Cup Winners' Cup
The second inter-European club competition, contested by domestic cup winners from 1960–61 to 1998–99.
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renamed the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1994. Chronologically, the Cup Winners' Cup was the second inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The first tournament was held in 1960–61, but it was organised by the Mitropa Cup's Organising Committee and not recognised by the governing body of European football until 1963, when it was accepted as a UEFA competition on the initiative of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).
From 1972 onwards, the winner of the tournament progressed to play the winner of the European Cup (later the UEFA Champions League) in the European Super Cup. The tournament ran for 39 seasons, with the final edition held in 1998–99, after which it was discontinued. Since the abolition of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the UEFA Super Cup place previously reserved for the Cup Winners' Cup winner has been taken by the winner of the UEFA Cup, now the UEFA Europa League.
Quick Facts
- Winning season
- 1965-66
- Final venue
- Hampden Park, Glasgow
- Opponent in final
- Borussia Dortmund
Lore & Background
The idea for a pan-European cup competition contested by all of Europe's domestic cup winners came from prominent European sports journalists. The inaugural Cup Winners' Cup was held in the 1960–61 season and was a semi-official pilot tournament. The initial reaction was unenthusiastic; many European associations did not have domestic cup competitions, and in those that did, the cup was often not taken seriously by bigger clubs. Only in England, Scotland, and to a lesser extent Germany and Spain was the domestic cup considered prestigious.
Many eligible clubs turned down the chance to enter, such as Atlético Madrid and Monaco. The inaugural CWC was contested by just 10 clubs, with Fiorentina winning the two-legged final against Rangers. For the tournament's second season in 1961–62, UEFA took over running all aspects, and all eligible clubs accepted. By 1968, all UEFA member nations had set up domestic cup competitions due to the success of the Cup Winners' Cup.
UEFA regarded it as the second most prestigious competition, behind the European Cup and ahead of the Fairs Cup. In the 1985–86 season, English clubs were banned from European competition as a result of the Heysel Stadium disaster; consequently, Manchester United, Everton, Coventry City, Wimbledon and Liverpool were prevented from competing in the Cup Winners' Cup until the beginning of the 1990–91 season. No club managed to retain the Cup Winners' Cup, although eight times a winning side followed up their victories with a losing appearance in the following season's final.
Reader's Guide
Throughout its 39-year history, the Cup Winners' Cup was always a straight knock-out tournament with two-legged home and away ties until the single match final staged at a neutral venue, the only exception being the two-legged final in the competition's first year. In common with other UEFA club tournaments, the away goals rule was applied when aggregate scores were tied. The format was identical to the original European Champions' Cup with 32 teams contesting four knock-out rounds prior to the showpiece final, with the tournament usually running from September to May each year.
Following the influx of new UEFA member nations during the 1990s, a regular August preliminary round was added to reduce the number of entrants to 32. Entry was restricted to one club from each UEFA member association, the only exception being to allow the current Cup Winners' Cup holders to enter alongside their nation's new domestic cup winners in order to allow them a chance to defend their title (although no club ever managed to do this). However, if this team also qualified for the European Champions' Cup, then they would default on their place in the Cup Winners' Cup and no other team would replace them.
If a domestic cup holder also wins the Cup Winners' Cup in the same season, the domestic cup runner-up will take that association's berth. On occasions when a club completed a domestic league and cup 'double', that club would enter the European Cup/UEFA Champions League and their place in the Cup Winners' Cup would be taken by the domestic cup runners-up. In 1998–99, the competition's final year, Heerenveen of the Netherlands entered the Cup Winners' Cup despite only reaching the semi-final of the previous season's KNVB Cup, because both KNVB Cup finalists Ajax and PSV Eindhoven qualified for the recently expanded Champions League.
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