2nd best achievment in football by any player, manager or team. (Leicester, of course, winning the PL being everyone's 1st choice? )

Jeppers7

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It is when you consider the following;

Aberdeen had never even got to a QF in European football in their history before or after SAF

Since SAF won the title with Aberdeen, only Celtic and Rangers have won the title in the last 35 years.

SAF won 3 SPL titles with Aberdeen and they have only won 4 in their history.

Since the SPL began in 1890 (111 years), their have only been 18 league titles not won by Celtic and Rangers.

Only 3 clubs have won the SPL more than 3 times in their history that are not Celtic or Rangers. These are; Aberdeen 4, Hearts 4, Hibs 4. Of these 12 wins in 110 years, SAF has won 25% of them.

SAF winning 3 SPL titles with Aberdeen is therefore harder than Nottingham Forest only winning 1 English top flight league title.


Aberdeen had to beat Sion, Dinamo Tirana, Lech Poznan, Bayern Munich, Waterschel and Real Madrid to win the Cup Winners Cup.

Nottingham Forest won their 1st EC by playing Porto, AEK Athens, Grasshoppers, Koln and Malmo.

Nottingham Forest won their 2nd EC by playing Oster, Arges Pitesti, BFC Dynamo, Ajax and Hamburg.

Aberdeen had the more difficult teams to beat than Forest. A team as tiny as Aberdeen going on to beat Bayern and Madrid on their way to the Cup Winners Cup is ridiculous.
Jesus...imagine winning European cups playing these teams. One can only dream.
 

The holy trinity 68

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Jesus...imagine winning European cups playing these teams. One can only dream.
I know, that is why when people say RM have won 13 EC's or Liverpool fans saying Liverpool have won 6 CL's is ludicrous really. The CL is a far tougher tournament to win than what the old EC was.
 

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Hellas Verona winning Serie A in 1984/85. For me, it's a more impressive achievement than Leicester's. It was coincidently the only season where refs were appointed randomly, after Verona's surprising win that rule was quickly redacted. Just take a look at their competition:
  • Juventus had won the European Cup that season and had a team with Michel Platini (current Ballon d'Or winner with 3 in a row), Zbigniew Boniek, Paolo Rossi (another Ballon d'Or winner), Marco Tardelli and one of the toughest defensive units of all time (Scirea, Cabrini, Brio)
  • AC Milan had 3/4 of the best defensive unit ever assembled on a club level — Baresi, Tassotti and a young prodigy by the name of Paolo Maldini had made his debut that season (okay, Maldini is a stretch since he was far from being a regular, but still)
  • Fiorentina had Passarella (World Cup winning captain and the 2nd best South American defender of all-time), Gentile and legendary Sócrates
  • AS Roma had Falcão and Cerezo — one half of one of the best midfields ever assembled, Brazil 1982 (Sócrates & Zico, the other half, also played in Serie A at the time), Bruno Conti — one of the best players of current World Champions, and a bunch of quality players like Pruzzo, Graziani, Ancelotti, Nela & Di Livio
  • Inter had Rummenigge (twice Ballon d'Or winner), Bergomi, Zenga, Causio, Brady (one of the greatest ever players from Ireland), Ferri... Zenga, Bergomi and Ferri, combined with AC Milan's Baresi and Maldini, would create the greatest defense in international football's history (Italy in 1990 WC)
  • Sampdoria had Mancini, Vialli and Vierchowod — the spine of their league-winning team from 1990/91 (they would also reach a European Cup final and won CWC). Also, they had Souness
  • Udinese had Zico, arguably the greatest player of the late 70's/early 80's (his only competitors — Platini & Rummenigge, also are playing in the same league)
  • Napoli had Maradona, currently the most expensive footballer in the world & Ciro Ferrara
  • Torino had Júnior
  • Lazio had Michael Laudrup
Basically, only a couple of teams didn't have at least one world-class/borderline world-class player at their disposal (and many of them had multiple ones). Yet somehow, Hellas Verona with only 2 star players (Preben Elkjær & Hans-Peter Briegel, not the most household names, although, perhaps, unfairly), won the league.

Cagliari winning Serie A in 1969/70. This is their first and only title — Cagliari was a small team from Sardinia that only got promoted from Serie B a few seasons back. They've conceded a mind-boggling 11 goals in 30 games. It's a similarly miraculous story, but the league was considerably weaker.
 

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Why the heck would Leicester be unanimously anyone's first?

Just in my lifetime alone I've seen more impressive/surprising achievements like Kaiserslautern winning the BL after promotion, in a year where Bayern were very strong, Dortmund had just won the UCL and Schalke the Uefa cup.
 
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simplyared

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It is when you consider the following;

Aberdeen had never even got to a QF in European football in their history before or after SAF

Since SAF won the title with Aberdeen, only Celtic and Rangers have won the title in the last 35 years.

SAF won 3 SPL titles with Aberdeen and they have only won 4 in their history.

Since the SPL began in 1890 (111 years), their have only been 18 league titles not won by Celtic and Rangers.

Only 3 clubs have won the SPL more than 3 times in their history that are not Celtic or Rangers. These are; Aberdeen 4, Hearts 4, Hibs 4. Of these 12 wins in 110 years, SAF has won 25% of them.

SAF winning 3 SPL titles with Aberdeen is therefore harder than Nottingham Forest only winning 1 English top flight league title.


Aberdeen had to beat Sion, Dinamo Tirana, Lech Poznan, Bayern Munich, Waterschel and Real Madrid to win the Cup Winners Cup.

Nottingham Forest won their 1st EC by playing Porto, AEK Athens, Grasshoppers, Koln and Malmo.

Nottingham Forest won their 2nd EC by playing Oster, Arges Pitesti, BFC Dynamo, Ajax and Hamburg.

Aberdeen had the more difficult teams to beat than Forest. A team as tiny as Aberdeen going on to beat Bayern and Madrid on their way to the Cup Winners Cup is ridiculous.
SAF also lost the 85-86 QF in the European Cup to IFK Gothenburg. A little spanner in the works maybe?
 

Needham

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It is when you consider the following;

Aberdeen had never even got to a QF in European football in their history before or after SAF

Since SAF won the title with Aberdeen, only Celtic and Rangers have won the title in the last 35 years.

SAF won 3 SPL titles with Aberdeen and they have only won 4 in their history.

Since the SPL began in 1890 (111 years), their have only been 18 league titles not won by Celtic and Rangers.

Only 3 clubs have won the SPL more than 3 times in their history that are not Celtic or Rangers. These are; Aberdeen 4, Hearts 4, Hibs 4. Of these 12 wins in 110 years, SAF has won 25% of them.

SAF winning 3 SPL titles with Aberdeen is therefore harder than Nottingham Forest only winning 1 English top flight league title.


Aberdeen had to beat Sion, Dinamo Tirana, Lech Poznan, Bayern Munich, Waterschel and Real Madrid to win the Cup Winners Cup.

Nottingham Forest won their 1st EC by playing Porto, AEK Athens, Grasshoppers, Koln and Malmo.

Nottingham Forest won their 2nd EC by playing Oster, Arges Pitesti, BFC Dynamo, Ajax and Hamburg.

Aberdeen had the more difficult teams to beat than Forest. A team as tiny as Aberdeen going on to beat Bayern and Madrid on their way to the Cup Winners Cup is ridiculous.
You've got that wrong, Forest beat Liverpool in the 1st round of their first EC. Like I said, Liverpool had been the best team in Europe so were the equivalent in terms of renown and difficulty of Aberdeen beating Bayern Munich or whomever and in the context of a much more prestigious and scrutinized competition. And Forest were defending champions of the English first division, and going deep in other competitions racked up 60 odd games easy. Then did it the next season. Aberdeen's achievement is at least as comparable with Dundee United's, which was no mean feat but not world historical in football terms like Clough's Forest's was.
 

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Guy Roux's career with Auxerre is way more impressive than Leicester. It's the kind of thing that people do on FM.
 

simplyared

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Why the heck would Leicester be unanimously anyone's first?

Just in my lifetime alone I've seen more impressive/surprising achievements like Kaiserslautern winning the BL after promotion, in a year Bayern were strong, and Dortmund had just won the UCL.
Maybe I was jumping the gun a bit, but to win the PL in the modern day era with that team is an achievment I believe to be the ultimate.
 

RashyForPM

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In no particular order, because Leicester is not unanimously first as many people have said:

Fergie’s 2 decades of unprecedented domestic success, never seen before in the English league to that extent.
Forest going up, winning the title and then two consecutive CLs under Clough and Taylor. This could well be first.
Maradona’s goal against England; Messi against Bilbao and Madrid (CL semi 2011)
Leicester winning the league.
West Germany winning the World Cup in 1954, 9 years after the war against the Magical Magyars.
Fergie’s Aberdeen breaking the Old Firm duopoly in 1985 and beating Madrid in the Cup Winners’ Cup.
Jamie Vardy’s remarkable success since joining Leicester.
Greece winning the Euros in 2004.
Denmark winning the Euros in 1992 after not even qualifying (Yugoslavia were kicked out). Speaking of which, I highly recommend Sommeren’ 92 on Netflix.
Original Ronaldo’s incredible 2002 World Cup.
Cristiano’s various hat-tricks to single-handedly rescue his teams in the CL knockout rounds (we all know he’ll do it against Porto).
The 2 most perfect free kicks: Cristiano vs Portsmouth, Messi vs Pool.
Sir Matt’s Busby Babes winning the European Cup just 10 years after the crash. The Flowers of Manchester.
Barcelona 2008-11, the greatest football team ever.
English and German soldiers Christmas truce mid-war to play football. Just shows you the power of football.
Cristiano becoming the all-time top scorer in football history just recently. Trillions of people have kicked a ball throughout history, and this man is the greatest to ever do it. Simply remarkable.
Blackburn winning the title in 1995. They had Jack Walker’s money but to beat us, fair play to them.
Finally, this past week in football. Recency bias, but Haaland’s two goals and Mbappe’s three signals a changing of the guard.
 

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Bruno Fernandes signing for United and winning the golden boot in his first 4 full seasons to take United to their first ever 4-in-a-row, especially the first when they overcame a 10 point deficit to beat City to the title and Bruno broke the record for scoring penalties in 10 successive matches at the end of the season.

The fact that 3 of those came with Champions Leagues as well made it more special. Just a shame he left for his big pay day at Sunderland.

Sorry, I’m typing from the future.
 

The holy trinity 68

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SAF also lost the 85-86 QF in the European Cup to IFK Gothenburg. A little spanner in the works maybe?
To be fair that is the furthest Aberdeen have ever got to in the EC/CL. It is also the only time they have gotten to a QF in that tournament, so still a big achievement for Aberdeen.
 

The holy trinity 68

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You've got that wrong, Forest beat Liverpool in the 1st round of their first EC. Like I said, Liverpool had been the best team in Europe so were the equivalent in terms of renown and difficulty of Aberdeen beating Bayern Munich or whomever and in the context of a much more prestigious and scrutinized competition. And Forest were defending champions of the English first division, and going deep in other competitions racked up 60 odd games easy. Then did it the next season. Aberdeen's achievement is at least as comparable with Dundee United's, which was no mean feat but not world historical in football terms like Clough's Forest's was.
Sorry i forgot there wasn't group stages back then so didn't look at any rounds before the round of 32, which looks to be the 2nd round.
 

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Man City going from the second division to being the richest club in England and winning the Premier League. What a journey.
 

simplyared

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Hellas Verona winning Serie A in 1984/85. For me, it's a more impressive achievement than Leicester's. It was coincidently the only season where refs were appointed randomly, after Verona's surprising win that rule was quickly redacted. Just take a look at their competition:
  • Juventus had won the European Cup that season and had a team with Michel Platini (current Ballon d'Or winner with 3 in a row), Zbigniew Boniek, Paolo Rossi (another Ballon d'Or winner), Marco Tardelli and one of the toughest defensive units of all time (Scirea, Cabrini, Brio)
  • AC Milan had 3/4 of the best defensive unit ever assembled on a club level — Baresi, Tassotti and a young prodigy by the name of Paolo Maldini had made his debut that season (okay, Maldini is a stretch since he was far from being a regular, but still)
  • Fiorentina had Passarella (World Cup winning captain and the 2nd best South American defender of all-time), Gentile and legendary Sócrates
  • AS Roma had Falcão and Cerezo — one half of one of the best midfields ever assembled, Brazil 1982 (Sócrates & Zico, the other half, also played in Serie A at the time), Bruno Conti — one of the best players of current World Champions, and a bunch of quality players like Pruzzo, Graziani, Ancelotti, Nela & Di Livio
  • Inter had Rummenigge (twice Ballon d'Or winner), Bergomi, Zenga, Causio, Brady (one of the greatest ever players from Ireland), Ferri... Zenga, Bergomi and Ferri, combined with AC Milan's Baresi and Maldini, would create the greatest defense in international football's history (Italy in 1990 WC)
  • Sampdoria had Mancini, Vialli and Vierchowod — the spine of their league-winning team from 1990/91 (they would also reach a European Cup final and won CWC). Also, they had Souness
  • Udinese had Zico, arguably the greatest player of the late 70's/early 80's (his only competitors — Platini & Rummenigge, also are playing in the same league)
  • Napoli had Maradona, currently the most expensive footballer in the world & Ciro Ferrara
  • Torino had Júnior
  • Lazio had Michael Laudrup
Basically, only a couple of teams didn't have at least one world-class/borderline world-class player at their disposal (and many of them had multiple ones). Yet somehow, Hellas Verona with only 2 star players (Preben Elkjær & Hans-Peter Briegel, not the most household names, although, perhaps, unfairly), won the league.

Cagliari winning Serie A in 1969/70. This is their first and only title — Cagliari was a small team from Sardinia that only got promoted from Serie B a few seasons back. They've conceded a mind-boggling 11 goals in 30 games. It's a similarly miraculous story, but the league was considerably weaker.
Verona's achievment oviously a talking point but I wouldn't put it above Leicester. The year they won the Scudetto the door was wide open for an underdog. Roma were rebuilding and both Milan teams struggling to find previous form. Preben Elkjaer one of the best strikers around at the time and Briegel a regular in the German team were both top players.
Leicester won the title in a much harder league with a striker from Fleetwood Town.
 

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My first thought was how amazing Poch did to get to a final with his net spend, then I thought of the achievements of Forest and United so a bit conflicted
 

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Verona's achievment oviously a talking point but I wouldn't put it above Leicester. The year they won the Scudetto the door was wide open for an underdog. Roma were rebuilding and both Milan teams struggling to find previous form. Preben Elkjaer one of the best strikers around at the time and Briegel a regular in the German team were both top players.
Leicester won the title in a much harder league with a striker from Fleetwood Town.
You can't seriously use the "open for an underdog" argument while arguing for Leicester's first place? They've won the league with 81 points with their closest competitors being Arsenal and Tottenham (that finished 3rd in a 2 horse race). City had a tragic season under Pellegrini, finishing on 66 points, level with us (playing horrendous football under van Gaal). Both Chelsea and Liverpool sacked their managers mid season to try to avoid a complete mess. I'm not trying to undermine Leicester's achievement, you can only win the league that you're given — and they did it in a brilliant fashion.

Vardy has proved himself to be a top player, as well as Kanté (key player for a world cup winner) and Mahrez (big-money signing for a top-club). Briegel was a regular at left back for West Germany, but played in midfield for Verona. Elkjær was amazing (and he established himself as one of the best strikers around between 1984 and 1986), but he was signed from the mighty K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen.
 

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Verona's achievment oviously a talking point but I wouldn't put it above Leicester. The year they won the Scudetto the door was wide open for an underdog. Roma were rebuilding and both Milan teams struggling to find previous form. Preben Elkjaer one of the best strikers around at the time and Briegel a regular in the German team were both top players.
Leicester won the title in a much harder league with a striker from Fleetwood Town.
This. The financial disparity in leagues now is ridculous. Theres a reason why Forest isnt mentioned above Leicesters win and they won the league as a promoted side and 2 CL in next 3 years.
Relegation battling side simply should not win league titles in this era
 

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Liverpool drawing 2-2 with West Brom.
 

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Atletico's title win in 13/14 is criminally underrated and up there as one of the best with Leicester.

Had to finish above two of the best sides in the world, who both got 87 points that year. Arsenal finished 2nd with 71. 4th placed Bilbao got 70 that year.

Spent similar amount as Leicester that summer and the highest signing at €10m played one minute in the league.

Lost their best player in Falcao that summer as well. Unlike Leicester who had no European distractions and went out both cups early, Atletico went to a CL final and made SFs of Copa Del Rey. Atletico played 61 games, Leicester played 43.
 

iKnowNothing

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No mention of Arsenal’s invincibles?

Edit - also, there’s go to be a time limit on what period we’re talking about. Something that happened in 1900s should not be put agains something that happened in 2010s.
 
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desertegil

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For me this conversation starts and ends with Nottinham Forest getting promoted from the 2nd Division and in the following three seasons winning a League title and two European Cups while also appearing in the League Cup final in all 3 seasons (and winning it twice).
 

RashyForPM

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Atletico's title win in 13/14 is criminally underrated and up there as one of the best with Leicester.

Had to finish above two of the best sides in the world, who both got 87 points that year. Arsenal finished 2nd with 71. 4th placed Bilbao got 70 that year.

Spent similar amount as Leicester that summer and the highest signing at €10m played one minute in the league.

Lost their best player in Falcao that summer as well. Unlike Leicester who had no European distractions and went out both cups early, Atletico went to a CL final and made SFs of Copa Del Rey. Atletico played 61 games, Leicester played 43.
Atletico are my distant 2nd team but in no way was that title win anywhere near Leicester’s. Atletico were favourites to be the best of the rest as they always are. Leicester were the bookies heaviest ever favourites to go down I think, made up of a bunch of misfits. Vardy, Mahrez and Kante are recognised now because of that season, not in spite of it.
 

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Only going to do the home nations since I don't know much else:

1. Forest's two European cups.
2. Jock Stein's Celtic
3. Man Utd's treble
4. Ferguson's Aberdeen
5= Leicester's win
5=Arsenal's invincible season.
 

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No mention of Arsenal’s invincibles?

Edit - also, there’s go to be a time limit on what period we’re talking about. Something that happened in 1900s should not be put agains something that happened in 2010s.
Was never that impressed with it. They drew 12 games, and lost in Europe and the English cup competition's. I think we lost less games in 1999 than they did in 2004.
 

Irwin99

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No mention of Arsenal’s invincibles?

Edit - also, there’s go to be a time limit on what period we’re talking about. Something that happened in 1900s should not be put agains something that happened in 2010s.
They were a great team but very overrated as well if that makes sense. I can't stand the opinion that they're the greatest PL side ever when it doesn't tally with the facts; they didn't retain their title, failed miserably in Europe, no record points tally or goals/goals conceded tally. Also consistently failed to beat a United side (without a penalty shoot out) that was in transition. Giggs, Scholes and Neville have all gone on record saying the best domestic side they faced was Arsenal's 98 team too.
 

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Jesus...imagine winning European cups playing these teams. One can only dream.
Well Liverpool are missing there. Imagine the best two teams in Europe drawn against each other in the first round and one of them getting knocked out by September. It's always worth remembering that these national champions were much more competitive then than they are now. They were mostly made up of the best players in the country, whereas today those players are exported at the age of 21 to the big leagues.

But the basic premise is the European Cup was 'harder to get into / easier to win', while the Champions League is the opposite.
Was much easier in the 50s only had 2-3 rounds. Only started to get competitive in the 60s
To be honest I don't think that made a big difference. It was basically the equivalent of starting the Champions League today at the last 16, and just skipping the procession of the group stages. It wouldn't make it much harder for the big boys to win.
 

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I go for Otto Rehagel.

Winning Euros with Greece, winning Bundesliga right after promoting to the Bundesliga.
 

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If Maradona leading Napoli to a title then Elkjær leading the even lesser Verona to a title in front of Juve with Platini deserves an equal shout

Rehhagel's greece is something too though
 

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Clough and Taylor in those early years at Forest. The fact Brendan also has Leicester near the top suggests 2016 was not quite the miracle it seemed at the time but rather an upwardly-mobile, well-run club exploiting a power vacuum while City were sleeping.
 

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Mixing up ‘best achievement’ and ‘most surprising over-achievement’ from the start here.

The best achievement on a 100 m sprint belongs to Usain Bolt, not some 12 year old who some day beat her personal best by two secs in the school games finals, no?

Best achievement in football by a team, I’d go with Brazil 1958 or Barca 2011 maybe.

Best achievement by a person, Maradona lifting Argentina to the WC/Napoli to the League stands out to me.
 

Jeppers7

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Well Liverpool are missing there. Imagine the best two teams in Europe drawn against each other in the first round and one of them getting knocked out by September. It's always worth remembering that these national champions were much more competitive then than they are now. They were mostly made up of the best players in the country, whereas today those players are exported at the age of 21 to the big leagues.

But the basic premise is the European Cup was 'harder to get into / easier to win', while the Champions League is the opposite.

To be honest I don't think that made a big difference. It was basically the equivalent of starting the Champions League today at the last 16, and just skipping the procession of the group stages. It wouldn't make it much harder for the big boys to win.
id take that run any season.
 

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Hellas Verona winning Serie A in 1984/85. For me, it's a more impressive achievement than Leicester's. It was coincidently the only season where refs were appointed randomly, after Verona's surprising win that rule was quickly redacted. Just take a look at their competition:
  • Juventus had won the European Cup that season and had a team with Michel Platini (current Ballon d'Or winner with 3 in a row), Zbigniew Boniek, Paolo Rossi (another Ballon d'Or winner), Marco Tardelli and one of the toughest defensive units of all time (Scirea, Cabrini, Brio)
  • AC Milan had 3/4 of the best defensive unit ever assembled on a club level — Baresi, Tassotti and a young prodigy by the name of Paolo Maldini had made his debut that season (okay, Maldini is a stretch since he was far from being a regular, but still)
  • Fiorentina had Passarella (World Cup winning captain and the 2nd best South American defender of all-time), Gentile and legendary Sócrates
  • AS Roma had Falcão and Cerezo — one half of one of the best midfields ever assembled, Brazil 1982 (Sócrates & Zico, the other half, also played in Serie A at the time), Bruno Conti — one of the best players of current World Champions, and a bunch of quality players like Pruzzo, Graziani, Ancelotti, Nela & Di Livio
  • Inter had Rummenigge (twice Ballon d'Or winner), Bergomi, Zenga, Causio, Brady (one of the greatest ever players from Ireland), Ferri... Zenga, Bergomi and Ferri, combined with AC Milan's Baresi and Maldini, would create the greatest defense in international football's history (Italy in 1990 WC)
  • Sampdoria had Mancini, Vialli and Vierchowod — the spine of their league-winning team from 1990/91 (they would also reach a European Cup final and won CWC). Also, they had Souness
  • Udinese had Zico, arguably the greatest player of the late 70's/early 80's (his only competitors — Platini & Rummenigge, also are playing in the same league)
  • Napoli had Maradona, currently the most expensive footballer in the world & Ciro Ferrara
  • Torino had Júnior
  • Lazio had Michael Laudrup
Basically, only a couple of teams didn't have at least one world-class/borderline world-class player at their disposal (and many of them had multiple ones). Yet somehow, Hellas Verona with only 2 star players (Preben Elkjær & Hans-Peter Briegel, not the most household names, although, perhaps, unfairly), won the league.

Cagliari winning Serie A in 1969/70. This is their first and only title — Cagliari was a small team from Sardinia that only got promoted from Serie B a few seasons back. They've conceded a mind-boggling 11 goals in 30 games. It's a similarly miraculous story, but the league was considerably weaker.
Cagliari happened to have the best italian player of the post WW2 to be fair. Would have been a bit like if Leicester had a prime Henry instead of Vardy(and i'm using henry deliberately, since Riva was that level of player)