1996–97 UEFA Champions League

The 1996–97 UEFA Champions League was the 42nd season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the fifth since its rebranding as the UEFA Champions League, and the last that involved only clubs that were champions of their domestic leagues. Due to the Bosman ruling, restrictions on foreign players in matchday squads were lifted from this season.

1996–97 UEFA Champions League

The Olympiastadion in Munich held the final
Tournament details
Dates	Qualifying: 7–21 August 1996 Competition proper: 11 September 1996 – 28 May 1997
Teams	Competition proper: 16 Total: 24
Final positions
Champions	Borussia Dortmund (1st title)
Runners-up	Juventus
Tournament statistics
Matches played	61
Goals scored	161 (2.64 per match)
Attendance	2,093,228 (34,315 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Milinko Pantić (Atlético Madrid) 5 goals
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

The tournament was won by Borussia Dortmund in a 3–1 final victory against defending champions Juventus. It was their only title in the tournament to date, and the first title for Germany since its reunification in 1990.

Association team allocation

24 teams entered the competition: the national champions of each of the top 23 nations in the UEFA coefficient rankings, and UEFA Champions League holders, Juventus. The national champions of the associations ranked 1–7, plus the title holders, all received a bye to the group stage, while the national champions of the associations ranked 8–23 entered in the qualifying round. The remaining national champions from the associations ranked 24–48 were only allowed to participate in UEFA Cup.^[1]

Association ranking

For the 1996–97 UEFA Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their 1996 UEFA association coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 1991–92 to 1995–96.^[1][2][3]

Apart from the allocation based on the association coefficients, an association could have an additional team participating in the Champions League, as noted below:

• (TH) – Additional berth for UEFA Champions League title holders

Association ranking for 1996–97 UEFA Champions League

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 1  Italy 61.259 1 +1 (TH) 2  France 45.408 3  Spain 43.932 4  Germany 42.140 5  Netherlands 38.700 6  Portugal 32.800 7  England 30.166 8  Belgium 27.800 9  Greece 27.000 10  Russia 25.200 11  Turkey 22.916 12  Denmark 22.000 13  Austria 21.950 14  Sweden 18.750 15  Switzerland 18.250 16  Czech Republic 17.000 17  Scotland 16.550

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 18  Norway 15.832 1 19  Ukraine 15.665 20  Hungary 15.249 21  Romania 15.150 22  Poland 14.916 23  Israel 14.416 24  Cyprus 12.665 0 25  Croatia 12.500 26  Latvia 11.166 27  Slovakia 10.999 28  Slovenia 10.332 29  Georgia 10.000 30  Iceland 9.666 31  Finland 9.582 32  Bulgaria 9.250 33  Belarus 8.500 34  Northern Ireland 5.332

Rank Association Coeff. Teams Notes 35  Macedonia 5.000 0 36  Moldova 5.000 37  Republic of Ireland 4.331 38  Malta 4.331 39  Lithuania 4.000 40  Albania 3.666 41  Luxembourg 3.333 42  Faroe Islands 3.000 43  Liechtenstein 3.000 [Note LIE] 44  Wales 2.666 45  Armenia 2.500 46  Estonia 2.000 47  FR Yugoslavia 1.000 48  Azerbaijan 0.500 49  Andorra 0.000 50  San Marino 0.000

Distribution

Round	Teams entering in this round	Teams advancing from the previous round
Qualifying round (16 teams)	16 champions from associations 8–23
Group stage (16 teams)	Title holders 7 champions from associations 1–7	8 winners from the qualifying round
Knockout stage (8 teams)		8 group winners from the group stage 8 group runners-up from the group stage

Teams

Group stage
Juventus (TH)	Auxerre (1st)	Borussia Dortmund (1st)	Porto (1st)
Milan (1st)	Atlético Madrid (1st)	Ajax (1st)	Manchester United (1st)
Qualifying round
Club Brugge (1st)	Brøndby (1st)	Slavia Prague (1st)	Ferencváros (1st)
Panathinaikos (1st)	Rapid Wien (1st)	Rangers (1st)	Steaua București (1st)
Alania Vladikavkaz (1st)	IFK Göteborg (1st)	Rosenborg (1st)	Widzew Łódź (1st)
Fenerbahçe (1st)	Grasshopper (1st)	Dynamo Kyiv (1st)	Maccabi Tel Aviv (1st)

1. ^
   Liechtenstein (LIE): The teams affiliated with the Liechtenstein Football Association (LFV) played in the Swiss football league system, and thus were ineligible for a spot regardless of the association ranking. The only competition organised by the LFV was the Liechtenstein Football Cup – the winners of which qualified for the 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held in Geneva, Switzerland).

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Qualifying round		6 July 1996	7 August 1996	21 August 1996
Group stage	Matchday 1	23 August 1996	11 September 1996
	Matchday 2		25 September 1996
	Matchday 3		16 October 1996
	Matchday 4		30 October 1996
	Matchday 5		20 November 1996
	Matchday 6		4 December 1996
Knockout phase	Quarter-finals		5 March 1997	19 March 1997
	Semi-finals		9 April 1997	23 April 1997
	Final		28 May 1997 at Olympiastadion, Munich

Qualifying round

Main article: 1996–97 UEFA Champions League qualifying round

The winners of each tie in the preliminary round entered the Champions League group stage, whilst the losers entered the UEFA Cup first round.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Maccabi Tel Aviv	1–2	Fenerbahçe	0–1	1–1
Rangers	10–3	Alania Vladikavkaz	3–1	7–2
Panathinaikos	1–3	Rosenborg	1–0	0–3 (aet)
IFK Göteborg	4–1	Ferencváros	3–0	1–1
Widzew Łódź	4–4 (a)	Brøndby	2–1	2–3
Grasshopper	6–0	Slavia Prague	5–0	1–0
Club Brugge	2–5	Steaua București	2–2	0–3
Rapid Wien	6–2	Dynamo Kyiv	2–0	4–2

Group stage

Main article: 1996–97 UEFA Champions League group stage

Auxerre

Ajax

Grasshopper

Rangers

Atlético Madrid

Borussia Dortmund

Widzew Łódź

Steaua București

Juventus

Manchester United

Fenerbahçe

Rapid Wien

Porto

Rosenborg

Milan

IFK Göteborg

Location of teams of the 1996–97 UEFA Champions League group stage.
Brown: Group A; Red: Group B; Orange: Group C; Yellow: Group D.

Atlético Madrid, Auxerre, Fenerbahçe, Rapid Wien and Widzew Łódź made their debut in the group stage.

Italy became the first association to have two teams in the Champions League group stage.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		AUX	AJX	GRA	RAN
1	Auxerre	6	4	0	2	8	7	+1	12	Advance to knockout stage		—	0–1	1–0	2–1
2	Ajax	6	4	0	2	8	4	+4	12			1–2	—	0–1	4–1
3	Grasshopper	6	3	0	3	8	5	+3	9			3–1	0–1	—	3–0
4	Rangers	6	1	0	5	5	13	−8	3			1–2	0–1	2–1	—

Source: UEFA

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ATM	DOR	WID	STE
1	Atlético Madrid	6	4	1	1	12	4	+8	13	Advance to knockout stage		—	0–1	1–0	4–0
2	Borussia Dortmund	6	4	1	1	14	8	+6	13			1–2	—	2–1	5–3
3	Widzew Łódź	6	1	1	4	6	10	−4	4			1–4	2–2	—	2–0
4	Steaua București	6	1	1	4	5	15	−10	4			1–1	0–3	1–0	—

Source: UEFA

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		JUV	MUN	FEN	RWI
1	Juventus	6	5	1	0	11	1	+10	16	Advance to knockout stage		—	1–0	2–0	5–0
2	Manchester United	6	3	0	3	6	3	+3	9			0–1	—	0–1	2–0
3	Fenerbahçe	6	2	1	3	3	6	−3	7			0–1	0–2	—	1–0
4	Rapid Wien	6	0	2	4	2	12	−10	2			1–1	0–2	1–1	—

Source: UEFA

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		POR	ROS	MIL	GOT
1	Porto	6	5	1	0	12	4	+8	16	Advance to knockout stage		—	3–0	1–1	2–1
2	Rosenborg	6	3	0	3	7	11	−4	9			0–1	—	1–4	1–0
3	Milan	6	2	1	3	13	11	+2	7			2–3	1–2	—	4–2
4	IFK Göteborg	6	1	0	5	7	13	−6	3			0–2	2–3	2–1	—

Source: UEFA

Knockout stage

Main article: 1996–97 UEFA Champions League knockout stage

Bracket

	Quarter-finals							Semi-finals							Final
	Borussia Dortmund		3	1	4
	Auxerre		1	0	1
								Borussia Dortmund		1	1	2
								Manchester United		0	0	0
	Manchester United		4	0	4
															28 May – Munich
	Porto		0	0	0
															Borussia Dortmund		3
															Juventus		1
	Ajax (a.e.t.)		1	3	4
	Atlético Madrid		1	2	3
								Ajax		1	1	2
								Juventus		2	4	6
	Rosenborg		1	0	1
	Juventus		1	2	3

Quarter-finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Borussia Dortmund	4–1	Auxerre	3–1	1–0
Manchester United	4–0	Porto	4–0	0–0
Ajax	4–3	Atlético Madrid	1–1	3–2 (a.e.t.)
Rosenborg	1–3	Juventus	1–1	0–2

Semi-finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Borussia Dortmund	2–0	Manchester United	1–0	1–0
Ajax	2–6	Juventus	1–2	1–4

Final

Main article: 1997 UEFA Champions League final

The final was played on 28 May 1997 at the Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany.

Borussia Dortmund	3–1	Juventus
Riedle 29', 34' Ricken 71'	Report	Del Piero 65'

28 May 1997

20:30 UTC+2

Olympiastadion, Munich

Attendance: 59,000^[4]

Referee: Sándor Puhl (Hungary)

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Team	Goals
1	Milinko Pantić	Atlético Madrid	5
2	Nicola Amoruso	Juventus	4
	Artur	Porto	4
	Alen Bokšić	Juventus	4
	Alessandro Del Piero	Juventus	4
	Mário Jardel	Porto	4
	Lars Ricken	Borussia Dortmund	4
	Karl-Heinz Riedle	Borussia Dortmund	4
	Marco Simone	Milan	4
	Christian Vieri	Juventus	4
	Diego Simeone	Atlético Madrid	4

See also

• 1996 UEFA Intertoto Cup
• 1996–97 UEFA Cup
• 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

References

1. "UEFA Country Ranking 1996". Bert Kassies. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
2. "1991/92–1995/96". Pawel Mogielnicki. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
3. Protzen, Martin (29 May 1996). "FAQ: Qualification and Seeding for the European Cups". RSSSF. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
4. "2. Finals" (PDF). UEFA Champions League Statistics Handbook 2016/17. Nyon, Switzerland: Union of European Football Associations. 2017. p. 1. Retrieved 22 April 2017.

External links

• 1996–97 All matches – season at UEFA website
• European Cup results at RSSSF
• All scorers 1996–97 UEFA Champions League (excluding qualifying round) according to protocols UEFA + all scorers qualifying round
• 1996/97 UEFA Champions League – results and line-ups