The 1955–56 European Cup was the first season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. It was won by Real Madrid, who defeated Reims 4–3 in the final at Parc des Princes, Paris, on 13 June 1956.
UEFA had been officially inaugurated on 15 June 1954 in Basel, Switzerland after consultation between the Italian, French, and Belgian associations. The first round pairings were fixed by the organisers and not drawn as would be the case for all future European Cup matches. The clubs participating in the first season of the European Cup were selected by French football magazine L'Equipe on the basis that they were representative and prestigious clubs in Europe.
When the tournament started, Real Madrid, Anderlecht, AC Milan, Rot-Weiss Essen, Reims, Djurgården and AGF were the reigning champions of their respective national leagues. English champions Chelsea initially agreed to compete and were drawn against Swedish side Djurgården; however, under pressure from the Football League, who saw the tournament as a distraction to domestic football, they later withdrew from the competition, and were replaced by Gwardia Warsaw of Poland. In addition, Holland Sport, Honvéd and AB rejected the opportunity to represent the Netherlands, Hungary and Denmark, being replaced by PSV Eindhoven, Vörös Lobogó and AGF respectively.
Scottish champions Aberdeen were controversially overlooked by the SFA in favour of Hibernian who finished in fifth place. They were considered one of the best teams in Scotland, having won the Scottish title in 1950–51 and 1951–52, but the main reason they were invited was because they were the only team in the country to have floodlights installed at their ground . Dynamo Moscow, the champions of the Soviet Union, did not participate due to climatic restrictions. This was also the only UEFA tournament to include a representative of Saarland, unified into West Germany in 1957. The remaining sides (including Gwardia) were selected on the basis of prestige by the editors of L'Equipe before their respective leagues had concluded. Incidentally, the Polish side could not host the home fixture at their new stadium, so the match was instead played at the home of crosstown rivals Legia, themselves the reigning national champions.
Teams The 16 participating teams (and their final ranking in their respective national leagues) were:
Rapid Wien Anderlecht AGF Reims Vörös Lobogó Milan PSV Eindhoven Gwardia Warsaw Sporting CP Saarbrücken Hibernian Real Madrid Djurgården Servette Rot-Weiss Essen Partizan
Bracket
First round
First leg
Second leg
Partizan won 8–5 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 7–0 on aggregate.
Djurgården won 4–1 on aggregate.
Hibernian won 5–1 on aggregate.
Vörös Lobogó won 10–4 on aggregate.
Reims won 4–2 on aggregate.
Rapid Wien won 6–2 on aggregate.
Milan won 7–5 on aggregate.
Quarter-finals
First leg
Note – differences in information: RSSSF website indicates that the goal scored on 26th minute was scored by Robert Körner, while UEFA website indicates that it was scored by his younger brother Alfred Körner.
Second leg
Hibernian won 4–1 on aggregate.
Reims won 8–6 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 4–3 on aggregate.
Milan won 8–3 on aggregate.
Semi-finals
First leg
Second leg
Reims won 3–0 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 5–4 on aggregate.
Final
Top goalscorers Rank Player Team Goals 1 Miloš Milutinović Partizan 8 2 Léon Glovacki Reims 6 Péter Palotás Vörös Lobogó 4 René Bliard Reims 5 Alfredo Di Stéfano Real Madrid Héctor Rial Real Madrid 7 Mihály Lantos Vörös Lobogó 4 Michel Leblond Reims Gunnar Nordahl Milan 10 Hippolyte Van den Bosch Anderlecht 3 Giorgio Dal Monte Milan John Eriksson Djurgården Joseíto Real Madrid Alfred Körner Rapid Wien Juan Alberto Schiaffino Milan Eddie Turnbull Hibernian
Notes
References
External links
1955–56 season at UEFA website 1955–56 All matches – season at UEFA website All scorers 1955–56 European Cup according to protocols UEFA European Cup results at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
– results and line-ups (archive)