The 1971âÂÂ72 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 3âÂÂ2.
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 2008 UEFA Champions League final. 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.
The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was created in 1955, having 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 immersed from 1957 onwards in taking over the International Youth Tournament (nowadays, the UEFA European Under-19 Championship) thad had been initiated by FIFA.
This approach changed at the start of the 1960s 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 was not 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.
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. 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.
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 1969âÂÂ70 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.
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.
A total of 64 teams from 32 UEFA member associations were entered in the 1971âÂÂ72 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 berth 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 berth, and East Germany regained their second berth, while Sweden and Bulgaria were also granted a second berth.
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for competition:
Notes
The schedule of the competition was as follows. Matches were primarily scheduled for Wednesdays, though some matches took place on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Teams from the same nation could not be drawn against one another.
<sup>1</sup> 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.<br /> <sup>2</sup> This match was played in ReykjavÃÂk.<br /> <sup>3</sup> Chemie Halle withdrew after the first leg following the Hotel 't Silveren Seepaerd fire.
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; Rapid Wien were awarded a walkover.
Ferencváros won 4âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
ADO Den Haag won 7âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Tottenham Hotspur won 15âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Eintracht Braunschweig won 7âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
2âÂÂ2 on aggregate. Vitória de Setúbal won on away goals.
Carl Zeiss Jena won 4âÂÂ3 on aggregate.
UTA Arad won 5âÂÂ4 on aggregate.
OFK Beograd won 6âÂÂ3 on aggregate.
Juventus won 11âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Vasas won 2âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Zaglebie Walbrzych won 4âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Spartak Moscow won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
à ½eljezniÃÂar won 4âÂÂ3 on aggregate.
Dinamo Zagreb won 8âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
St Johnstone won 4âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Hertha BSC won 7âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Rosenborg won 4âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 4âÂÂ2 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.
Lierse won 4âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Aberdeen won 3âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
1. FC Köln won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Dundee won 5âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Legia Warsaw won 3âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Athletic Bilbao won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Wolverhampton Wanderers won 7âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Rapid BucureÃÂti won 2âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Bologna won 3âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Nantes won 3âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
2âÂÂ2 on aggregate. Panionios won on away goals.
Milan won 7âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Teams from the same nation could not be drawn against one another.
<sup>1</sup> 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.<br> <sup>2</sup> This match was played in 's-Hertogenbosch.
Rapid BucureÃÂti won 4âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Dundee won 5âÂÂ4 on aggregate.
UTA Arad won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Carl Zeiss Jena won 5âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
2âÂÂ2 on aggregate. Rapid Wien won on away goals.
3âÂÂ3 on aggregate. à ½eljezniÃÂar won on away goals.
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.
Eintracht Braunschweig won 4âÂÂ3 on aggregate.
4âÂÂ4 on aggregate. Lierse won on away goals.
Wolverhampton Wanderers won 7âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Tottenham Hotspur won 1âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
St Johnstone won 2âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Milan won 5âÂÂ4 on aggregate.
3âÂÂ3 on aggregate. PSV Eindhoven won on away goals.
Vitória de Setúbal won 4âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Juventus won 3âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Teams from the same nation could not be drawn against one another.
Wolverhampton Wanderers won 4âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
UTA Arad won 3âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Juventus won 5âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Ferencváros won 6âÂÂ3 on aggregate.
Lierse won 4âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
à ½eljezniÃÂar won 5âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Milan won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Tottenham Hotspur won 5âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Milan won 3âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Tottenham Hotspur won 3âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Wolverhampton Wanderers won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
3âÂÂ3 on aggregate. Ferencváros won 5âÂÂ4 on penalties.
Wolverhampton Wanderers won 4âÂÂ3 on aggregate.
Tottenham Hotspur won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Tottenham Hotspur won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate.