The 1965âÂÂ66 European Cup was the 11th season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by Real Madrid, winners of the first five European Cups from 1956 to 1960, who beat Partizan 2âÂÂ1 in a close final at Heysel Stadium in Brussels on 11 May 1966.
Inter Milan were the defending champions, but were eliminated by eventual winners Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
No new association entered its representative, which happened only for the second time after 1959âÂÂ60 edition. However, Cyprus returned to the competition after their inaugural 1963âÂÂ64 season.
In the preliminary round, Benfica recorded highest aggregate win in the history of the European Cup by beating Stade Dudelange 18âÂÂ0 (8âÂÂ0 away, 10âÂÂ0 at home).
A total of 31 teams participated in the competition.
For the first time since inaugural edition all associations were represented by only one team.
17 Nëntori, LASK, Levski Sofia, APOEL, Sparta Prague, HJK, Nantes, KeflavÃÂk, Derry City, Kilmarnock, Lausanne-Sports, and Werder Bremen made their debut in the competition.
DjurgÃÂ¥rdens IF made their first appearance since the inaugural 1955âÂÂ56 tournament, while Manchester United and Stade Dudelange returned to the competition after seven years.
All participants were their respective associations champions, except for Lyn. They were leading 1. divisjon at the summer break on 1 July 1965, after 9 of 18 matches had been played, but finished second in autumn of 1965.
Similar to previous editions, 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 two matches that took place in late August.
For the second time in row teams in the preliminary round were not divided geographically into pots, which resulted in some teams covering over 6,200 kilometres for their ties (e.g. KeflavÃÂk and Ferencváros), while other had shorter trips (e.g. LASK and Górnik Zabrze â around 800 kilometres).
Ferencváros won 13âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Derry City won 8âÂÂ6 on aggregate.
Anderlecht won 5âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Vorwärts Berlin won 3âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 6âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Górnik Zabrze won 5âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Kilmarnock won 1âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Sparta Prague won 4âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Levski Sofia won 7âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Benfica won 18âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Dinamo BucureÃÂti won 7âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Manchester United won 9âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Panathinaikos won 4âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Werder Bremen won 10âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Partizan won 4âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Ferencváros won 3âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Partizan won 3âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Sparta Prague won 5âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 7âÂÂ3 on aggregate.
Manchester United won 5âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Benfica won 5âÂÂ4 on aggregate.
There were serious concerns regarding the state of the Brandywell Stadium pitch. The IFA informed UEFA that it was unfit to host the European Cup tie. THE IFA ordered Derry City to play either at Windsor Park or Showgrounds, which the Derry board refused to do. However, minutes after losing the first leg 9âÂÂ0, the Derry directors officially informed Anderlecht that they would be forfeiting the second leg of the tie.
Anderlecht won 9âÂÂ0 on aggregate.
Inter Milan won 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate.
Inter Milan won 5âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 4âÂÂ3 on aggregate.
Partizan won 6âÂÂ4 on aggregate.
Manchester United won 8âÂÂ3 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 2âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
Partizan won 2âÂÂ1 on aggregate.
The top scorers from the 1965âÂÂ66 European Cup (including preliminary round) were as follows: