Sport
The 10 Champions League winners who won it with two different clubs
Not many football players can say they have won the Champions League in their career. Even fewer Champions League winners can say they won the trophy more than once.
Francisco Gento is the only Champions League winner to win the trophy six times, in 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1966, all during his spell at Real Madrid. 20 players have won the competition four or more times.
Most multiple Champions league winners won the cup with the same club. In addition to Francisco Gento at Real, Alessandro Costacurta won it five times with AC Milan, Héctor Rial, Juan Alonso, Juan Santisteban, Marquitos, Rafael Lesmes, José María Zárraga, Alfredo Di Stéfano all won it five times with Real Madrid.
Cristiano Ronaldo is another, winning the Champions League title 5 times in total, once with Manchester United and four times with Real Madrid. In fact Ronaldo is the only player who has won the Champions League five times but with two different clubs. Here are the players who won the Champions League with multiple clubs.
Cristiano Ronaldo
The Portuguese superstar won the Champions League with two different clubs and five times in total, once with Man United and four times with Real Madrid.
Ronaldo believes his UEFA Champions League success with more than one club separates him from Lionel Messi. The Argentine has won the Champions League four times, but only with Barcelona. Ronaldo was also the top scorer in the Champions League six seasons in a row.
Toni Kroos
In 2016, Toni Kroos became the first German to lift the Champions League trophy with two different clubs when he won the Champions League title with Real Madrid.
The midfielder had previously won the cup with Bayern Munich, defeating Borussia Dortmund in the first ever all-Bundesliga final. In 2019, the Germany international reached 100 Champions League appearances, becoming the 39th member of this selective club.
Gerard Pique
Pique won the Champions League for the first time during his spell under the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. Still regarded as one of the best managers in history, United have been in decline ever since he retired.
Pique’s first Champions League trophy came in 2008 as part of United’s winning squad after he was plucked from Barcelona’s famous La Masia youth academy. He would later return to Barcelona and beat his former club twice in Champions League finals, Barcelona defeated United in both 2009 and 2011.
Clarence Seedorf
Clarence Seedorf has won the Champions League with a record three different clubs: Ajax, Real Madrid and AC Milan.
Discussing his triumphs in the competition, the former Dutch international said; “Emotions, memories – more good than bad, fortunately. Great moments of entertainment, great football, unforgettable evenings. I think that’s what it’s all about, experience, emotions and the special touch that the Champions League brings on and off the field.”
Marcel Desailly
Desailly won the first edition of the rebranded Champions League competition in 1993 and would win it again in 1994, becoming the first player to win the new Champions League back-to-back.
The former France international actually won it with two different sides though. He was one of Marseille’s Champions League winners in 1993, still the only French team to win the tournament, and then won it again with AC Milan in a year later
Samuel Eto’o
Cameroon’s four-time African Player of the Year, Samuel Eto’o, is another one of the Champions League winners to win the trophy with two different clubs. He won the cup twice with Barcelona (2006 & 2009) and then again with Inter Milan in 2010. The former striker scored a staggering 30 Champions League goals in just 78 appearances.
Didier Deschamps
Former France international Didier Deschamps first won the European title with Marseille in 1993 under Belgian manager Raymond Goethals. He then landed a second trophy with Juventus three years later. The current France manager also became the third person in history to win the World Cup as both a player and as a manager.
Xabi Alonso
Xabi Alonso was one of Rafael Benítez’s first signings at Anfield when he joined Liverpool in the summer of 2004 and won his first Champions League title later that season. The Spanish international then moved to Real Madrid in 2009 where he would win the cup once more in 2014.
A year later, in 2015, the Spaniard celebrated his 100th Champions League game in style by managing to earn himself a red card.
Edwin van der Sar
Van Der Sar is the only goalkeeper to win the Champions League title with two clubs. In 1995, the Dutchman won the cup with Ajax before winning it again with Man United in 2008.
Van der Sar also won the title of Dutch Football Goalkeeper of the Year four consecutive times in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997 at the beginning of an illustrious career.
Deco
Anderson Luís de Souza, better known as Deco, was a crucial part of the Jose Mourinho Porto side who shocked the continent by winning the Champions League in 2004. The Portugal international was the strong man in Mourinho’s midfield when the Portuguese manager won the Champions League for the first time.
At the end of the season, Deco was part of a mass exodus from the club as the European giants swooped in to raid Porto’s squad. Deco joined Barcelona where he won his second Champions League in 2006, as Barcelona beat Arsenal in the final.
