1955–56 European Cup

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.^[1]

1955–56 European Cup

The Parc des Princes in Paris hosted the final.
Tournament details
Dates	4 September 1955 – 13 June 1956
Teams	16 (from 16 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Real Madrid (1st title)
Runners-up	Reims
Tournament statistics
Matches played	29
Goals scored	127 (4.38 per match)
Attendance	900,021 (31,035 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Miloš Milutinović (Partizan) 8 goals
1956–57 →

UEFA had been officially inaugurated on 15 June 1954 in Basel, Switzerland after consultation between the Italian, French, and Belgian associations.^[2] 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.^[3]

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,^[4][5] 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.^[6] 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 install floodlights on their grounds. 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.

Teams

A total of 16 teams participated in the competition.

Rapid Wien (3rd)	Anderlecht (1st)	AGF (1st)	Reims (1st)
Vörös Lobogó (2nd)	Milan (1st)	PSV Eindhoven (3rd)	Gwardia Warsaw (4th)
Sporting CP (3rd)	Saarbrücken (3rd)	Hibernian (5th)	Real Madrid (1st)
Djurgården (1st)	Servette (6th)	Rot-Weiss Essen (1st)	Partizan (5th)

Bracket

	First round						Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final
	Servette	0	0	0
	Real Madrid	2	5	7
							Real Madrid	4	0	4
							Partizan	0	3	3
	Sporting CP	3	2	5
	Partizan	3	5	8
													Real Madrid	4	1	5
													Milan	2	2	4
	Rapid Wien	6	0	6
	PSV Eindhoven	1	1	2
							Rapid Wien	1	2	3
							Milan	1	7	8
	Milan	3	4	7
	Saarbrücken	4	1	5
																			Real Madrid	4
																			Reims	3
	AGF	0	2	2
	Reims	2	2	4
							Reims	4	4	8
							Vörös Lobogó	2	4	6
	Vörös Lobogó	6	4	10
	Anderlecht	3	1	4
													Reims	2	1	3
													Hibernian	0	0	0
	Djurgården	0	4	4
	Gwardia Warsaw	0	1	1
							Djurgården	1	0	1
							Hibernian	3	1	4
	Rot-Weiss Essen	0	1	1
	Hibernian	4	1	5

First round

Reims

Anderlecht

Partizan

Vörös Lobogó

Servette

Hibernian

Sporting

Djurgården

R. W. Essen

Gwardia

AGF

Rapid

PSV

Milan

Saarbrücken

Real Madrid

Location of teams in the 1955–56 European Cup.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Sporting CP	5–8	Partizan	3–3	2–5
Vörös Lobogó	10–4	Anderlecht	6–3	4–1
Servette	0–7	Real Madrid	0–2	0–5
Rot-Weiss Essen	1–5	Hibernian	0–4	1–1
Djurgården	4–1	Gwardia Warsaw	0–0	4–1
AGF	2–4	Reims	0–2	2–2
Rapid Wien	6–2	PSV Eindhoven	6–1	0–1
Milan	7–5	Saarbrücken	3–4	4–1

First leg

Sporting CP	3–3	Partizan
Martins 14', 78' Quim 65'	Report	M. Milutinović 45', 50' Bobek 73'

4 September 1955

18:00 CET

Estádio Nacional, Lisbon

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: Dean Harzic (France)

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Vörös Lobogó	6–3	Anderlecht
I. Szimcsák 8' Palotás 25', 59', 80' Hidegkuti 28' Sándor 83'	Report	Vanderwilt 7' Van den Bosch 39', 79'

7 September 1955

20:00 CET

Népstadion, Budapest

Attendance: 35,000

Referee: Friedrich Mayer (Austria)

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Servette	0–2	Real Madrid
	Report	Muñoz 74' Rial 89'

8 September 1955

16:45 CET

Charmilles Stadium, Geneva

Attendance: 7,000

Referee: Robert Sautelle (France)

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Rot-Weiss Essen	0–4	Hibernian
	Report	Turnbull 35', 53' L. Reilly 44' Ormond 81'

14 September 1955

20:00 CET

Georg-Melches-Stadion, Essen

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Johann Bronkhorst (Netherlands)

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Djurgården	0–0	Gwardia Warsaw
	Report

20 September 1955

20:00 CET

Stockholm Olympic Stadium, Stockholm

Attendance: 3,574

Referee: Jarl Hansen (Denmark)

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Rapid Wien	6–1	PSV Eindhoven
A. Körner 12', 62', 82' Mehsarosch 55' Hanappi 56' Probst 60'	Report	Fransen 18'

21 September 1955

16:00 CET

Pfarrwiese, Vienna

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Emil Schmetzer (West Germany)

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AGF	0–2	Reims
	Report	Glovacki 7', 72'

21 September 1955

20:00 CET

Idrætsparken, Copenhagen

Attendance: 18,000

Referee: Klaas Schipper (Netherlands)

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Milan	3–4	Saarbrücken
Frignani 15' Schiaffino 33' Dal Monte 37'	Report	Krieger 5' Philippi 43' Schirra 67' Martin 69'

1 November 1955

20:00 CET

San Siro, Milan

Attendance: 18,000

Referee: Gottfried Dienst (Switzerland)

Second leg

Partizan	5–2	Sporting CP
M. Milutinović 15', 29', 64', 74' Jocić 88'	Report	Brandão 49', 77'

12 October 1955

15:00 CET

Stadion JNA, Belgrade

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: György Dankó (Hungary)

Partizan won 8–5 on aggregate.

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Real Madrid	5–0	Servette
Di Stéfano 29', 61' Joseíto 44' Rial 46' Molowny 54'	Report

12 October 1955

16:30 CET

Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid

Attendance: 40,318

Referee: Riccardo Pieri (Italy)

Real Madrid won 7–0 on aggregate.

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Gwardia Warsaw	1–4	Djurgården
Baszkiewicz 14'	Report	Eriksson 5', 17', 22' Sandberg 29'

12 October 1955

20:00 CET

Stadion Wojska Polskiego, Warsaw

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Dean Harzic (France)

Djurgården won 4–1 on aggregate.

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Hibernian	1–1	Rot-Weiss Essen
Buchanan 5'	Report	Abromeit 47'

12 October 1955

20:15 CET

Easter Road, Edinburgh

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: Arthur Edward Ellis (England)

Hibernian won 5–1 on aggregate.

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Anderlecht	1–4	Vörös Lobogó
Van den Bosch 38'	Report	Hidegkuti 25' Lantos 78' Palotás 85' Kovács I 86'

19 October 1955

20:00 CET

Émile Versé Stadium, Anderlecht

Attendance: 33,000

Referee: Johan Bronkhorst (Netherlands)

Vörös Lobogó won 10–4 on aggregate.

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Reims	2–2	AGF
Glovacki 47' Bliard 60'	Report	Erik Bechmann Jensen 77' Bjerregaard 83'

26 October 1955

20:00 CET

Stade Auguste-Delaune, Reims

Attendance: 5,845

Referee: Alfred Bond (England)

Reims won 4–2 on aggregate.

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PSV Eindhoven	1–0	Rapid Wien
Fransen 9'	Report

1 November 1955

14:15 CET

Philips Sportpark, Eindhoven

Attendance: 8,000

Referee: Aloïs Smidts (Belgium)

Rapid Wien won 6–2 on aggregate.

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Saarbrücken	1–4	Milan
Binkert 32'	Report	Valli 8', 77' Puff 75' (o.g.) Beraldo 86'

23 November 1955

14:15 CET

Ludwigspark, Saarbrücken

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: Klaas Schipper (Netherlands)

Milan won 7–5 on aggregate.

Quarter-finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Djurgården	1–4	Hibernian	1–3	0–1
Reims	8–6	Vörös Lobogó	4–2	4–4
Real Madrid	4–3	Partizan	4–0	0–3
Rapid Wien	3–8	Milan	1–1	2–7

First leg

Djurgården	1–3	Hibernian
Eklund 1'	Report	Combe 18' L. Reilly 49' Olsson 86' (o.g.)

23 November 1955

21:00 CET

Firhill Park, Glasgow^[a]

Attendance: 21,962

Referee: Arthur Edward Ellis (England)

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Reims	4–2	Vörös Lobogó
Glovacki 14' Leblond 33', 57' Bliard 42'	Report	Szolnok 34' Lantos 77' (pen.)

14 December 1955

20:00 CET

Parc des Princes, Paris

Attendance: 36,088

Referee: Gottfried Dienst (Switzerland)

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Real Madrid	4–0	Partizan
Castaño 12', 23' Gento 36' Di Stéfano 70'	Report

25 December 1955

15:45 CET

Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid

Attendance: 105,532

Referee: Dean Harzic (France)

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Rapid Wien	1–1	Milan
R. Körner 26' (pen.)	Report	Nordahl 20'

18 January 1956

14:15 CET

Pfarrwiese, Vienna

Attendance: 18,000

Referee: Jaroslav Vlček (Czechoslovakia)

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	1–0	Djurgården
Turnbull 70' (pen.)	Report

28 November 1955

20:30 CET

Easter Road, Edinburgh

Attendance: 31,346

Referee: Arthur Edward Ellis (England)

Hibernian won 4–1 on aggregate.

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Vörös Lobogó	4–4	Reims
Lantos 11' (pen.), 74' (pen.) Palotás 53', 82'	Report	Glovacki 6' Bliard 20', 44' Templin 52'

28 December 1955

20:00 CET

Népstadion, Budapest

Attendance: 35,000

Referee: John Husband (England)

Reims won 8–6 on aggregate.

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Partizan	3–0	Real Madrid
Milutinović 24', 87' Mihajlović 46'	Report

29 January 1956

15:00 CET

Stadion JNA, Belgrade

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Josef Gulde (Switzerland)

Real Madrid won 4–3 on aggregate.

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Milan	7–2	Rapid Wien
Mariani 15' Nordahl 23', 50' Ricagni 26', 63' Frignani 56' Schiaffino 75'	Report	Golobic 35' Dienst 59'

12 February 1956

15:00 CET

San Siro, Milan

Attendance: 35,000

Referee: Leo Horn (Netherlands)

Milan won 8–3 on aggregate.

Semi-finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Reims	3–0	Hibernian	2–0	1–0
Real Madrid	5–4	Milan	4–2	1–2

First leg

Reims	2–0	Hibernian
Leblond 67' Bliard 89'	Report

4 April 1956

20:00 CET

Parc des Princes, Paris

Attendance: 35,486

Referee: Manuel Asensi Martín (Spain)

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Real Madrid	4–2	Milan
Rial 6' Joseíto 25' Olsen 40' Di Stéfano 62'	Report	Nordahl 9' Schiaffino 30'

19 April 1956

16:30 CET

Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid

Attendance: 129,690

Referee: Dean Harzic (France)

Second leg

Hibernian	0–1	Reims
	Report	Glovacki 57'

18 April 1956

20:30 CET

Easter Road, Edinburgh

Attendance: 44,941

Referee: Arthur Edward Ellis (England)

Reims won 3–0 on aggregate.

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Milan	2–1	Real Madrid
Dal Monte 69' (pen.), 86' (pen.)	Report	Joseíto 65'

1 May 1956

15:00 CET

San Siro, Milan

Attendance: 30,000

Referee: Erich Steiner (Austria)

Real Madrid won 5–4 on aggregate.

Final

Main article: 1956 European Cup final

Real Madrid	4–3	Reims
Di Stéfano 14' Rial 30', 79' Marquitos 67'	Report	Leblond 6' Templin 10' Hidalgo 62'

13 June 1956

20:30 CET

Parc des Princes, Paris

Attendance: 38,239

Referee: Arthur Edward Ellis (England)

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

1. Match switched to Glasgow due to a frozen pitch in Sweden.^[7]