1968–69 European Cup
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 18 September 1968 – 28 May 1969 |
| Teams | 32 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |
 Milan (2nd title) |
| Runners-up |
 Ajax |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 52 |
| Goals scored | 176 (3.38 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |
 Denis Law (9 goals) |
The 1968–69 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won by 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 European clubs withdrew from the first two rounds when UEFA paired up all of the Eastern European clubs against one another.
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 whole competition.
Manchester United, the defending champions, were eliminated by Milan in the semi-finals.
First round
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Malmö FF  |
3–5 | Milan |
2–1 | 1–4 |
Saint-Étienne  |
2–4 | Celtic |
2–0 | 0–4 |
Red Star Belgrade  |
(w/o) |  Carl Zeiss Jena |
– | – |
Waterford United  |
2–10 |  Manchester United |
1–3 | 1–7 |
Anderlecht .svg.png){kind=small} |
5–2 |  Glentoran |
3–0 | 2–2 |
Rosenborg  |
4–6 |  Rapid Wien |
1–3 | 3–3 |
Real Madrid .svg.png){kind=small} |
12–0 |  AEL |
6–0 | 6–0 |
Nuremberg  |
1–5 | Ajax |
1–1 | 0–4 |
| Manchester City |
1–2 |  Fenerbahçe |
0–0 | 1–2 |
Valur  |
1–8 |  Benfica |
0–0 | 1–8 |
Floriana  |
1–3 |  Reipas Lahti |
1–1 | 0–2 |
Steaua Bucureşti .svg.png){kind=small} |
3–5 |  Spartak Trnava |
3–1 | 0–4 |
AEK Athens .svg.png){kind=small} |
5–3 |  Jeunesse Esch |
3–0 | 2–3 |
Zürich  |
3–4 |  AB |
1–3 | 2–1 |
Dynamo Kiev  |
(w/o) |  Ruch Chorzów |
– | – |
Levski-Spartak .svg.png){kind=small} |
(w/o) | .svg.png){kind=small} Ferencváros |
– | – |
First leg
18 September 1968 |
| Saint-Étienne |
2–0 | Celtic |
|---|---|---|
Keïta  15'H. Revelli 36' |
Report |
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne Attendance: 34,403 Referee: Aníbal da Silva Oliveira (Portugal) |
18 September 1968 |
| Rosenborg |
1–3 | Rapid Wien |
|---|---|---|
| Iversen 16' |
Report | Bjerregaard 28' Kaltenbrunner 65'Grausam 86' |
18 September 1968 |
| Steaua Bucureşti |
3–1 | Spartak Trnava |
|---|---|---|
| Creiniceanu 18' Voinea 30'Constantin 51' |
Report | Kuna 75' |
18 September 1968 |
| AEK Athens |
3–0 | Jeunesse Esch |
|---|---|---|
| Papaioannou 4' Papageorgiou 56' (pen.)Karafeskos 58' (pen.) |
Report |
Second leg
Milan won 5–3 on aggregate.
Celtic won 4–2 on aggregate.
2 October 1968 |
| Manchester United |
7–1 | Waterford United |
|---|---|---|
| Stiles 37' Law 41', 47', 60', 71'Burns 68'Charlton 84' |
Report | Casey 69' |
Manchester United won 10–2 on aggregate.
Anderlecht won 5–2 on aggregate.
2 October 1968 |
| Rapid Wien |
3–3 | Rosenborg |
|---|---|---|
| Lindman 10', 80' Kaltenbrunner 17' |
Report | Iversen 21', 34', 87' |
Rapid Wien won 6–4 on aggregate.
26 September 1968 |
| AEL |
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 won 5–1 on aggregate.
Fenerbahçe won 2–1 on aggregate.
2 October 1968 |
| 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 won 3–1 on aggregate.
Spartak Trnava won 5–3 on aggregate.
2 October 1968 |
| Jeunesse Esch |
3–2 | AEK Athens |
|---|---|---|
| Hoffmann 5' Drouet 45'Langer 87' |
Report | Ventouris 16', 35' |
AEK Athens won 5–3 on aggregate.
AB won 4–3 on aggregate.
Second round
| Team 1 | Agg. | 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
13 November 1968 |
| Celtic |
5–1 | Red Star Belgrade |
|---|---|---|
| Murdoch 3' Johnstone 46', 81'Lennox 48'Wallace 74' |
Report | Lazarević 39' |
20 November 1968 |
| Reipas Lahti |
1–9 | Spartak Trnava |
|---|---|---|
| Hyvärinen 88' |
Report | Hagara 14' Kabát 20', 80'Švec 23', 61', 83'Martinkovič 46'Hrušecký 54'Adamec 64' |
Second leg
Celtic won 6–2 on aggregate.
Manchester United won 4–3 on aggregate.
Rapid Wien won 2–2 on away goals.
Ajax won 4–0 on aggregate.
27 November 1968 |
| 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.
AEK Athens won 2–0 on aggregate.
Quarter-finals
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milan |
1–0 | Celtic |
0–0 | 1–0 |
| Manchester United |
3–0 | Rapid Wien |
3–0 | 0–0 |
| Ajax |
4–41 | Benfica |
1–3 | 3–1 |
| Spartak Trnava |
3–2 | AEK Athens |
2–1 | 1–1 |
1 Ajax beat Benfica 3–0 in a play-off to reach the semi-finals.
First leg
Second leg
Milan won 1–0 on aggregate.
Manchester United won 3–0 on aggregate.
Ajax 4–4 Benfica on aggregate. Ajax won 3–0 the tie-breaking match.
Spartak Trnava won 3–2 on aggregate.
Semi-finals
| Team 1 | Agg. | 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
Second leg
Milan won 2–1 on aggregate.
Ajax won 3–2 on aggregate.
Final
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 |
| Valér Švec |
Spartak Trnava |
5 | |
| José Augusto Torres |
Benfica |
4 | |
| 7 | Gerard Bergholtz |
Anderlecht |
4 |
| Inge Danielsson |
Ajax |
4 | |
| Odd Iversen |
Rosenborg |
4 | |
| Ladislav Kuna |
Spartak Trnava |
4 | |
| Pirri |
Real Madrid |
4 |
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)
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