The 1956 European Cup Final was the inaugural final in the pan-European football competition, the European Cup, now known as the

UEFA Champions League 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 ...

. It was contested by

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

of Spain and

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

from France, and played at the

Parc des Princes Parc des Princes () is an all-seater stadium, all-seater Association football, football stadium in Paris, France, in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

on 13 June 1956 in front of 38,000 people. Real Madrid reached the final by beating Italian side

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 ...

5–4 on aggregate, whereas Reims beat Scottish club Hibernian 3–0 on aggregate. The match finished 4–3 to Real Madrid, who went on to record an unrivalled five consecutive European Cup titles. The match started brightly for Reims, with

Michel Leblond Michel Leblond (10 May 1932 – 17 December 2009) was a French football midfielder who was a member of the French squad at FIFA World Cup 1954 and a main player of great Stade de Reims in the 1950s. He also holds the honour of being the first ...

and Jean Templin scoring to make it 2–0 inside 10 minutes, but by half-time, Madrid had levelled the scores through goals from

Alfredo Di Stéfano Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: *Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Filho ...

and

Héctor Rial José Héctor Rial Laguía (14 October 1928 – 24 February 1991) was a footballer who played as a forward for Real Madrid between 1954 and 1961, and was part of the team that won five consecutive European Cups. He played professional footbal ...

. Reims took the lead again on 62 minutes through

Michel Hidalgo Michel François Hidalgo (22 March 1933 – 26 March 2020) was a French professional football player, footballer and Manager (association football), manager. He was the head coach of the France national football team, French national team from 1 ...

, but when Marquitos and Rial scored in the 67th and 79th minutes respectively, Reims could no longer respond, winning Madrid the first ever European Cup/Champions League title, the first of five consecutive titles that they won.

Route to the final

Real Madrid

Real Madrid entered the European Cup competition as the title winners of the

1954–55 La Liga The 1954–55 La Liga was the 24th season since its establishment. Real Madrid were the defending champions and successfully retained the title. Teams Stadia and locations League table Results Relegation group Standings Results Top ...

. In the opening round, they were drawn with Swiss champions

Servette Servette is a district of the city of Geneva, Switzerland. The district's name comes from the Latin word for forest, ''silva'', and means "little forest". Its name alludes to Servette's rural past, before Geneva grew beyond its walls and incorpora ...

. After they secured a 2–0 victory away from home in the first leg, they secured a 5–0 victory at the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium ( es, Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, ) is a football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a current seating capacity of 81,044, it has been the home stadium of Real Madrid since its completion in 1947. It is the second-larg ...

with

scoring two goals in the victory. In the quarter-finals they were drawn against Yugoslavian side

FK Partizan Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; en, Partizan Football Club), sometimes known as Partizan Belgrade in English, is a Serbia, Serbian professional football club (association football), football ...

who had finished fifth in the previous season. In the opening leg at home, Heliodoro Castaño Pedrosa scored two goals as fellow goals from

Francisco Gento Francisco "Paco" Gento López (21 October 1933 – 18 January 2022) was a Spanish footballer who played as an outside left. He was voted by IFFHS (International Federation of Football History and Statistics) as the greatest Spanish footballer ...

and Alfredo Di Stéfano gave Real Madrid a four goal lead heading into the away leg at

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Match

Details

Notes

References

External links

European Cup 1955/56 from UEFA
* {{Stade de Reims matches 1 European Cup Final 1956 European Cup Final 1956 European Cup Final 1956

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

European Cup Final European Cup Final European Cup Final European Cup Final