The 1975–76 UEFA Cup was the fifth season of the UEFA Cup, the third-tier club football competition organised by UEFA. The final was played over two legs at Anfield, Liverpool, England and at the Olympiastadion, Bruges, Belgium. It was won by Liverpool of England, who defeated Club Brugge of Belgium by an aggregate result of 4–3 to claim their second UEFA Cup title.
This was the first of only two times in the history of the UEFA Cup, its unofficial predecessor Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, or its successor UEFA Europa League when both finalists won their national championship in the same season. Until then, this had only happened twice in the European Cup, and it would only happen once in the European Cup Winners Cup.
Club Brugge was the first Belgian team to reach a UEFA Cup final, six years after Anderlecht also reached the final in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, its predecessor tournament. The final's first leg was the last major final held at Anfield in one of the three premier European club championships, although the stadium would also host two UEFA Super Cup legs in later finals.
Contents
Association team allocation
A total of 64 teams from 31 UEFA member associations participate in the 1975–76 UEFA Cup. The original allocation scheme was as follows:
3 associations have four teams qualify.
3 associations have three teams qualify.
18 associations have two teams qualify.
7 associations have one team qualify.
The Soviet Union and Sweden were the two associations selected to have an extra third birth for this season, while the Netherlands and Austria went back to two qualified teams.
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Teams
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for competition:
TH: Title holders
CW: Cup winners
CR: Cup runners-up
LC: League Cup winners
2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position
P-W: End-of-season European competition play-offs winners
Notes
Schedule
The schedule of the competition was as follows. Matches were scheduled for Wednesdays, though some matches took place on Tuesdays. In the first round, three first leg matches were played on a Thursday, and both legs of the match-up between MSV Duisburg and Enosis Neon Paralimni FC were played over three days in West Germany, with the first leg being held on a Sunday.
First round
Second leg
Both legs were played in West Germany, MSV Duisburg won 10–3 on aggregate.
Ajax won 14–1 on aggregate.
4–4 on aggregate; Real Sociedad won on away goals.
Barcelona won 6–2 on aggregate.
Spartak Moscow won 2–1 on aggregate.
Royal Antwerp won 5–1 on aggregate.
Budapest Honvéd won 3–2 on aggregate.
Carl Zeiss Jena won 4–0 on aggregate.
Red Star Belgrade won 4–2 on aggregate.
Milan won 1–0 on aggregate.
Ipswich Town won 4–1 on aggregate.
Śląsk Wrocław won 5–4 on aggregate.
Hertha BSC won 6–2 on aggregate.
Liverpool won 3–2 on aggregate.
Stal Mielec won 3–1 on aggregate.
Köln won 5–2 on aggregate.
Club Brugge won 6–4 on aggregate.
Öster won 6–1 on aggregate.
Dynamo Dresden won 6–3 on aggregate.
Lazio won 3–1 on aggregate.
Porto won 10–0 on aggregate.
Second round
First leg
Lazio refused to play for security reasons, claiming it would be impossible to play due to political demonstrations following the execution in Spain of five ETA and FRAP members on 27 September on terrorism charges. UEFA awarded Barcelona a 3–0 victory, ruling those three goals were not applicable for the away goals rule.
Second leg
4–4 on aggregate; Levski-Spartak Sofia won on away goals.
Milan won 3–0 on aggregate.
1–1 on aggregate; Stal Mielec won on penalties.
Porto won 3–2 on aggregate.
Torpedo Moscow won 7–2 on aggregate.
Ajax won 4–2 on aggregate.
Dynamo Dresden won 3–2 on aggregate.
3–3 on aggregate; Inter Bratislava won on away goals.
Club Brugge won 4–3 on aggregate.
Spartak Moscow won 3–0 on aggregate.
Roma won 2–1 on aggregate.
Liverpool won 9–1 on aggregate.
Hamburg won 5–1 on aggregate.
Śląsk Wrocław won 3–2 on aggregate.
Vasas SC won 4–3 on aggregate.
Before the game, Johan Cruyff was given his Ballon d'Or award for the 1974 season.
Barcelona won 7–0 on aggregate.
Third round
Second leg
3–3 on aggregate; Levski-Spartak Sofia won on penalties.
Barcelona won 4–1 on aggregate.
Club Brugge won 2–0 on aggregate.
Dynamo Dresden won 4–3 on aggregate.
Hamburg won 3–2 on aggregate.
Stal Mielec won 2–1 on aggregate.
Liverpool won 5–1 on aggregate.
Milan won 4–2 on aggregate.
Quarter-finals
Second leg
Barcelona won 8–5 on aggregate.
Club Brugge won 3–2 on aggregate.
Liverpool won 2–1 on aggregate.
Hamburg won 2–1 on aggregate.
Semi-finals
Second leg
Liverpool won 2–1 on aggregate.
Club Brugge won 2–1 on aggregate.
Final
Second leg
Liverpool won 4–3 on aggregate.