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1968–69 European Cup

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid hosted the final.
Tournament details
Dates	18 September 1968 – 28 May 1969
Teams	32 (27 competed)
Final positions
Champions	AC Milan (2nd title)
Runners-up	Ajax
Tournament statistics
Matches played	52
Goals scored	176 (3.38 per match)
Attendance	1,738,847 (33,439 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Denis Law (Manchester United) 9 goals
← 1967–68 1969–70 →

The 1968–69 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won by AC Milan, who beat Ajax 4–1 in the final, giving Milan its first European Cup title since 1963, and its second overall. A number of Eastern Bloc clubs withdrew from the first two rounds when UEFA paired up all of the Eastern Bloc clubs against one another in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Substitutions of two players at any game time were allowed; obligatory match dates were introduced (two weeks between the legs) and fixed on Wednesdays; the away goal rule was extended to the first and second rounds.

Manchester United were the defending champions, but were eliminated by eventual champions Milan in the semi-finals.

Teams

A total of 32 teams participated in the competition.

Thirty-one leagues were represented, with England being represented by its most recent champion, Manchester City, as well as defending European champion, Manchester United.

Real Madrid made their 14th consecutive appearance in the competition, while Anderlecht and Benfica each made their ninth appearances. Nürnberg and Steaua București both made their first appearances in the competition since the 1961-62 European Cup.

This year's competition included only five debutants: Denmark's AB, Cyprus's AEL Limassol, England's Manchester City, Norway's Rosenborg, and Czechoslovakia's Spartak Trnava. This was the smallest number to date.

Rapid Wien (1st)	Anderlecht (1st)	Levski-Spartak (1st)	AEL Limassol (1st)
Spartak Trnava (1st)	AB (1st)	Manchester City (1st)	Manchester United (2nd)
Reipas Lahti (1st)	Saint-Étienne (1st)	Carl Zeiss Jena (1st)	Nürnberg (1st)
AEK Athens (1st)	Ferencváros (1st)	Valur (1st)	Waterford (1st)
Milan (1st)	Jeunesse Esch (1st)	Floriana (1st)	Ajax (1st)
Glentoran (1st)	Rosenborg (1st)	Ruch Chorzów (1st)	Benfica (1st)
Steaua București (1st)	Celtic (1st)	Real Madrid (1st)	Malmö FF (1st)
Zürich (1st)	Fenerbahçe (1st)	Dynamo Kyiv (1st)	Red Star Belgrade (1st)

Bracket

	First round						Second round						Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final
	Malmö FF	2	1	3
	Milan	1	4	5
							Milan			Bye
	Dynamo Kyiv			(w)
	Ruch Chorzów			(o)
													Milan	0	1	1
													Celtic	0	0	0
	Saint-Étienne	2	0	2
	Celtic	0	4	4
							Celtic	5	1	6
							Red Star Belgrade	1	1	2
	Red Star Belgrade			(w)
	Carl Zeiss Jena			(o)
																			Milan	2	0	2
																			Manchester United	0	1	1
	Waterford	1	1	2
	Manchester United	3	7	10
							Manchester United	3	1	4
							Anderlecht	0	3	3
	Anderlecht	3	2	5
	Glentoran	0	2	2
													Manchester United	3	0	3
													Rapid Wien	0	0	0
	Rosenborg	1	3	4
	Rapid Wien	3	3	6
							Rapid Wien	1	1	2
							Real Madrid	0	2	2
	Real Madrid	6	6	12
	AEL Limassol	0	0	0
																									Milan	4
																									Ajax	1
	Nurnberg	1	0	1
	Ajax	1	4	5
							Ajax	2	2	4
							Fenerbahçe	0	0	0
	Manchester City	0	1	1
	Fenerbahçe	0	2	2
													Ajax	1	3	4 (3)
													Benfica	3	1	4 (0)
	Valur	0	1	1
	Benfica	0	8	8
							Benfica			Bye
	Levski Sofia			(w)
	Ferencváros			(o)
																			Ajax	3	0	3
																			Spartak Trnava	0	2	2
	Floriana	1	0	1
	Reipas Lahti	1	2	3
							Reipas Lahti	1	1	2
							Spartak Trnava	9	7	16
	Steaua București	3	0	3
	Spartak Trnava	1	4	5
													Spartak Trnava	2	1	3
													AEK Athens	1	1	2
	AEK Athens	3	2	5
	Jeunesse Esch	0	3	3
							AEK Athens	0	2	2
							AB	0	0	0
	Zürich	1	2	3
	AB	3	1	4

First round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Malmö FF	3–5	Milan	2–1	1–4
Dynamo Kyiv	(w/o)	Ruch Chorzów	–	–
Saint-Étienne	2–4	Celtic	2–0	0–4
Red Star Belgrade	(w/o)	Carl Zeiss Jena	–	–
Waterford	2–10	Manchester United	1–3	1–7
Anderlecht	5–2	Glentoran	3–0	2–2
Rosenborg	4–6	Rapid Wien	1–3	3–3
Real Madrid	12–0	AEL Limassol	6–0	6–0
Nürnberg	1–5	Ajax	1–1	0–4
Manchester City	1–2	Fenerbahçe	0–0	1–2
Valur	1–8	Benfica	0–0	1–8
Levski-Spartak	(w/o)	Ferencváros	–	–
Floriana	1–3	Reipas Lahti	1–1	0–2
Steaua București	3–5	Spartak Trnava	3–1	0–4
AEK Athens	5–3	Jeunesse Esch	3–0	2–3
Zürich	3–4	AB	1–3	2–1

First leg

Malmö FF	2–1	Milan
Olsberg 45' Elmstedt 50'	Report	Rivera 58'

Saint-Étienne	2–0	Celtic
Keïta 15' H. Revelli 36'	Report

Waterford	1–3	Manchester United
Matthews 65'	Report	Law 8', 41', 55'

Anderlecht	3–0	Glentoran
Bergholtz 18' Peeters 23' Nordahl 87'	Report

Rosenborg	1–3	Rapid Wien
Iversen 16'	Report	Bjerregaard 28' Kaltenbrunner 65' Grausam 86'

Real Madrid	6–0	AEL Limassol
Pirri 10', 14', 63' Amancio 17' Pérez 27' Bueno 75'	Report

Nürnberg	1–1	Ajax
Volkert 6'	Report	Cruyff 80'

Manchester City	0–0	Fenerbahçe
	Report

Valur	0–0	Benfica
	Report

Floriana	1–1	Reipas Lahti
Galea 37' (pen.)	Report	Aalto 28'

Steaua București	3–1	Spartak Trnava
Creiniceanu 18' Voinea 30' Constantin 51'	Report	Kuna 75'

AEK Athens	3–0	Jeunesse Esch
Papaioannou 27' Papageorgiou 58' Karafeskos 60' (pen.)	Report

Zürich	1–3	AB
Winiger 50'	Report	Hansen 22' Wiberg 25' Petersen 62'

Second leg

Milan	4–1	Malmö FF
Prati 32', 69' Sormani 62' Rivera 88'	Report	Ljungberg 16'

Milan won 5–3 on aggregate.

Celtic	4–0	Saint-Étienne
Gemmell 44' (pen.) Craig 59' Chalmers 66' McBride 87'	Report

Celtic won 4–2 on aggregate.

Manchester United	7–1	Waterford
Stiles 37' Law 41', 47', 60', 71' Burns 68' Charlton 84'	Report	Casey 69'

Manchester United won 10–2 on aggregate.

Glentoran	2–2	Anderlecht
Morrow 27' Johnston 55'	Report	Devrindt 24' Bergholtz 58'

Anderlecht won 5–2 on aggregate.

Rapid Wien	3–3	Rosenborg
Lindman 10', 80' Kaltenbrunner 17'	Report	Iversen 21', 34', 87'

Rapid Wien won 6–4 on aggregate.

AEL Limassol	0–6	Real Madrid
	Report	Velázquez 7', 10' José Luis 9' Veloso 84' Ortega 86' Zunzunegui 87'

Real Madrid won 12–0 on aggregate.

Ajax	4–0	Nürnberg
Swart 22', 51' Groot 86' (pen.) Cruyff 89'	Report

Ajax won 5–1 on aggregate.

Fenerbahçe	2–1	Manchester City
Çevrim 48' Altıparmak 76'	Report	Coleman 11'

Fenerbahçe won 2–1 on aggregate.

Benfica	8–1	Valur
Simões 4' Jacinto 7' Torres 11', 47', 79' Eusébio 20' Coluna 27' José Augusto 48'	Report	Gunnarsson 68'

Benfica won 8–1 on aggregate.

Reipas Lahti	2–0	Floriana
Holtari 56' (57)	Report

Reipas Lahti won 3–1 on aggregate.

Spartak Trnava	4–0	Steaua București
Švec 4' Adamec 58', 76', 80'	Report

Spartak Trnava won 5–3 on aggregate.

Jeunesse Esch	3–2	AEK Athens
Hoffmann 6' Drouet 40' Langer 77'	Report	Ventouris 16', 33'

AEK Athens won 5–3 on aggregate.

AB	1–2	Zürich
Petersen 53'	Report	Künzli 42', 80'

AB won 4–3 on aggregate.

Second round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Milan	Bye	–	–	–
Celtic	6–2	Red Star Belgrade	5–1	1–1
Manchester United	4–3	Anderlecht	3–0	1–3
Rapid Wien	2–2 (a)	Real Madrid	1–0	1–2
Ajax	4–0	Fenerbahçe	2–0	2–0
Benfica	Bye	–	–	–
Reipas Lahti	2–16	Spartak Trnava	1–9	1–7
AEK Athens	2–0	AB	0–0	2–0

First leg

Celtic	5–1	Red Star Belgrade
Murdoch 3' Johnstone 46', 81' Lennox 48' Wallace 74'	Report	Lazarević 39'

Manchester United	3–0	Anderlecht
Kidd 52' Law 70', 78'	Report

Rapid Wien	1–0	Real Madrid
Kaltenbrunner 55'	Report

Ajax	2–0	Fenerbahçe
Nuninga 14' Muller 74'	Report

Reipas Lahti	1–9	Spartak Trnava
Hyvärinen 88'	Report	Hagara 14' Kabát 20', 80' Švec 23', 61' Kuna 52' Martinkovič 57', 65' Adamec 64'

The home leg of Reipas Lahti was played in Vienna just before the Rapid Wien–Real Madrid match.

AEK Athens	0–0	AB
	Report

Second leg

Red Star Belgrade	1–1	Celtic
Ostojić 90'	Report	Wallace 72'

Celtic won 6–2 on aggregate.

Anderlecht	3–1	Manchester United
Mulder 18' Bergholtz 38', 78'	Report	Sartori 8'

Manchester United won 4–3 on aggregate.

Real Madrid	2–1	Rapid Wien
Velázquez 41' Pirri 83'	Report	Bjerregaard 48'

Rapid Wien won 2–2 on away goals.

Fenerbahçe	0–2	Ajax
	Report	Keizer 55' Nuninga 88'

Ajax won 4–0 on aggregate.

Spartak Trnava	7–1	Reipas Lahti
Hagara 15' Dobiaš 20', 49' (pen.), 64' Kuna 27' Adamec 37' Hrušecký 53'	Report	Niskakoski 75'

Spartak Trnava won 16–2 on aggregate.

AB	0–2	AEK Athens
	Report	Stamatiadis 25' Papaioannou 81'

AEK Athens won 2–0 on aggregate.

Quarter-finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	Play-off
Milan	1–0	Celtic	0–0	1–0
Manchester United	3–0	Rapid Wien	3–0	0–0
Ajax	4–4	Benfica	1–3	3–1	3–0
Spartak Trnava	3–2	AEK Athens	2–1	1–1

First leg

Milan	0–0	Celtic
	Report

Manchester United	3–0	Rapid Wien
Best 44', 70' Morgan 70'	Report

Ajax	1–3	Benfica
Danielsson 48'	Report	Santos 31' (pen.) Torres 36' José Augusto 61'

Spartak Trnava	2–1	AEK Athens
Jarábek 25' Kabát 44'	Report	Sevastopoulos 60'

Second leg

Celtic	0–1	Milan
	Report	Prati 12'

Milan won 1–0 on aggregate.

Rapid Wien	0–0	Manchester United
	Report

Manchester United won 3–0 on aggregate.

Benfica	1–3	Ajax
Torres 70'	Report	Danielsson 9' Cruyff 12', 32'

4–4 on aggregate. Tie is decided by a tie-breaker match on neutral ground.

AEK Athens	1–1	Spartak Trnava
Papaioannou 77'	Report	Švec 23'

Spartak Trnava won 3–2 on aggregate.

Tie-breakers

Ajax	3–0 (a.e.t.)	Benfica
Cruyff 93' Danielsson 105', 108'	Report

Ajax win the tie-breaker.

Semi-finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Milan	2–1	Manchester United	2–0	0–1
Ajax	3–2	Spartak Trnava	3–0	0–2

First leg

Milan	2–0	Manchester United
Sormani 33' Hamrin 49'	Report

Ajax	3–0	Spartak Trnava
Cruyff 27' Swart 52' Keizer 60'	Report

Second leg

Manchester United	1–0	Milan
Charlton 70'	Report

Milan won 2–1 on aggregate.

Spartak Trnava	2–0	Ajax
Kuna 27', 49'	Report

Ajax won 3–2 on aggregate.

Final

Milan	4–1	Ajax
Prati 7', 40', 75' Sormani 67'	Report	Vasović 60' (pen.)

Top scorers

The top scorers from the 1968–69 European Cup are as follows:

Rank	Name	Team	Goals
1	Denis Law	Manchester United	9
2	Johan Cruyff	Ajax	6
	Pierino Prati	Milan	6
4	Jozef Adamec	Spartak Trnava	5
	Ladislav Kuna	Spartak Trnava	5
	José Augusto Torres	Benfica	5
7	Gerard Bergholtz	Anderlecht	4
	Inge Danielsson	Ajax	4
	Odd Iversen	Rosenborg	4
	Pirri	Real Madrid	4
	Valér Švec	Spartak Trnava	4

References

1. UEFA.com (5 June 2018). "How the European calendar took shape | Inside UEFA". UEFA.com. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
2. "Nürnberg v Ajax, 18 September 1968" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
3. "Steaua București v Spartak Trnava, 18 September 1968" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
4. "Manchester United v Anderlecht, 13 November 1968" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
5. "Rapid Wien v Real Madrid, 20 November 1968" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
6. "Reipas Lahti v Spartak Trnava, 20 November 1968" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
7. "Kerran näinkin: Suomalaisjalkapalloilijat tekemässä lajinsa historiaa" [For once: Finnish footballers about to make history in their sport]. Helsingin Sanomat. 21 November 1968. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
8. "Real Madrid v Rapid Wien, 4 December 1968" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
9. "Benfica v Ajax, 19 February 1969" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 13 March 2022.

External links

• 1968–69 All matches – season at UEFA website
• European Cup results at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
• All scorers 1968–69 European Cup according to protocols UEFA
• 1968-69 European Cup – results and line-ups (archive)

v t e International men's club football competitions
Intercontinental Cup (defunct) Afro-Asian Club Championship (defunct) Under-20 Intercontinental Cup World Leagues Forum Lists of association football clubs
Global	FIFA – Club World Cup Intercontinental Cup
Africa	CAF – Champions League Confederation Cup Super Cup
Asia	AFC – Champions League Elite Champions League Two Challenge League
Europe	UEFA – Champions League Europa League Conference League Super Cup
North, Central America and the Caribbean	CONCACAF – Champions Cup Leagues Cup Central American Cup Caribbean Cup
Oceania	OFC – Champions League
South America	CONMEBOL – Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana Recopa Sudamericana
See also: International women's club football

• 1968–69 in European football
• UEFA Champions League seasons