What Is A Double In Soccer?

The term double is unique to soccer and reflects the ability of one team to win in different competition formats in a single season and the importance of winning the league championship. The concept of a double does not exist in the big three American sports of football, baseball and basketball. In these sports, a playoff system determines a single champion. European and South American soccer fans are most aware of doubles, although an American soccer club has won a double.

Definition

The most common double is having the best regular-season record in a top soccer division and a trophy from the national soccer association's cup, open to all divisions. "It is for most teams the most prestigious thing they can do within their domestic league, because it means you won the two most prestigious championships," says Wes Harvey, former coach of the Morgan State University men's soccer team in Baltimore, Maryland. "Unlike American sports that combine the cup and league in a playoff system, most soccer leagues separate the two."

FA Cup

The Football Association or FA Cup is open to all English men's soccer divisions, from amateur village teams to giants including Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. Regular-season winners are not assured of FA Cup success. "Everyone gets a fair shot in the FA Cup," Harvey notes. "If you catch a team like Man U on your good day, their bad day, you just dethroned a champion."

History

Preston North End, a Lancashire team, was the first winner of an English double, winning the inaugural Football League season in 1889 as well as the FA Cup. Aston Villa followed in 1897. No team repeated the feat until London's Tottenham Hotspur in 1961. Liverpool won in 1986, and Manchester United and Arsenal became the first teams complete the League-FA Cup double twice. In 2002, Arsenal became the first English team to win a third double. Chelsea doubled in 2010.

Non-English Doubles

Doubles also exist in Continental Europe for winners of the top division and the football association cup. They have been won in Germany by Bayern Munich, the Netherlands by Ajax, in Italy by Inter Milan and in Spain by Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, among others. In the United States, D.C. United won the MLS Cup on Oct. 20, 1996, and 10 days later won the U.S. Open Cup.

Upsets

Much like "March Madness" in American men's college basketball, small obscure teams can become giant-killers and ruin a big team's chance at a double. In 1990, Crystal Palace, a smaller, newly promoted London-based club, beat mighty Liverpool in the cup. Similarly, Tranmere, the "third" team behind Liverpool and Everton for the Liverpool area, has a reputation for upsets. Though in League One, the third tier of English football, at time of publication, the little club beat Everton and Southampton, top division clubs, in the 2000-01 FA Cup. Tiny Stevenage drew Newcastle United in 1998 and beat Newcastle in January 2011.