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Liverpool Football Club

Liverpool FC were considered a safe football bet in the 1970s and 1980s as they dominated the domestic scene and won 4 European Cups. The Reds are one of the most successful clubs in English history and saw a return to glory with their European Champions League victory on penalties in 2005.

The club was founded in 1892, after Everton left Anfield and the owner decided to form his own team. Liverpool FC have played at Anfield, which has a capacity of over 45,000, ever since, but Liverpool now have plans to build a new stadium.

Liverpool FC started life in the Lancashire League winning their first competitive match 8-0 against Higher Walton, and went on to win the league comfortably. After beating Everton 1-0 in the first Merseyside Derby to win the Liverpool Senior Cup final, Liverpool were elected to the Football League.

Liverpool’s success continued as they won the Football League Division 2 unbeaten, and were promoted to Division 1after winning a trial match 2-0 against Newton Heath.

Liverpool won their first Football League Championship in 1901, and went on to win it again in 1906 and twice in the 1920s.

Despite the odd FA Cup appearance and winning the first Football League Championship after the Second World War, Liverpool’s fortunes were turned around when Bill Shankly was appointed Liverpool manager in 1959. They were languishing in Division 2 at the time but gained promotion to Division 1 in 1962.

The start of a purple patch ensued with Liverpool winning the First Division three times. They lifted the FA Cup for the first time in 1965, their first European trophy, the UEFA Cup in 1973 and in Bill Shankly’s last season the FA Cup again in 1974.

What followed was an era of unprecedented success, under Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish. Bob Paisley is Liverpool’s most successful manager with six Division 1 titles, three European Cups, one UEFA Cup, three League Cups and one European Super Cup.

A fourth European Cup was to follow under Joe Fagan and in 1986 under Kenny Dalglish Liverpool won their first ever League and FA Cup double.

Other League Championships and FA Cups followed but the tragedies of Heysel in 1985 and Hillsborough in 1989 signalled the end of Liverpool’s dominance in domestic and European football.

The magic of Liverpool has been seen through several FA Cup and League Cup wins and the dawn of a new era seemed to have arrived; Liverpool won 5 Cups in the same year under Gerard Houllier in 2001 when they won the League Cup, the FA Cup, the UEFA Cup, the Charity Shield and the European Super Cup.

But Houllier left after only picking up the League Cup in 2003 to be replaced by Rafael Benitez for the 2004-2005 season. Whilst domestic form in his first season saw Liverpool only reach 5^th place in the FA Premier League and defeat to Chelsea in the League Cup final, all was redeemed in one of the most amazing comebacks in football as Liverpool came back from 3-0 down against AC Milan in Istanbul to draw the match 3-3 and then win the game on penalties to win the European Champions League and claim their 5^th European Cup in all, which meant Liverpool were able to keep the trophy.

Liverpool went on to win the UEFA Super Cup in 2005 with yet another comeback against CSKA Moscow to win the match 2-1 in extra time.

Titles

• Football League Division 1 / Premiership - 18
• Football League Division 2 / Championship - 4
• FA Cup - 6
• League Cup - 7
• Charity Shield / FA Community Shield - 14
• European Cup / UEFA Champions League - 5
• UEFA Cup - 3
• European Super Cup - 3

If you are thinking of placing a bet on Liverpool to win a match or championship, visit our Football Betting Guide for more information. You can also look at our Events section for information about selected forthcoming Liverpool matches.

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