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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Guardian sport

Players from one nation winning the men’s ‘big five’ leagues in a season

Clockwise from top left: France stars Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich), Thierry Henry (Barcelona), Patrick Vieira (Inter), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea)
Clockwise from top left: France stars Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich), Thierry Henry (Barcelona), Patrick Vieira (Inter), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea) all won league titles in the 2009/10 season. Composite: Getty Images

“The success of Scott McTominay, Billy Gilmour, Harry Kane and Eric Dier means that British players have won three of the ‘big five’ leagues this season. Has that happened before? And have any countries managed five out of five?” wonders Philipp Lohan.

To answer the first question, yes, it has happened before and not too long ago. Robbie Dale emailed in to highlight the 2020-21 season, when Kieran Trippier (Atlético), Ashley Young (Inter) and Phil Foden, John Stones and few others (Manchester City) also ticked three of the five boxes for British players. If we move on to nations who provided players who won all of the ‘big five’ leagues then we had better get busy making a list.

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