The 1964âÂÂ65 European Cup was the tenth season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by Inter Milan for the second time in row, beating 1âÂÂ0 two-time former champions Benfica in a final at San Siro, Milan, on 27 May 1965. It meant that Italian teams had won three consecutive titles (AC Milan had won it in 1962âÂÂ63).
During this edition a coin toss was used a record three times to decide winners of the ties after play-off matches ended as draws.
Iceland entered its champion for the first time this season, while Cyprus did not enter this time around.
A total of 31 teams participated in the competition.
Italy continued to be represented by two clubs, with Inter Milan qualifying as title holders and Bologna as Italian champions. Alongside ever-present Real Madrid were Benfica, Rangers and Dukla Prague appearing in their sixth edition.
Lokomotiv Sofia, Chemie Leipzig, Liverpool, Reipas Lahti, Gyà Âri Vasas ETO, KR, Bologna, Aris Bonnevoie, Sliema Wanderers, DWS, Glentoran, Malmö FF and La Chaux-de-Fonds made their debut in the competition.
Saint-ÃÂtienne returned to the tournament for the first time since 1957âÂÂ58 edition, while Boldklubben 1909, Shamrock Rovers, Rapid Wien and Red Star Belgrade returned to the competition after five, five, four and four years, respectively.
All participants were their respective associations champions, except for Inter Milan and Malmö FF. The latter was leading Allsvenskan at the summer break on 1 July 1964, after 11 of 22 matches had been played, but finished second in autumn of 1964.
Similar to previous edition, due to the number of participating teams, only title holders Inter Milan received a bye to the first round. The remaining clubs would play the preliminary round in September and October, apart from one match taking place in August and one play-off in November.
For the first time in the history of European Cup teams in the preliminary round were not divided geographically into pots, which resulted in some teams covering over 4,400 kilometres for their ties (e.g. DWS and Fenerbahçe), while other had shorter trips (e.g. Dukla Prague and Górnik Zabrze â around 600 kilometres).
Rangers 5âÂÂ5 Red Star Belgrade on aggregate; play-off needed.
Gyà Âri Vasas ETO won 6âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Liverpool won 11âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
La Chaux-de-Fonds won 4âÂÂ3 on aggregate.
Dinamo BucureÃÂti won 7âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Dukla Prague 4âÂÂ4 Górnik Zabrze on aggregate; play-off needed.
1. FC Köln won 2âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Rapid Wien won 5âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Lokomotiv Sofia won 8âÂÂ5 on aggregate.
Panathinaikos won 5âÂÂ4 on aggregate.
Benfica won 10âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Anderlecht 2âÂÂ2 Bologna on aggregate; play-off needed.
DWS won 4âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Lyn won 4âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 9âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Anderlecht 0âÂÂ0 Bologna in play-off match. Anderlecht qualified on a coin toss.
Dukla Prague 0âÂÂ0 Górnik Zabrze in play-off match. Dukla Prague qualified on a coin toss.
Rangers won play-off 3âÂÂ1.
DWS won 8âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
1. FC Köln won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 6âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Inter Milan won 7âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Gyà Âri Vasas ETO won 8âÂÂ7 on aggregate.
Rangers won 3âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Benfica won 6âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Liverpool won 4âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Inter Milan won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Gyà Âri Vasas ETO won 2âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
1. FC Köln 0âÂÂ0 Liverpool on aggregate; play-off needed.
Benfica won 6âÂÂ3 on aggregate.
Liverpool 2âÂÂ2 1. FC Köln in play-off match. Liverpool qualified on a coin toss.
Benfica won 5âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Inter Milan won 4âÂÂ3 on aggregate.
The top scorers from the 1964âÂÂ65 European Cup (including preliminary round) were as follows: