1991–92 European Cup

The 1991–92 European Cup was the 37th season of the European Cup football club tournament. It was the first European Cup to have a group stage, from which the winning clubs progressed to the final. 1991–92 was the tournament's last edition before it was re-branded as the UEFA Champions League.

1991–92 European Cup
Wembley Stadium in London hosted the final.
Tournament details
Dates17 September 1991 – 20 May 1992
Teams32
Final positions
ChampionsSpain Barcelona (1st title)
Runners-upItaly Sampdoria
Tournament statistics
Matches played73
Goals scored192 (2.63 per match)
Attendance1,725,387 (23,635 per match)
Top scorer(s)Sergei Yuran (Benfica)
Jean-Pierre Papin (Marseille)
7 goals each
1992–93
(UEFA Champions League)

The group stage involved the eight winning clubs from round 2. The clubs were split into two groups of four, playing each other home and away, and the winning club from each group met in the 1992 European Cup Final.

The competition was won for the first time by Barcelona after extra time in the final against Sampdoria, the first victory in the tournament by a team from Spain since 1966. This would mark the first of a total of five European Cup trophies for Barcelona.[1] The winning goal was scored by Ronald Koeman with a free kick.

The defending champions, Red Star Belgrade, did not have an opportunity to play at their own ground because of the Yugoslav Wars, thereby reducing their chances of defending their title. Red Star were eliminated in the group stage. It was also the final season in which the clubs from that country were able to participate in the primary European football competition since the summer of 1991 Slovenia and Croatia announced their independence.

In addition, it was the last time an East German team competed in the European Cup, Hansa Rostock.

English clubs returned to the European Cup, after their five-year ban from European competitions following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985. The 1990 Football League champions Liverpool had been unable to participate in the 1990–91 European Cup because they had been banned for an additional sixth year. Arsenal represented England in 1991–92, and reached the second round.

Teams

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A total of 32 teams participated in the competition, all entering into the first round.

Qualified teams for 1991–92 European Cup
  Red Star Belgrade (1st)TH   1. FC Kaiserslautern (1st)[Note GER]   Sampdoria (1st)   Barcelona (1st)
  Anderlecht (1st)   Benfica (1st)   Marseille (1st)   Dynamo Kyiv (1st)[Note URS]
  PSV Eindhoven (1st)   Universitatea Craiova (1st)   Rangers (1st)   IFK Göteborg (1st)
  Austria Wien (1st)   Hansa Rostock (1st)[Note GER]   Grasshopper (1st)   Sparta Prague (1st)
  HJK (1st)   Brøndby (1st)   Etar Veliko Tarnovo (1st)   Panathinaikos (1st)
  Kispest Honvéd (1st)   Zagłębie Lubin (1st)   Beşiktaş (1st)   Flamurtari (1st)
  Rosenborg (1st)   Apollon Limassol (1st)   Portadown (1st)   Fram (1st)
  Ħamrun Spartans (1st)   Union Luxembourg (1st)   Dundalk (1st)   Arsenal (1st)

Notes

  1. ^
    Soviet Union (URS): All matches of Dynamo Kyiv, representing the Football Federation of the Soviet Union as champions of the 1990 Soviet Top League, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 26 show the flag of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).[citation needed]
  2. ^
    Germany (GER): The original slot allocation of the former West/East Germany still applied. 1. FC Kaiserslautern qualified as champions of the 1990–91 Bundesliga, while Hansa Rostock qualified as champions of the 1990–91 NOFV-Oberliga. Due to the reunification of Germany in October 1990, all flags show Germany instead of East/West Germany. However, Hansa Rostock matches and records were still counted for East Germany, and not for Germany, under UEFA regulations.

First round

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The first legs were played on 17 and 18 September, and the second legs on 2 October 1991.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Barcelona   3–1   Hansa Rostock 3–0 0–1
1. FC Kaiserslautern   3–1   Etar Veliko Tarnovo 2–0 1–1
Union Luxembourg   0–10   Marseille 0–5 0–5
Sparta Prague   2–2 (a)   Rangers 1–0 1–2 (a.e.t.)
Ħamrun Spartans   0–10   Benfica 0–6 0–4
Arsenal   6–2   Austria Wien 6–1 0–1
HJK   0–4   Dynamo Kyiv 0–1 0–3
Brøndby   4–2   Zagłębie Lubin 3–0 1–2
Fram   2–2 (a)   Panathinaikos 2–2 0–0
IFK Göteborg   1–1 (a)   Flamurtari 0–0 1–1
Beşiktaş   2–3   PSV Eindhoven 1–1 1–2
Anderlecht   4–1   Grasshopper 1–1 3–0
Red Star Belgrade   8–0   Portadown 4–0 4–0
Universitatea Craiova   2–3   Apollon Limassol 2–0 0–3
Kispest Honvéd   3–1   Dundalk 1–1 2–0
Sampdoria   7–1   Rosenborg 5–0 2–1

Second round

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The first legs were played on 23 October, and the second legs on 6 November 1991.

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Barcelona   3–3 (a)   1. FC Kaiserslautern 2–0 1–3
Marseille   4–4 (a)   Sparta Prague 3–2 1–2
Benfica   4–2   Arsenal 1–1 3–1 (a.e.t.)
Dynamo Kyiv   2–1   Brøndby 1–1 1–0
Panathinaikos   4–2   IFK Göteborg 2–0 2–2
PSV Eindhoven   0–2   Anderlecht 0–0 0–2
Red Star Belgrade   5–1   Apollon Limassol 3–1 2–0
Kispest Honvéd   3–4   Sampdoria 2–1 1–3

Group stage

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Location of teams of the 1991–92 European Cup group stage.
  Blue: Group A;   Red: Group B.

Group A

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification SAM RSB AND PAN
1   Sampdoria 6 3 2 1 10 5 +5 8 Advance to final 2–0 2–0 1–1
2   Red Star Belgrade 6 3 0 3 9 10 −1 6 1–3 3–2 1–0
3   Anderlecht 6 2 2 2 8 9 −1 6 3–2 3–2 0–0
4   Panathinaikos 6 0 4 2 1 4 −3 4 0–0 0–2 0–0
Source: UEFA

Group B

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification BAR SPP BEN DKV
1   Barcelona 6 4 1 1 10 4 +6 9 Advance to final 3–2 2–1 3–0
2   Sparta Prague 6 2 2 2 7 7 0 6 1–0 1–1 2–1
3   Benfica 6 1 3 2 8 5 +3 5 0–0 1–1 5–0
4   Dynamo Kyiv 6 2 0 4 3 12 −9 4 0–2 1–0 1–0
Source: UEFA

Final

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The final was played on 20 May 1992 at Wembley Stadium in London, England.

Sampdoria  0–1 (a.e.t.)  Barcelona
Report Koeman   112'
Attendance: 70,827[2]

Top scorers

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Hristo Stoichkov was part of the Barcelona team that won the competition.

The top scorers from the 1991–92 European Cup are as follows:

Rank Name Team Goals
1   Sergei Yuran   Benfica 7
  Jean-Pierre Papin   Marseille 7
3   Luc Nilis   Anderlecht 6
  Darko Pančev   Red Star Belgrade 6
  Gianluca Vialli   Sampdoria 6
6   Isaías   Benfica 5
7   Hristo Stoichkov   Barcelona 4
  César Brito   Benfica 4
  Marc Degryse   Anderlecht 4
  Attilio Lombardo   Sampdoria 4
  Roberto Mancini   Sampdoria 4
  Siniša Mihajlović   Red Star Belgrade 4
  Alan Smith   Arsenal 4

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Lewis, Aimee (2017-05-19). "The match that changed football". CNN. Retrieved 2023-12-27.
  2. ^ "5. Finals" (PDF). UEFA Champions League Statistics Handbook 2013/14. Nyon: Union of European Football Associations. 16 September 2013. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 July 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
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