Liverpool

England · one of the six clubs in the Easy pool

For a quarter of a century Liverpool were the most successful club in England and, for long stretches, in Europe. They have won the European Cup six times, more than any other English club. They have never won the treble — though in 1983–84 they won the league, the League Cup and the European Cup.

The story in brief

The 1960s: Shankly's rebuild

Bill Shankly took over a Second Division club in December 1959. Liverpool were promoted in 1962 and won the league in 1964 and 1966, with Roger Hunt and Ian St John scoring the goals and Ron Yeats at the back. The 1965 FA Cup was the first in the club's history.

The 1970s and 1980s: the boot room years

Shankly's second side — Kevin Keegan, John Toshack, Emlyn Hughes, Ray Clemence — won the league and the UEFA Cup in 1973 before he retired in 1974. His assistant Bob Paisley then won three European Cups: in 1977 against Borussia Mönchengladbach, in 1978 against Club Brugge with Kenny Dalglish, signed to replace Keegan, scoring the winner, and in 1981 against Real Madrid. Joe Fagan, another member of the boot room, won a fourth in 1984 on penalties against Roma, in Rome.

The decade also had its darkest days: the Heysel disaster before the 1985 final against Juventus, in which 39 people died, and Hillsborough in 1989, in which 97 Liverpool supporters lost their lives. Dalglish, as player-manager, won the double in 1986, and the league title of 1990 was Liverpool's last for thirty years.

1990–2015: cups and Istanbul

The Premier League era brought Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard but not the title. Gérard Houllier's side won a cup treble of League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup in 2001. Under Rafael Benítez, Liverpool came back from 3–0 down at half-time to beat Milan on penalties in the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul, the most famous comeback in the competition's history.

2015 to now: Klopp and Slot

Jürgen Klopp built a side round Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker that won the 2019 Champions League against Tottenham in Madrid and, in 2019–20, the league title the club had waited three decades for. Arne Slot succeeded Klopp and won the Premier League in his first season, 2024–25.

Liverpool in Treble Winner

One of the six Easy-pool clubs. Easy spins the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s; Normal adds the 1980s and 2020s; the Shankly and early Paisley years of the 1960s and 1970s are Hard only.

Liverpool in the game's pool, decade by decade.
Decade	Players	Best-XI rating	Rank	First on	Highest rated in the game
1960s	70	77.1	62	Hard	Roger Hunt, Ian St John, Ron Yeats
1970s	72	78.1	49	Hard	Kevin Keegan, Ray Clemence, Emlyn Hughes
1980s	76	78.8	35	Normal	Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, Ian Rush
1990s	107	78.9	33	Easy	John Barnes, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen
2000s	166	79.2	29	Easy	Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Michael Owen
2010s	180	80.9	13	Easy	Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker, Mohamed Salah
2020s	72	75.8	100	Normal	Andy Robertson, Mohamed Salah, Alexis Mac Allister

The 2010s, the Klopp decade, are Liverpool's strongest cell in the game's ratings. What stands out is how level the rest are: the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s are separated by only a point or so, and only the 2020s drop away. That evenness makes Liverpool one of the safest spins in the game.

Drafting tips

Strikers in every decade. Hunt, Keegan, Dalglish, Ian Rush, Fowler, Owen, Fernando Torres, Luis Suárez, Salah. A Liverpool spin with your striker shirt open is rarely wasted.
Gerrard covers two decades of midfield, the 2000s and 2010s, and the 1990s too, where his career began.
The 2010s for the back line. Van Dijk and Alisson are among the highest-rated players at their positions anywhere in the game.