Every player to win the World Cup, Copa Libertadores and Champions League
By Euan Burns
Julian Alvarez managed to achieve something on Saturday night that nobody else in the history of the sport has managed to do, and he has done it at the age of 23.
The Manchester City forward has won the Premier League, the FA Cup, the Champions League and the World Cup all in one year. Nobody has ever won a European treble and the World Cup in the same season, and it is a record he could hold for many years.
He may stand alone in that regard, but there are some players that are with him on a slightly different record. Thanks to his time at River Plate, Julian Alvarez has now won the World Cup, the Champions League and the Copa Libertadores during his career. That puts him in a very exclusive club with some true greats of the game.
Here are the other players that have managed to lift three of the biggest trophies that football has to offer.
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Cafu
You'll start to notice a theme pretty quickly here. If you were a quality Brazilian who played for AC Milan in the 2000s, you're probably on this list.
Cafu's journey to this particular record began in 1992 when he lifted the Copa Libertadores for the first time with Sao Paulo. He would then win it again the following year, and a year after that, he was a part of the Brazil squad that won the 1994 World Cup in the USA.
They beat Italy on penalties in the final, a game that Cafu did not start but he was brought off of the bench. He won it again in 2002, but he had to wait until the 2006/07 season at AC Milan before he was able to win the Champions League. That victory came against Liverpool in Athens.
Dida
For Brazilian goalkeeper Dida, there was a lot less time between his various honours. He first started winning silverware when playing for Cruzeiro in the 90s, and it was in 1997 when he won the Copa Libertadores.
He was part of the Brazil squad in 2002 that won the World Cup in South Korea and Japan, although he was the backup goalkeeper to Marcos in that tournament. Just a year later, he had completed the job as he was in the AC Milan team that won their sixth Champions League in the 2002/03 season.
He may not have started in the World Cup for Brazil, but he was the Rossoneri's number one that year and was a key part of the final victory over Juventus.
Ronaldinho
By glancing at his name, you could be forgiven for thinking that Ronaldinho also secured the third part of this triad of trophies with AC Milan, but that is not the case. Ronaldinho did this in an unusual timeframe compared to the others, although you'd expect little else from such a player.
His first of the three achievements was the 2002 World Cup, and he then won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2005/06. Given the trend of most Brazilian players' careers, you would think at this point that he may never win the Copa Libertadores. By 2013, though, Ronaldinho was back in South America and winning it with Atletico Mineiro.
He is the only player of the five to not win the Copa Libertadores first.
Roque Junior
A slightly lesser-known name than the above, Roque Junior won his Copa Libertadores with Palmeiras in 1999 before he made the move to Europe with AC Milan.
That is where he won the 2002/03 Champions League with Dida as his teammate. He was on the bench for the final and was not as important a part of the team as the goalkeeper was. He played his part, though, and the year before he has also won the World Cup with Dida in South Korea and Japan.
Julian Alvarez
As for the latest man to join the list, and the very first to do so from Argentina, his road to glory began in 2018 when he won the Copa Libertadores at River Plate as a young star. Alvarez then played a key role in winning the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, netting four goals during the tournament.
He may be second fiddle to Erling Haaland at Manchester City, but the Argentine still bagged three goals and two assists in the 2022/23 Champions League campaign.