The Clubs Dominating Certain Decades in European Top Level

 

Certain football teams have been known for their domination at the top level in certain decades in history.

The 2020s has reached the middle of the decade. Surprisingly, it also marks the beginning of an end for certain dominating teams at the top level. The most obvious one is the declining form of Manchester City. The Premier League reigning champions seem to begin their dark days with the series of defeats this season.

Pep Guardiola’s men have suffered eight defeats so far when the competition is still halfway. They were beaten six times in the Premier League plus twice in UCL. Such is unthinkable considering their almost total domination in the English top flight. The 2010s practically almost belonged to the Citizens, as they won the EPL four times, followed by another four in the early 2020s. They simply bettered any other teams from 2012 to 2024. Not to mention their treble success in 2023, plus the FIFA Club World Cup in the same year.

Now, they are on the verge of their downfall. Their Spanish boss even admitted that they might be missing the Champions League next season, should they fail to improve. The threat of relegation, point deduction, as well as star exodus, are lurking following their 115 charges on financial regulation breaches, which could be giving impact to their focus in this campaign. Currently, Bernardo Silva and Co. are sitting sixth in the English top flight and 22nd in UCL standings.

In football history, there have always been teams dominating certain eras. What’s worse, they have yet to be able to replicate their incredible golden days up to this day. Here are those once-dominant sides in European top levels, either only in domestic leagues or also in the continental campaign, since the post-World War II.

1940s—AC Torino

Torino was probably one of the first well-known dominant sides after World War II. Their emergence had begun in 1939 when Ferruccio Novo, a local industrialist, became the club’s president. He started to reorganise them and adopted the English team in the club management as recommended by the World Cup-winning manager, Vittorio Pozzo.

Torino also made alterations in the tactical side from metodo, which was identical to relying on strong defence and counterattack to the WM formation or 3-2-2-3. It was a popular tactical system at that time developed by English manager Herbert Chapman. Such brought success almost instantly, and Granata players soon became the backbone of the Italian national team in the decade.

Unfortunately, their dominance met an abrupt end in 1949 following the tragic Superga plane crash. The aircraft with 31 passengers from the club,including players, coaching staff, and journalists, was on the way to Portugal,where Torino had scheduled a friendly match to take on Benfica. It crashed and killed them all while flying on the hill in Superga, near Turin, because it was surrounded by the thick fog. Its lack of proper visibility from the plane led to the crash into the supporting wall of the Basilica of Superga, the church on the top of the hill. Grande Torino, as they were known at that time, instantly vanished, and Granata has never been able to replicate the same golden era ever since. 

Titles in the decade	Key players	Notable managers
-Italian Serie A (won 5 times out of 7 in total): 1943, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949 Runners up: 1942 -Coppa Italia: 1943	Valentino Mazzola, Romeo Menti, Mario Rigamonti, Aldo Ballarin, Pietro Ferraris, Gugliemo Gabeto	Andras Kuttik, Antonio Janni, Luigi Ferrero, Mario Sperone, Erno Erbstein, Leslei Lievesley

1950s – Wolverhampton and Stade Reims

The 1950s saw the dominance of an unlikely team in English football, Wolverhampton. They were able to level the more established team, Manchester United by winning three league titles and became the runner up three times too. It is their best result in domestic league so far.

Their success was identical to Stan Cullis, the former player who joined the management at the age of 31, just one year after his retirement. He was the greatest manager in Wolves history so far. When he was sacked in 1964, he did not take other managerial role despite the offer from Juventus, except in Birmingham City. Sadly, his stint there was not glorious.

Titles in the decade	Key players	Notable managers
-English top flight league(1954, 1958, 1959) Runners up: 1950, 1955, 1960 -FA Cup: 1949, 1960	Billy Wright, Bill Slater, Malcolm Finlayson, Ron Flowers, Gerry Harris	Stan Cullis

In France, Stade Reims also managed to build a dynasty and legacy during the decade, not only in domestic top flight but also in Europe. Their steady rise began with Albert Batteux’s promotion at the helm of the team. He was the former key man in Reims from late 1930s to 1940s. He was named the team manager in 1950 replacing his former boss, Henri Roessler.

Bettaux continued building the team by signing a number of talents to strengthen the established to deliver more silverware. Some of the well-known names in the squad were French international Raymond Kopa and Just Fontaine. As a result, they thrived in their domestic and  continental campaign including European Cup finalist twice, which has yet to be replicated again ever since. Their decline started following the departure of their key figures and stars in the 1960s.

Titles in the decade	Key players	Notable managers
-French top tier (1953, 1955 1958, 1960) Runners up: 1954 -Coupe de France: 1950, 1958 - European Cup: (runner up) 1956, 1959 -Latin Cup: 1953 Runner up: 1954	Raoul Giraudo, Raymond Kopa, Just Fontaine, Jean Vincent, Michel Hidalgo, Roger Piantoni	Albert Bettaux

1960s & 1970s – St.Etienne & Borussia M’Gladbach

The following two decades, two teams literally made their mark as the elite sides in the domestic and continental campaign. France’s St Etienne was the one which dominated both eras while West Germany’s Gladbach emerged in the latter decade as Bayern Munich’s archrival.

St.Etienne’s rise began when Jean Snella, one of their former players who returned for his second stint in 1963 after a spell in Servette, Switzerland. Snella was the key figure in winning their first league title in 1957 but left two years later. His successors, unfortunately, could not maintain their positive form and winning team.

Snella soon brought back his magic and won the league in his first season on his return in 1963/64 and his last one in 1966/67. Snella’s great foundation in the team was then maintained well and even improved under his two successors, the former Reims boss, Albert Bettaux and his former player, Robert Herbin. He was the one who led St Etienne to European Cup final in 1976. St.Etienne started to slowly decline afterwards. They still managed to snatch one more league title, their last one to date, in 1981, but then the club was entangled with slush fund scandal a year later. Their club president who played important role in the club management, Roger Rocher left the post and was imprisoned. Such led to the team’s crisis and relegation in 1984.

Titles in the decade	Key players	Notable managers
-French top tier (1964, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976) Runners up: 1972 -Coupe de France: 1962, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1977 - European Cup: (runner up) 1976	Herve Revelli, Robert Herbin, Bernard Bosquier, Jacques Santini, Dominique Bathenay, Georges Beretta	Jean Snella, Albert Bettaux, Robert Herbin

Meanwhile, their German counterpart, Borussia M’Gladbach was the first Bayern’s archrival in Bundesliga. Both sides were dominating the top tier in the 1970s but Gladbach’s golden years, unlike Bayern, did not continue in the following decades, due to lack of financial stability compared to Die Roten.

Gladbach’s era was never far from two notable figures in the dugout, Hennes Weisweller and Udo Lattek. Both delivered league titles and one silverware from continental competition. What’s more, they happened to have a brief spell in Barcelona too. Gladbach was notably Bayern’s successor in Europe in the late 1970s after Franz Beckenbauer and Co won three consecutive European Cup from 1974 to 1976. However, they only managed to reach the final in the same competition and was beaten to Liverpool.

Titles in the decade	Key players	Notable managers
-Bundesliga (1970, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1977) Runners up: 1974, 1978 -DFB Pokal: 1973 - European Cup: (runner up) 1977 -UEFA Cup: 1975, 1979 (runner up) 1973, 1980	Bertie Vogts, Jupp Heynckes, Rainer Bonhof, Henning Jensen, Klaus Dieter-Sieloff, Allan Simonsen	Hennes Weisweller, Udo Lattek

 1980s – Hamburg SV

Once Gladbach’s form slumped, another team rose to be Bayern’s contender, Hamburg SV. Their dominance might not be at the same level as Gladbach but they reached better height in Europe. They became the only German club which clinched European Cup/UCL beside Bayern Munich as they lifted the trophy in 1983 before Borussia Dortmund did it in 1997.

Hamburg’s golden era was initiated in the mid 1970s under Kuno Klotzer. He guided them to win UEFA’s second tier competition, Winners’ Cup in 1977. They carried on making their mark when Yugoslavian boss, Branko Zebec, was at the helm of the team, by snatching Bundesliga in 1979, their first league title in 19 years plus advancing to European Cup final in 1980. Unfortunately, Zebec had drinking issue, which led to his replacement in the management.

The notable Austrian gaffer, Ernst Happel, was his successor. He was the one who brought Hamburg to the next level, including the European glory, in 1983. His team was able to beat the Italian giant, Juventus in the final, whereas in the same decade, Bayern lost twice in the summit to the European final debutants, Aston Villa and FC Porto, in 1982 and 1987 respectively.

Titles in the decade	Key players	Notable managers
-Bundesliga (1982, 1983) Runners up: 1980, 1981, 1984, 1987 -DFB Pokal: 1987 - European Cup: 1983, (runner up) 1980 -UEFA Cup: (runner up) 1982	Felix Magath, Kevin Keegan, Franz Beckenbauer, Thomas Von Haesen, Jurgen Groh, Uli Stein, Ditmar Jakobs, Horst Hrubesch	Branko Zebec, Ernst Happel

1990s & 2000s- AC Parma & Olympique Lyon

The following two decades saw the emergence of two unlikely dominant sides in Italy and France. Parma had their golden ages in 1990s to early 2000s while Olympique Lyon made a historic mark in French football during the 2000.

Parma was newly promoted in 1990. Under Nevio Scala and supported by the local parent company and main sponsorship, Parmalat, they already managed to finish sixth in their top flight debut and secured one berth to UEFA Cup in 1991. Their dominance was quite unique as they did not make history in the domestic league but rather in domestic cups and continental secondary competition, Winners Cup and UEFA Cup. Gialloblu had rare success they could yet even replicate today by snatching four continental titles. Their downfall was unfortunately initiated by the financial crisis of Parmalat in early 2000s.

Titles in the decade	Key players	Notable managers
-Italian Serie A: Runners up: 1997 -Coppa Italia: 1991, 1999, 2002 Runner up: 1995, 2001 - Winners Cup: 1993, (runner up) 1994 -UEFA Cup: 1995, 1999 - UEFA Super Cup: 1993	Lorenzo Minotti, Luca Bucci, Tomas Brolin, Gianfranco Zola, Faustino Asprilla, Massimo Crippa, Gianluigi Buffon, Fernando Couto, Luigi Apollini, Antonio Bennarivo, Fabio Cannavaro, Dino Baggio, Hernan Crespo, Juan Veron, Nestor Sensini	Nevio Scala, Carlo Ancelotti, Alberto Malesani Pietro Carmignani

Meanwhile, Olympique Lyon held an unusual record in Ligue 1 by winning the league seven times in a row in the 2000s. Yet, such incredible record was not developed overnight. In fact, it all began in 1987 when the current owner, Jean Michel Aulas, took over Les Gones. His ambitious plan was to deliver continental success, something which yet to materialize but the club was already close to it before their current threat, financial crisis. Lyon’s steps to glorious domestic campaign did take a while despite already finishing second in Ligue 1 1995. Their dominance eventually ended once they started selling more great talents following their failure in Europe, most notably their prolific goal scorer, Karim Benzema, who finally enjoyed his trophy-laden spell in Real Madrid.

Titles in the decade	Key players	Notable managers
-French top tier (2002-2008) Runners up: 2001 -Coupe de France: 2008 - Coupe de la Ligue: 2001 Runners up: 2007 - Champions League: (semifinal) 2010	Karim Benzema, Sidney Govou, Michael Essien, Cris, Florent Malouda, Patrick Muller, Gregory Coupet, Juninho, Eric Abidal, Mahamadou Diarra	Jacques Santini, Paul Le Guen, Gerrard Houllier, Alain Perrin