Achieving the football treble of the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup is an incredibly difficult feat. as sides like Manchester City and Liverpool have found out in recent years. Manchester United pulled it off in the 1998/99 season, but no English side has managed it since.
In recent years Manchester City have come close. Back in the 2018/19 season, they won the English domestic treble of Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup. But in that season they crashed out of the Champions League at the quarter-finals stage (losing on away goals to Spurs).
Manchester City odds to achieve the treble in 2022/23 season
With City currently top of the Premier League, in the final of the FA Cup, and semi-finalists in the Champions League, talk of the treble has reared its head again. As things stand, City are as short as just 23/20 to become only the second English side to achieve the feat.
Football tipsters sites are expecting City to win the Premier League again, but when it comes to Europe and the FA Cup, the chances of success are less so. Sites such as KickForm Predictions prefer to concentrate more on daily tips, and this is because they are more relevant than betting on a treble. This is because the treble is incredibly hard to achieve, and as a result is not the most popular bet.
This all means that 23/20 on a treble doesn't sound like a great value tip or bet at the moment. In the upcoming FA Cup final, City’s greatest rivals, Manchester United are standing in their way. While in Europe, it’s 14-times winners’ Real Madrid who City has to face over two legs. Even in the Premier League, Arsenal have shown themselves to be genuine contenders this season. So nothing is assured with any of those three betting markets.
In the outright winner’s markets, Pep’s team are 4/6 to lift the Champions League for the first time. The odds of City winning the Premier League are just 1/18. And in the FA Cup, the Light Blues are 4/11.
Last season, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool team came close. The Reds won the FA Cup. But they lost the Champions League final to Real Madrid, and were pipped to the Premier League title by City. And as last season’s Champions League final proved, a team only has to have one off night in a cup match, and the treble is over.
How many teams have completed the treble in Europe?
To further highlight how difficult this is, let’s take a look across Europe. In the history of men’s football, the treble of Champions League, domestic league, and domestic cup, has only been achieved on nine occasions, by seven clubs.
The clubs are Barcelona (twice), Bayern Munich (twice), Celtic, PSV Eindhoven, Ajax, Manchester United, and Inter Milan.
Barcelona did it in the 2008/09 and 2014/15 season. In the 2008/09 campaign, a certain Pep Guardiola was managing the Catalans. As for the Germans, Bayern pulled it off in the 2012/13 and 2019/20 seasons.
Celtic were the first side to achieve it when the Lisbon Lions won the treble in 1966/67. Ajax were next in the 1971/72 season, with their fellow Dutch team PSV Eindhoven winning all three in the 1987/88 season. It was then Manchester United in 1998/99. With Inter Milan’s treble coming in the 2009/10 season, under the guidance of Jose Mourinho.
History tells us that the treble is extremely hard. So keep that in mind if you’re thinking of backing Manchester City.