Every player to win the Champions League and the Euros in the same year

Quick Reads

Only 11 players can boast the unique honour of having won both the Champions League and the European Championship in the same season.   

After Jorginho and Emerson joined the club at Euro 2020 when Italy beat England on penalties at Wembley, we’re looking ahead to Germany and the next tournament, where eventual Champions League winners for this season will no doubt have a chance to join the history books.

With Euro 2024 fast approaching, we’ve taken a look at every player to complete the brilliant double.

Jorginho 

The midfielder’s heart would have been in his mouth after Jordan Pickford saved his potential title-winning penalty at Euro 2020 but thankfully for him, Gianluigi Donnarumma was on hand to bail him out.

Jorginho was wedged at the heart of Roberto Mancini’s winning side and after Thomas Tuchel arrived at Chelsea, he was also a mainstay at Stamford Bridge.

He would later go on to lift the Club World Cup with Chelsea before eventually securing a surprise move to Arsenal in 2023.

Emerson

Emerson only started two games in Chelsea’s run to Champions League glory, and none beyond the first leg of their quarter-final with Porto, but his goal against Atletico Madrid ensured he left his mark.

An injury to the buccaneering Leonardo Spinazzola’s in Italy’s quarter-final gave the left-back his opportunity on the biggest stage in 2021 and he deputised admirably against Spain and England.

Cristiano Ronaldo 

The first of Real Madrid’s three Champions Leagues in a row came in 2016 and it was also the year Ronaldo finally tasted success on an international stage.

After netting the winning penalty against Atletico Madrid at the San Siro two months earlier, he carried his country into the final before limping off with an injury early on in the fire.

But after taking on the role of manager on the sidelines, Ronaldo spurred his side on to glory.

Pepe

Another key cog in both the Madrid and Portugal sides of 2016.

The talismanic centre-back played 120 minutes of both finals, although he was forced to miss the semi-final of the Euros with an injury.

More amazingly, he only received three yellow cards across both tournaments. Remarkable.

Fernando Torres 

2012 was a strange season for Fernando Torres. He was not the first choice in attack with either Spain or Chelsea yet he was still viewed as an integral part of both squads.

Still, his impact was felt. The breakaway goal against Barcelona to secure the Blues’ spot in the final and even a goal against Italy in the Euro 2012 showpiece.

Even though he only scored three goals in Poland and Ukraine, his assist for Juan Mata in the final secured him the golden boot.

Juan Mata 

That cross for Didier Drogba in the Champions League final, a neat finish in the Euro 2012 final. It was quite the year for Mata.

READ: Celebrating Juan Mata at Chelsea: Part creator, part cold-blooded killer

Ronald Koeman

Koeman lifted the Champions League in its former guise of the European Cup in 1988 with PSV, the same year the Netherlands went all the way at the Euros.

He netted a penalty in a semi-final win over Germany before the Marco van Basten inspired side beat the Soviet Union in Munich.

Hans van Breukelen 

The goalkeeper played every minute of every match of both the Netherlands’ Euro ’88 triumph and PSV’s European Championship triumph.

He was the hero in their final clash with Benfica too, saving Antonio Veloso’s penalty in the shootout. It remains the club’s only triumph in the competition to date.

Barry van Aerle

The third member of PSV’s side to complete the double in ’88.

Predominantly a right-back, Van Aerle was deployed in midfield throughout the Netherlands campaign in Germany and also played every minute of every game in both tournaments.

Gerald Vanenburg

Oh, go on then, just one more from that team!

Vanenburg made the move from Ajax to PSV in 1986 and it was a good job he did. Two years later the right-winger was being weighed down by gold medals.

Luis Suarez

No not that one. This legendary Spanish midfielder lifted the Henri Delauney trophy in 1964, the same year his Inter Milan side won the first of successive European Cups.

In the same year, he came so close to making it a glorious hat-trick, coming second in the final standings for the Ballon d’Or. Dennis Law just pipped him, however.

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