WinFootballers Who Won Every Major Trophy
Most great players never win a World Cup. A tiny handful win every trophy the sport offers. These are the footballers who completed the grand slam — and the decade of dominance that made it possible.
There is a phrase used loosely in football: 'he has won everything.' In almost every case, it is not true. Winning everything means collecting every trophy a player can realistically enter — and for the very best, that list ends with the World Cup, the hardest competition in the sport to win. It takes an entire career of elite peak timing, plus the luck of a perfect international cycle.
What 'Everything' Actually Means
For a European club footballer, the grand slam looks like this:
- Domestic league title
- Domestic cup
- UEFA Champions League
- UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup
- A senior international trophy — and ultimately the World Cup
Winning the first four is possible for a superstar at a dominant club. Winning the international half requires a national team to align with your peak years — something no player controls.
The Barcelona Golden Generation
The cleanest grand slams in modern history were completed by the core of Barcelona's great side. Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique each won:
| Trophy | Where they won it |
|---|---|
| La Liga | Barcelona (multiple titles) |
| Copa del Rey | Barcelona |
| UEFA Champions League | Barcelona (2009, 2011 and more) |
| UEFA Super Cup | Barcelona |
| FIFA Club World Cup | Barcelona |
| World Cup | Spain, 2010 (South Africa) |
| European Championship | Spain, 2008 and 2012 |
The same years that produced Barcelona's treble-winning 2008-09 and 2014-15 sides also produced Spain's unmatched run of Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012. That double window — club dominance and international dominance at the same moment — is what makes the generation so exceptional.
Messi: The Grand Slam Plus
Lionel Messi completed the same clean sweep and then added more. On top of the Barcelona and Spain-era trophies he won a tenth La Liga, the Copa America with Argentina in 2021 and 2024, and the World Cup in 2022, finally answering the one question that had followed him his whole career. He is the only player in this list to hold every major trophy simultaneously and an Olympic gold medal.
The Non-European Exception
The grand slam is not confined to Europe. Cafu, the Brazilian right-back, won two World Cups (1994 and 2002) with Brazil and the UEFA Champions League with AC Milan in 2007 — a rare South American who managed both club and international dominance. Brazilian legends like Ronaldo (two World Cups, La Liga, Serie A) and Ronaldinho (World Cup, Champions League) came close, but a complete collection is rarer than most fans assume.
Why So Few Ever Complete It
There is a simple arithmetic reason the grand slam is so rare. A player's club career peaks in his mid-20s, but a World Cup only arrives every four years, and a national team's window rarely matches a player's personal peak. Xavi and Iniesta got lucky twice: their prime coincided with Spain's greatest team, and Barcelona's greatest team.
The next player to win everything will need the same double stroke of fortune — and a decade of trophy-laden club dominance. It is why football's most decorated players are almost always found on the same teams, in the same eras.
Put These Principles Into Practice Today
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Last updated: August 2026 | By Tochukwu Mesigo |
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