Liverpool FC are one of the most successful teams in world football, with the Merseyside club boasting a packed trophy cabinet. The Reds have also won the most top-flight games and accrued the most points, of any English team. This obviously includes the days before the Premier League (when, believe it or not, football was still a very popular sport).
The club have therefore become accustomed to regular success and have won a monumental 71 trophies in their distinguished history, although this figure varies depending on what you class as a “major” trophy. It is worth noting that the haul of 71 trophies includes more “minor” silverware, such as the 16 Community Shields and four Second Division titles that the Reds have won.
In this article, we will first take a look at the major honours that the club has won, which will comprise their top-flight league titles, FA Cups, League Cups, Champions Leagues (including European Cups) and Europa Leagues (including UEFA Cups.) We will then round up the club’s minor honours, such as the lesser-known Football League Super Cup (ever heard of that one?).
Major Trophies Liverpool Have Won
Below, we have compiled a table to show the 45 major honours that Liverpool have won throughout their history and the seasons in which they won them.
Trophy | Years Won | Number of Titles |
---|---|---|
Premier League/First Division Title | 1900/01, 1905/06, 1921/22. 1922/22, 1946/47, 1963/64, 1965/66, 1972/73, 1975/76, 1976/77, 1978/79, 1979/80, 1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84, 1985/86, 1987/88, 1989/90, 2019/20 | 19 |
FA Cup | 1964/65, 1973/74, 1985/86, 1988/89, 1991/92, 2000/01, 2005/06, 2021/22 | 8 |
League Cup | 1980/81, 1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84, 1994/95, 2000/01, 2002/03, 2011/12, 2021/22 | 9 |
Champions League/European Cup | 1976/77, 1977/78, 1980/81, 1983/84, 2004/05, 2018/19 | 6 |
Europa League/UEFA Cup | 1972/73, 1975/76, 2000/01 | 3 |
Premier League/First Division
Liverpool’s impressive haul of 19 English league titles places them in second place on the all-time list at the time of writing, with bitter rivals Manchester United just slightly ahead on 20. The Reds’ golden era, in terms of league titles, came during the 1980s, during which the club won the league six times in 10 seasons, including three titles back-to-back between 1981 and 1984.
However, following the great successes of Shankly, Paisley and Dalglish, the club suddenly lost its knack of picking up league titles for fun, as the Merseyside giants endured a thirty-year drought between 1989 and 2019. This lasted until the 2019/20 campaign, in which Jürgen Klopp’s men managed to build on their second-place finish in the season prior and stormed to the club’s first Premier League title with an astounding 99 points, some 18 points clear of Manchester City in second.
FA Cup
Although the Reds are the most successful English team in European football and have, as mentioned, won 19 league titles, they have never quite been able to emulate the same level of success in the FA Cup. That is not, however, to take away from the eight times that they have won football’s oldest competition. That places them joint third on the all-time list, level with Chelsea and Tottenham (yes, they used to win trophies), and behind Manchester United and Arsenal.
The Merseyside giants’ most recent FA Cup success came in 2021/22, in which they defeated Chelsea on penalties. This was the first time that they had won the trophy since the famous “Steven Gerrard final” of 2005/06. That man could seriously strike a football.
League Cup
Although only fourth on the all-time FA Cup list, Liverpool are the undisputed kings of the League Cup, with the Reds having lifted the trophy nine times throughout their history, more than any other side. All of these triumphs have come since 1980, and include a spell in which the club won the trophy four times in a row between 1980/81 and 1983/84 under the masterful coaching of Bob Paisley.
The club most recently lifted the League Cup in 2021/22, the same year they also won the FA Cup, in which they, in remarkably similar fashion, beat Chelsea on penalties. The game finished a dramatic 11-10 on spot kicks, having finished 0-0 in normal time, with Chelsea keeper Kepa’s miss handing Klopp’s team the trophy.
Champions League/European Cup
Europe’s premier competition has been won by Liverpool on six occasions, the most of any English side, and remains the trophy that is perhaps the club’s claim to fame, especially on a worldwide scale. Few will forget the incredible 2005 final in Istanbul, arguably the greatest in the competition’s history, and the “corner taken quickly, Origi!” moment in the club’s 4-0 comeback victory over Barcelona in 2019 remains one of the most iconic UCL goals of all time.
There is just something about Liverpool, rather like Real Madrid, that just allows them to do the impossible in the European Cup. Maybe it’s the incalculable, unexplainable but somehow very important “Champions League DNA.” Had English teams not been banned from European tournaments after the Heysel Stadium disaster of 1985, it’s probable Liverpool would have added to their haul of European Cups. But we’ll never know for sure and they’ve done pretty well all the same.
Europa League/UEFA Cup
Liverpool have also enjoyed similar success in Europe’s second-tier competition, the Europa League, although it was still known as the UEFA Cup when they won it. They have lifted the trophy three times, which is more than any other English club. The Reds’ most recent triumph in the competition came back in 2000/01, in which they defeated Spanish side Alaves 5-4 in extra time, thanks to the golden goal rule. The same season also saw them lift both the FA Cup and League Cup trophies, making it a cup treble for manager Gerard Houllier.
Other Silverware
In addition to the impressive haul of 45 major honours that the Reds have amassed, they have also won a number of minor trophies. These include the FA Community Shield (formerly called the Charity Shield), an annual match contested between the previous season’s winners of the Premier League and the FA Cup, which the club have won an impressive 16 times (though five of these were shared after the matches were drawn). Only Man United have won it more times (21, including four shared).
Liverpool have also managed to win the second division on four occasions (hey, it’s a trophy!) and they remain the sole recipients of the long-forgotten Football League Super Cup. The FLSC, known as the ScreenSport Super Cup for sponsorship reasons, was held for just one season in 1985/86, and was an attempt to make up for the lack of European football offered to England’s top teams following the Heysel Stadium disaster.
However, due to widespread realisation that it offered none of the glamour of continental footy, and instead just appeared to be a third domestic knockout competition, the trophy was quickly scrapped, although Liverpool did manage to win it! The Reds have also managed to win the UEFA Super Cup four times and won the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time in 2019. And that wraps up the 71 trophies that the Merseyside club have won throughout their distinguished history. Reds fans will be hoping they add many more to that total in the years to come.