|
1971–72 UEFA Cup
The 1971–72 UEFA Cup was the inaugural season of the UEFA Cup, now known as the UEFA Europa League, which became the third club football competition organised by UEFA. The tournament retained the structure and format of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which ran from 1955 to 1971 and had been held independently of UEFA by an organizing committee composed mostly of FIFA executives. The final was played in England over two legs, at Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, and at White Hart Lane, London. The first UEFA Cup was won by Tottenham Hotspur, who defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers by an aggregate result of 3–2. English clubs had won the last four editions of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. This was the first ever European final between two clubs from England, a feat that would not be repeated until the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League. This was Wolverhampton's lone appearance in a European final, and Tottenham's second European title, nine years after their success in the European Cup Winners' Cup. Background and changesThe Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was created in 1955, being actually started a few months earlier than the UEFA-organised European Cup during the summer. The 'Fairs Cup', as it came to be known, was intended to provide a competitive background for matches between the representative teams of cities that hosted international trade fairs, which were being held in the previous years. As such, its calendar was highly irregular, with the first two editions being played over a five-year span. The tournament had the backing of several influential football officials. This included FIFA Executive Committee members Ernst Thommen, who was the president of the Swiss Football Association, as well as Sir Stanley Rous and Ottorino Barassi. With no further need for international governance, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was internally regulated, from the referees to the disciplinary measures, and no coordination at all with the European Cup. At first, UEFA gave no further attention to the concept, as it was also inmersed from 1957 onwards in taking over the International Youth Tournament (nowadays, the UEFA European Under-19 Championship) thad had been initiated by FIFA.[2] This approach changed at the start of the 60's as UEFA structures consolidated, being tasked by the FIFA statues to bring order to European competitions. In 1961, UEFA took over the European Cup Winners Cup after its inaugural edition, and in 1962 devised a plan to streamline the continental calendars and its competitions. A new ruling stated that "competitions open to the clubs of all National Associations affiliated to UEFA may only be organized by UEFA itself". However, this wasn't initially enforced with the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, due to its good reputation and the influence held by its organisers. In the meantime, the competition had adjusted to an annual schedule, while club teams quickly replaced city teams.[2] By 1964, the belief within the UEFA Executive Committee was that the competition "should be governed and organised by UEFA itself", to ensure consistency over the rules, refereeing and disciplinary matters.[3] An initial proposal by the Scottish Football Association for UEFA to take over the tournament fell through by 15 votes to 5, due to the opposition of Sir Stanley Rous in his new role as FIFA president, and the support of the Football Association. However, when Scotland submitted a new proposal in 1966, the English association did agree that time, and the motion was narrowly passed by 11 votes to 10 despite the efforts of Rous to prevent it.[2][3] Owing to the minimal margin between both positions, UEFA agreed to enter a negotiation period with the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup organizers. The terms were finally approved in 1968, and UEFA was due to take over for the 1969–70 edition. However, just a few months prior, most of the member association presidents agreed to extend the 'transitional period', which lasted for two further years. The tournament was then renamed as the UEFA Cup.[2] The main changes came with the entry criteria. Teams would no longer be bound to their city being host to an international trade fair, and multiple teams from the same city could be entered. Qualification for the UEFA Cup was devised purely on sporting merits, either by the highest-placed European teams that had not qualified for the European Cup or UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, or by winning a secondary cup competition, such as a league cup. Initially, the lone exception to the rule came from England, which still applied the 'one city, one team' rule until UEFA imposed the standard qualification procedure in 1975. Otherwise, the UEFA Cup retained the same 64-team, five knock-out rounds format for a two-legged final, with multiple teams from Europe's strongest leagues. Association team allocationA total of 64 teams from 32 UEFA member associations were entered in the 1971–72 UEFA Cup. As the 'trade fair' requirement was abolished, teams from the Soviet Union, Cyprus and Albania were admitted for the first time, which required further modifications into the allocation scheme previously set up by the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
Due to the newly entered associations, Belgium, Scotland and Yugoslavia lost the fourth birth they had gained the previous season, while England went back from five to four teams as the 'title holders' extra berth was not needed. Denmark and Greece also lost their second UEFA Cup birth, and East Germany regained their second birth, while Sweden and Bulgaria were also granted a second birth
Wales: There was no national league in Wales before 1992 and the only competition organised by the Football Association of Wales was the Welsh Cup so Wales had just a single participant in European competitions, the winner (or best placed Welsh team as several English teams also competed) of the Welsh Cup which competed in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. TeamsThe labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for competition:
Notes
ScheduleThe schedule of the competition was as follows. Matches were primarily scheduled for Wednesdays, though some matches took place on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
BracketFirst roundTeams from the same nation could not be drawn against one another. Summary1 Vllaznia withdrew after Albanian authorities banned the team from international competition, due to its volleyball team coming back from abroad with gifts and items that were deemed forbidden. MatchesVllaznia withdrew after Albanian authorities banned the team from international competition, due to its volleyball team coming back from abroad with gifts and items that were deemed forbidden; Rapid Wien were awarded a walkover. Second leg
Attendance: 11,000 [9] Ferencváros won 4–2 on aggregate. ADO Den Haag won 7–2 on aggregate. Tottenham Hotspur won 15–1 on aggregate. Eintracht Braunschweig won 7–1 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
2–2 on aggregate. Vitória de Setúbal won on away goals. Carl Zeiss Jena won 4–3 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
UTA Arad won 5–4 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
OFK Beograd won 6–3 on aggregate. First leg
Attendance: 13,401 Juventus won 11–0 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
Vasas won 2–1 on aggregate. Second leg
Attendance: 6,000 Zaglebie Walbrzych won 4–2 on aggregate. Spartak Moscow won 3–2 on aggregate. Željezničar won 4–3 on aggregate. Dinamo Zagreb won 8–2 on aggregate. St Johnstone won 4–2 on aggregate. First leg
Attendance: 6,897 Second leg
Hertha BSC won 7–2 on aggregate. Rosenborg won 4–0 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
Real Madrid won 4–2 on aggregate. Chemie Halle withdrew ahead of the return leg due to the Eindhoven hotel fire that claimed the life of Halle's 21-year-old midfielder Wolfgang Hoffmann one day before the match. PSV Eindhoven were awarded a walkover.[12] Lierse won 4–2 on aggregate. Aberdeen won 3–0 on aggregate. 1. FC Köln won 3–2 on aggregate. Dundee won 5–2 on aggregate. Legia Warsaw won 3–1 on aggregate. Second leg
Athletic Bilbao won 3–2 on aggregate. First leg
Wolverhampton Wanderers won 7–1 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
Rapid București won 2–1 on aggregate. Bologna won 3–1 on aggregate. Nantes won 3–1 on aggregate. 2–2 on aggregate. Panionios won on away goals. Milan won 7–0 on aggregate. Second roundTeams from the same nation could not be drawn against one another. Summary
1 After the final whistle in the first leg, visiting Panionios fans invaded the pitch and attacked Ferencváros players, match officials, and Hungarian police. Panionios were ejected from the competition. MatchesFirst leg
Second leg
Rapid București won 4–2 on aggregate. Second leg
Dundee won 5–4 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
UTA Arad won 3–2 on aggregate. Carl Zeiss Jena won 5–1 on aggregate. 2–2 on aggregate. Rapid Wien won on away goals. 3–3 on aggregate. Željezničar won on away goals. First leg
Attendance: 12,310 After the final whistle in the first leg, visiting Panionios fans invaded the pitch and attacked Ferencváros players, match officials, and Hungarian police. Panionios were ejected from the competition. Ferencváros were awarded a walkover. First leg
Attendance: 9,608 Second leg
Eintracht Braunschweig won 4–3 on aggregate. First leg
Attendance: 6,115 4–4 on aggregate. Lierse won on away goals. Wolverhampton Wanderers won 7–1 on aggregate. Tottenham Hotspur won 1–0 on aggregate. St Johnstone won 2–1 on aggregate. First leg
Milan won 5–4 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
3–3 on aggregate. PSV Eindhoven won on away goals. First leg
Second leg
Vitória de Setúbal won 4–0 on aggregate. Juventus won 3–1 on aggregate. Third roundTeams from the same nation could not be drawn against one another. Summary
MatchesFirst leg
Second leg
Wolverhampton Wanderers won 4–0 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
UTA Arad won 3–1 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
Attendance: 26,608 Referee: Günter Männig (East Germany)[citation needed] Juventus won 5–1 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
Ferencváros won 6–3 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
Lierse won 4–1 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
Željezničar won 5–2 on aggregate. Milan won 3–2 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
Tottenham Hotspur won 5–0 on aggregate. Quarter-finalsSummary
MatchesMilan won 3–1 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
Tottenham Hotspur won 3–1 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
Wolverhampton Wanderers won 3–2 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
3–3 on aggregate. Ferencváros won 5–4 on penalties. Semi-finalsSummary
MatchesFirst leg
Second leg
Wolverhampton Wanderers won 4–3 on aggregate. First leg
Second leg
Tottenham Hotspur won 3–2 on aggregate. FinalMatchesFirst leg
Second leg
Tottenham Hotspur won 3–2 on aggregate. See alsoReferences
External links |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
