{"id":1555,"date":"2024-06-09T08:22:22","date_gmt":"2024-06-09T08:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/footballcollective.org.uk\/?p=1555"},"modified":"2024-06-05T17:10:42","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T17:10:42","slug":"olympiacos-join-small-band-of-european-champions-from-outside-the-big-five-leagues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/footballcollective.org.uk\/olympiacos-join-small-band-of-european-champions-from-outside-the-big-five-leagues\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympiacos Join Small Band of European Champions from Outside the \u2018Big Five\u2019 Leagues"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Premier League has its \u2018big six\u2019 clubs \u2013 Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham \u2013 who have, historically, been the most successful in the competition. And in Europe, there\u2019s also the \u2018big five\u2019 divisions: the Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A and French Ligue 1. Each has earned their place in the club by producing high quality players, attracting stars from around the world and serving up teams that have been successful on the continent.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s rare for a team outside the \u2018big six\u2019 to win the Premier League \u2013 Blackburn Rovers and Leicester City the only sides to do that in more than 30 years, while it\u2019s been even rarer that a team outside of the \u2018big five\u2019 leagues has won one of the continent\u2019s richest prizes, such as the Champions League or Europa League. But Greek outfit, Olympiacos, added their name to the admittedly small list in May 2024, winning the UEFA Conference League final against Fiorentina. In doing so, they became the first team<\/a> from Greece to win a European trophy. So, who else outside of the \u2018big six\u2019 has enjoyed continental success against the odds?<\/p>\n

FC Porto \u2013 Europa League (2010\/11)<\/h2>\n

\"FCOne of the most successful teams in Portuguese football took their pedigree onto the big stage in 2010\/11, winning the Europa League \u2013 considered to be the continent\u2019s secondary prize behind the Champions League. They breezed through their group, before running into the first of their \u2018big five\u2019 opponents \u2013 Sevilla \u2013 in the last 32.<\/p>\n

But the Spaniards were disposed of courtesy of away goals in a 2-2 aggregate draw, before a pair of Russian outfits \u2013 CSKA Moscow and Spartak Moscow \u2013 were taken care of 3-1 and 10-3 respectively over the course of two legs. Another big five opponent stood in Porto\u2019s way in the semi-finals: Villarreal. But it was the Portuguese side that would produce an outstanding display in the first leg on home soil, running out 5-1 winners courtesy of Radamel Falcao\u2019s four-goal blitz.<\/p>\n

That tie was therefore pretty much over as a contest prior to the second leg, although the Spaniards gave it a good go in a 3-2 win in front of their own fans. Incredibly, that set up an all-Portuguese final, with Porto taking on Braga for the trophy at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.<\/p>\n

A tight and cagey affair would be settled by a single goal \u2013 Falcao\u2019s strike on the stroke of half-time enough to see Porto declared Europa League champions<\/a> in 2011. The Colombian striker would earn himself a big money move to Atletico Madrid, while Porto would secure a place in the history books as the last non-big five European champions\u2026.until Olympiacos struck in 2024, at least.<\/p>\n

Shakhtar Donetsk \u2013 UEFA Cup (2008\/09)<\/h2>\n

\"ShakhtarThe Europa League (or the UEFA Cup in its former guise) has certainly been a happier hunting ground for clubs outside the big five divisions \u2013 aided, of course, by the relative drop in class of those qualifying for the continent\u2019s second-tier competition. Shakhtar Donetsk took advantage of that lore in 2008\/09, although there was plenty of high-grade opposition in that year\u2019s edition of the Europa League \u2013 PSG, Ajax, Tottenham and Manchester City just some of those taking up a place in the competition\u2019s knockout phase.<\/p>\n

Spurs were the Ukrainians\u2019 opponents in the Round of 32, with a 2-0 win on home soil \u2013 followed by a 1-1 draw at Tottenham\u2019s then White Hart Lane home \u2013 enough for Shakhtar to record a famous upset victory. But they weren\u2019t done yet. They managed to overcome a 0-1 deficit from the first leg against CSKA Moscow to prevail 2-1 in the last 16, before delivering a comprehensive 4-1 thrashing of Marseille in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

Thet set-up an all-Ukrainian encounter with Dynamo Kiev in the semi-finals. Honorus were even from the first leg in a 1-1 draw, although Shakhtar did claim the advantage of an away goal in Kiev. Ultimately, they wouldn\u2019t need it \u2013 a 2-1 win in Donetsk enough to complete a 3-2 aggregate victory.<\/p>\n

In their way in the final stood a big five opponent: Werder Bremen. After Luiz Adriano opened the scoring for Shakhtar, the Germans equalised shortly after to leave the contest neatly poised at 1-1 at half-time. The game ticked over into extra time, during which a key figure throughout Shakhtar\u2019s run \u2013 Jadson \u2013 would pop up with the goal that would secure his side, and Ukraine as a whole, their first major trophy<\/a>: the last-ever edition of the UEFA Cup before its Europa League rebrand.<\/p>\n

FC Porto \u2013 Champions League (2003\/04)<\/h2>\n
\"Est\u00e1dio
Est\u00e1dio do Drag\u00e3o (Edgar Jim\u00e9nez<\/a> \/ Wikipedia.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There were two Russian winners of the UEFA Cup in the noughties: CSKA Moscow in 2004\/05 and Zenit St Petersburg in 2007\/08. But we wanted to take you back to the last time that a non-big five league team won the Champions League. That honour is bestowed, once again, upon FC Porto, who were guided to their 2003\/04 glory by a manager that English football fans would later become accustomed with \u2013 Jose Mourinho.<\/p>\n

Indeed, his \u2018Special One\u2019 nickname was derived from his stint with his native club, where he won the UEFA Cup in 2002\/03 alongside the Portuguese Primeira Liga title. But it was the 2003\/04 season in which Mourinho rose to prominence. Porto again won their domestic title, but it was their run in the Champions League that was most extraordinary. They progressed from a group that also included Real Madrid, Marseille and Partizan Belgrade in second place, before despatching Manchester United in the last 16 thanks to a late Costinha goal in the second leg at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n

Lyon were next up, but they couldn\u2019t lay a glove on Mourinho\u2019s confident side \u2013 Porto won the first leg 2-0, before notching two away goals in a 2-2 draw in France. Anyone underestimating them was now beginning to eat their words, especially after a 1-0 victory over fellow surprise package Deportivo. The scene was set for the final in Gelsenkirchen against Monaco. Carlos Alberto opened the scoring for Porto, before two of Mourinho\u2019s favourites \u2013 Deco and Dmitri Alenichev \u2013 sealed the victory. Porto were the champions of Europe: the last non-big five team to achieve the feat. And the cult of Mourinho<\/a> was only just getting started\u2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Premier League has its \u2018big six\u2019 clubs \u2013 Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham \u2013 who have, historically, been the most successful in the competition. And in Europe, there\u2019s also the \u2018big five\u2019 divisions: the Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A and French Ligue 1. Each has …<\/p>\n

Olympiacos Join Small Band of European Champions from Outside the \u2018Big Five\u2019 Leagues<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1556,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballcollective.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballcollective.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballcollective.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballcollective.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballcollective.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/footballcollective.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1560,"href":"https:\/\/footballcollective.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555\/revisions\/1560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballcollective.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballcollective.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballcollective.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballcollective.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}