The 1968–69 season of the
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club tournament was won by
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, who beat
Ajax
Ajax may refer to:
Greek mythology and tragedy
* Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea
* Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris
* ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...
4–1 in the
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
, giving Milan its first European Cup title since 1963, and its second overall. A number of
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
clubs withdrew from the first two rounds when
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
paired up all of the Eastern Bloc clubs against one another in the aftermath of the
Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...
.
Substitutions of two players at any game time were allowed; obligatory match dates were introduced (two weeks between the legs) and fixed on Wednesdays; the away goal rule was extended to the first and second rounds.
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
, the
defending champions, were eliminated by Milan in the semi-finals.
Bracket
First round
First leg
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Second leg
''Milan won 5–3 on aggregate.''
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''Celtic won 4–2 on aggregate.''
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''Manchester United won 10–2 on aggregate.''
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''Anderlecht won 5–2 on aggregate.''
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''Rapid Wien won 6–4 on aggregate.''
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''Real Madrid won 12–0 on aggregate.''
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''Ajax won 5–1 on aggregate.''
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''Fenerbahçe won 2–1 on aggregate.''
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''Benfica won 8–1 on aggregate.''
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''Reipas Lahti won 3–1 on aggregate.''
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''Spartak Trnava won 5–3 on aggregate.''
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''AEK Athens won 5–3 on aggregate.''
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''AB won 4–3 on aggregate.''
Second round
First leg
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Second leg
''Celtic won 6–2 on aggregate.''
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''Manchester United won 4–3 on aggregate.''
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''Rapid Wien won 2–2 on away goals.''
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''Ajax won 4–0 on aggregate.''
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''Spartak Trnava won 16–2 on aggregate.''
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''AEK Athens won 2–0 on aggregate.''
Quarter-finals
1 Ajax beat Benfica 3–0 in a play-off.
First leg
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Second leg
''Milan won 1–0 on aggregate.''
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''Manchester United won 3–0 on aggregate.''
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''4–4 on aggregate. Tie is decided by a tie-breaker match on neutral ground.''
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''Spartak Trnava won 3–2 on aggregate.''
Tie-breakers
''Ajax win the tie-breaker.''
Semi-finals
First leg
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Second leg
''Milan won 2–1 on aggregate.''
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''Ajax won 3–2 on aggregate.''
Final
Top scorers
The top scorers from the 1968–69 European Cup are as follows:
References
External links
1968–69 All matches – season at UEFA website
* All scorers 1968–69 European Cup according t
protocols UEFA
– results and line-ups (archive)
{{DEFAULTSORT:1968-69 European Cup
1968–69 in European football
European Champion Clubs' Cup seasons