Manchester United Trophies & Titles

When it comes to the Premier League, Manchester United are the most successful team ever. The Red Devils enjoyed a tremendous period of success under Sir Alex Ferguson during the 1990s and into the 2000s, with his final title win coming in 2013. The club has also been successful on both the European stage and in the domestic cups, as you’d expect from a side that has been so dominant over the years. The only thing that will rankle Manchester United fans is the fact that the only club that has won more major trophies than the Red Devils is their bitter rivals from Merseyside: Liverpool.

League Titles

Perhaps no club in the history of football has benefitted from a change in the structure of the league that they were playing in quite like Manchester United benefitted from the invention of the Premier League. The Red Devils had won seven titles prior to 1992, which had them level with Aston Villa. They then won their next seven in less then a decade, dominating the Premier League and taking advantage of the move to a more money-centric English top-flight in a way that other sides simply couldn’t cope with. It wasn’t that no other team won the Premier League, it’s just that as soon as they did Manchester United would take it back off them.

You can see from the table just how close it was in some years, with Manchester United winning according to their superior Goal Average in the 1964-1965 campaign. You can also see how many different clubs have attempted to take on the Red Devils over the years, from Aston Villa through to Arsenal, Newcastle United to Liverpool. There is little doubt that it was the genius of Alex Ferguson that helped them to keep on pushing themselves during the Premier League era, never relenting and seeing the backroom staff as well as the first team updated on a regular basis in order to get the club over the line repeatedly.

Cups & Trophies

Whilst the top-flight league will always be seen as the bread and butter for a club like Manchester United, the reality is that the team has been able to pick up cups and trophies on a regular basis throughout its existence. Although you would be hard-pushed to consider the Charity Shield, which later became known as the Community Shield, as a ‘major’ trophy, United have won it more often than any other side. Although Liverpool are the English side with more European Cups and League Cups than the Red Devils, they are both trophies that the Man United captain has hoisted above his head numerous times in the past.

Charity Shield / Community Shield

Known as the Charity Shield for a long time, the Football Association had to change the name of the trophy to the Community Shield when it emerged that they weren’t giving enough money to charity in order for it to bear its former moniker. Although many people would be quick to dismiss it as a major trophy, the reality is that you had to win either the top-flight title or else the FA Cup to appear in it, so it would be wrong to dismiss it entirely. Here is a look at the clubs that Man United have beaten in the cup over the years, or shared the trophy with back when that was what happened if it was a draw. Man United’s score will always be first:

Year	Opposition	Score
1908	Queens Park Rangers*	1-1 (4-0 in a replay)
1911	Swindon Town**	8-4
1952	Newcastle United	4-2
1956	Manchester City	1-0
1957	Aston Villa	4-0
1965	Liverpool	2-2 (Trophy shared)
1967	Tottenham Hotspur	3-3 (Trophy shared)
1977	Liverpool	0-0 (Trophy shared)
1983	Liverpool	2-0
1990	Liverpool	1-1 (Trophy shared)
1993	Arsenal	1-1 (United won on penalties)
1994	Blackburn Rovers***	2-0
1996	Newcastle United****	4-0
1997	Chelsea	1-1 (United won on penalties)
2003	Arsenal	1-1 (United won on penalties)
2007	Chelsea	1-1 (United won on penalties)
2008	Portsmouth	0-0 (United won on penalties)
2010	Chelsea*****	3-1
2011	Manchester City	3-2
2013	Wigan Athletic	2-0
2016	Leicester City	2-1

• *In 1908, the Charity Shield was a match between the winners of the Football League and the Southern League
• **In 1911 the Charity Shield was a match between the winners of the Football League and the Southern League
• ***In 1994 Manchester United won the Premier League and FA Cup, so the Charity Shield was played against Blackburn Rovers, who had come second in the league
• ****In 1996 Manchester United won the Premier League and FA Cup, so the Charity Shield was played against Newcastle United, who had come second in the league
• ******In 2010 Chelsea won the Premier League and FA Cup, so the Charity Shield was played against Manchester United, who had come second in the league

FA Cup

The club with the most FA Cup wins in the history of the competition is Arsenal, but Manchester United have appeared in the final more than any other team. They won it for the 13th time in their 22nd appearance in the final in 2024, putting them just one behind the Gunners for overall wins. The appearances also mean that United have lost in the final more than any other team, being on the losing side nine times between 1957 and 2023. Here is a look at their victories over the years:

Season	Opposition	Score
1908-1909	Bristol City	1-0
1947-1948	Blackpool	4-2
1962-1963	Leicester City	3-1
1976-1977	Liverpool	2-1
1982-1983	Brighton & Hove Albion	2-2 after extra time (4-0 in a replay)
1984-1985	Everton	1-0 after extra time
1989-1990	Crystal Palace	3-3 after extra time (1-0 in a replay)
1993-1994	Chelsea	4-0
1995-1996	Liverpool	1-0
1998-1999	Newcastle United	2-0
2003-2004	Millwall	3-0
2015-2016	Crystal Palace	2-1 after extra time
2023-2024	Manchester City	2-1

As with the league, there have been several different opponents that Manchester United have to defeat to lift the FA Cup, with the wins over Liverpool and Manchester City likely to have felt particularly sweet for the club’s supporters.

League Cup

Often thought of as the third-most important domestic honour after the league title and the FA Cup, the League Cup is the earliest trophy that a team can win during the season. For that reason, some managers like to target it and get a cup in the cabinet early doors in order to give their players a taste for silverware. The fact that it is the third-most important might help to explain why it’s also the trophy that Manchester United have won the third-most times over the years. Here is a look at their wins in the competition:

Season	Opposition	Score
1991-1992	Nottingham Forest	1-0
2005-2006	Wigan Athletic	4-0
2008-2009	Tottenham Hotspur	0-0 (United won on penalties)
2009-2010	Aston Villa	2-1
2016-2017	Southampton	3-2
2022-2023	Newcastle United	2-0

It is interesting that Manchester United have never played the same team more than once in the League Cup, considering the likelihood of the best teams in the country making it to the final each year. It is also noteworthy that none of their wins came against teams that you would consider to have been the ‘best’ in England at the time. With only one penalty shootout win, if United were going to win it then it was likely to be in normal time.

European Cup / Champions League

In terms of continental trophies, there is no better one to win than the European Cup. Although it received a rebrand to become the Champions League at around the same time that the First Division became the Premier League, it is ostensibly the same competition.

Whilst Manchester United have enjoyed several wins in it over the years, it will likely annoy Red Devils supporters that the have half of the number of wins in the tournament that their main rivals Liverpool have enjoyed. Here is a look at how they got on in the years that they won it:

Season	Opposition	Score
1967-1968	Benfica	4-1 after extra time
1998-1999	Bayern Munich	2-1
2007-2008	Chelsea	1-1 (United won on penalties)

It is fair to say that Manchester United have put their supporters through the wringer on the way to winning the European Cup over the years. The win over Bayern Munich was done in incredibly dramatic style, with the German side 1-0 up after just six minutes all the way until stoppage time in the second-half. Then two goals in two minutes secured the win for the Red Devils.

Other Noteworthy Trophies

Whilst all of the above are the most important trophies that a football team can win, there have been other noteworthy pieces of silverware that the Manchester United captain of the time has been able to lift over the years. Here is a look at the details of them:

Each of the competitions listed above, with the exception of the Europa League, pitted the winner of one trophy against the winner of another. The Intercontinental Cup, for example, saw the winner of the Champions League taking on the winner of the Copa Libertadores.