcelona and Real Madrid earned the club praise for their swashbuckling style of football that had ended the Madrid dynasty. They faced Madrid in the 1961/62 final, and after 23 minutes, they found themselves 2-0 down to the then five-time European champions. Benfica managed to get back on level terms at half-time before running away to a 5-3 victory, thanks to a brace from legendary striker Eusebio.

However, since 1962, Benfica have not tasted European success again. The Benfica manager who led them to consecutive European Cups, Bela Guttmann, was refused a pay rise by the club’s board following the successes of the early 1960s. As a result, Guttmann placed a curse on the club, as he said (via Diario AS): “Not in a hundred years from now will Benfica ever be European champion.” Since Guttmann’s curse on Benfica, they have lost eight European finals on the trot, including both the UEFA Europa League and European Cup.

Inter Milan – 1963/64, 1964/65

Following AC Milan’s 2-1 win against two-time winners Benfica in the 1962/63 final, it was Inter Milan’s turn to dominate European football. Wins against Real Madrid and Benfica in 1964 and 1965 secured back-to-back titles for the Italian club.

Goals from Sandro Mazzola and Aurelio Milani saw off Los Blancos in the 1964 final, before they repeated the trick against Benfica a year later with a 1-0 victory at their home stadium, the San Siro. Helenio Herrera led Inter to both European trophies with revolutionary tactics. Former Inter midfielder Sandro Mazzola described Herrera as follows (via UEFA): “He was light years ahead. He used to train our brains before our legs. When he came to Italy, nobody really knew the names of the coaches – they didn’t really appear in the press, they only worked in the dressing room and on the pitch. He turned things around.”

Ajax – 1970/71, 1971/72, 1972/73

Ajax’s ‘Total Football’ revolutionised football around the world, and it saw its greatest success in the early 1970s when the Dutch club won three European Cups in a row. Ajax beat Panathinaikos, Inter Milan, and Juventus without conceding a single goal.

Perhaps the sweetest victory was in 1972 against Inter, when Ajax brushed the Italian giants aside by two goals to nil. Johan Cruyff scored both goals for the Amsterdam-based outfit in front of 61,354 at De Kuip in Feyenoord. This stadium remains the home stadium of one of Ajax’s most bitter rivals, Feyenoord, making the 1972 triumph extra special for Ștefan Kovacs’s side.

Bayern Munich – 1973/74, 1974/75, 1975/76

The great Bayern Munich team of the 1970s won three European Cups in a row, thanks to legendary players such as Franz Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier, and Gerd Muller. In 1974, a draw against Atletico Madrid at Heysel Stadium led to a replay at the same venue two days later. Goals from Ulrich Hoeness and Muller helped secure a comfortable 4-0 win for the Bavarians to kickstart the dynasty.

A year later, they faced Leeds United in a game that was fraught with controversy. Beckenbauer was unpunished for a handball in the box, and Billy Bremner was judged to be offside after his teammate Peter Lorimer had scored. Amid all the refereeing controversy, Bayern lifted the European Cup for the second time in a row, becoming the fifth side to achieve this feat. In 1976, Dettmar Cramer’s side secured their third consecutive European triumph, defeating French team Saint-Etienne by a goal to nil in the final.

Liverpool – 1976/77, 1977/78

Liverpool’s back-to-back European Cup triumphs in the mid-1970s kickstarted a golden era of English football in European football. Bob Paisley’s team won the European Cup in 1977, following a 3-1 victory against Borussia Monchengladbach. The goals came from Terence McDermott, Thomas Smith, and Phillip Neal.

A year later, Liverpool faced Club Brugge in front of over 92,000 fans at Wembley Stadium. Kenny Dalglish’s 64th minute was enough to secure Liverpool’s second European Cup title and become the first English club to win the competition back-to-back. The Merseyside club also won the competition in 1984, making them the seventh English winner of the European Cup in eight years.

Nottingham Forest – 1978/79, 1979/80

A year after gaining promotion, Nottingham Forest won the Division One title in 1977/78. This qualified them for the European Cup, where they pulled off one of the most incredible underdog stories in football history under Brian Clough and Peter Taylor.

British football’s first £1 million player, Trevor Francis, scored the winning goal in Munich in the 1979 final against Malmo to win the competition. A year later, the Tricky Trees reached the final again, where they played Hamburg, who had the likes of Kevin Keegan in their team. John Robertson’s 20th minute strike secured another 1-0 win for the Reds to win back-to-back European Cups, only three years after they were in the second tier of English football. A film titled “I Believe in Miracles” was released in 2015 about Clough’s European conquerors.

AC Milan – 1988/89, 1989/90

The next side to achieve back-to-back wins on Europe’s biggest stage was the legendary AC Milan team of the late 1980s. Managed by the revolutionary Arrigo Sacchi, Milan played an aggressive high-line with a co-ordinated press that had not been seen before.

In 1989, Milan dispatched Steaua Bucharest thanks to braces from Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten at Camp Nou. It was a much closer final a year later, as Milan faced Benfica at the Praterstadion in Vienna. Frank Rijkaard’s 68th minute strike was the only goal of the game as Saachi’s secured another European Cup. In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport in 2023, Pep Guardiola described Sacchi as follows:

Real Madrid – 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18

The most recent team to achieve consecutive Champions League wins is Real Madrid. In fact, they are the only team to win the Champions League back-to-back since its rebranding in 1992. All three wins were under Zinedine Zidane. The first of these was a penalty shootout victory against city rivals Atletico Madrid in 2016. A year later, they beat Juventus 4-1 at the Millennium Stadium to secure back-to-back titles.

Perhaps the most action-packed final, though, was the 2018 edition against Liverpool. This match saw Loris Karius make two glaring mistakes and Gareth Bale score an overhead kick goal, which is now regarded as one of the best goals in Champions League final history. Madrid won the title again in 2024, defeating Borussia Dortmund at Wembley, meaning they have now won the competition 15 times, more than any other team.

Information gathered from Transfermarkt.