The 1958–59 European Cup was the fourth 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 ...

, Europe's premier club

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 ...

tournament. The competition was won 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 ...

for the fourth time in a row, who beat

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 b ...

2–0 in the final at

Neckarstadion Mercedes-Benz Arena () is a stadium located in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany and home to German Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart. Before 1993 it was called Neckarstadion (), named after the nearby river Neckar and between 1993 and July ...

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Sw ...

, on 3 June 1959. The two finalists also competed in the final of the first European Cup in 1956. It was the first time that a team from Finland participated. Olympiakos, Greece's first ever entrants, withdrew for political reasons before playing their first tie. Spain continued to be represented by its runners-up, as its champions Real Madrid had already qualified as holders. This is the first time that Rapid Wien and AGF Aarhus failed to qualify for the tournament, while Standard Liége, Heart of Midlothian, Beșiktaș, NK Dinamo Zagreb, Jeunesse Esch, IFK Göteborg, Ards, Petrolul Ploiești, Atlético Madrid, Drumcondra, Polonia Bytom, KB, Schalke 04, Juventus Turin, Wiener Sportclub, Helsingin Palloseura, Wolverhampton Wanderers and DOS made their debut in competition.

Preliminary round

The draw for the preliminary round took place in

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, on Wednesday, 2 July 1958. As title holders, Real Madrid received a bye, and the remaining 27 teams were grouped geographically into three pots. The first drawn team in each pot also received byes, while the remaining clubs would play the preliminary round in September. The calendar was decided by the involved teams, with all matches to be played by 30 September. Note:

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...

CDNA Sofia CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Spor ...

and HPS received byes. ¹ Olympiacos withdrew due to international political issues, refusing to play in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

following the long-standing tension between Turkey and Greece. ² UEFA invited Manchester United to enter the competition after eight of the club's players were killed in the Munich air disaster while returning from a European Cup match in Belgrade the previous season; however, the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

refused to allow the club to compete. As the draw had already been made for the preliminary round, Manchester United's drawn opponents, Young Boys, were given a bye to the first round of the competition. Instead, the two clubs played a pair of friendlies against each other, home and away; Young Boys won the first match 2–0 in Bern, but Manchester United won 3–0 at Old Trafford a week later. The two clubs were again drawn together in the group stage of both the 2018–19 and

2021–22 UEFA Champions League The 2021–22 UEFA Champions League was the 67th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 30th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Real Madri ...

seasons, with the former happening almost exactly 60 years after they were originally due to play. ³ IFK Göteborg beat Jeunesse Esch 5–1 in a play-off to qualify for the first round. ⁴ Wismut Karl Marx Stadt beat Petrolul Ploieşti 4–0 in a play-off to qualify for the first round. ⁵ Schalke 04 beat KB 3–1 in a play-off to qualify for the first round.

First leg

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Second leg

''Standard Liège won 6–3 on aggregate'' ---- ''5–5 on aggregate'' ;Play-off ''Schalke 04 won play-off 3–1.'' ---- ''4–4 on aggregate'' ;Play-off ''Wismut Karl Marx Stadt won play-off 4–0.'' ---- ---- ''2–2 on aggregate'' ;Play-off ''IFK Göteborg won play-off 5–1.'' ---- ''Stade Reims won 10–3 on aggregate'' ---- ''Wiener Sport-Club won 8–3 on aggregate'' ---- ''Dukla Prague won 4–3 on aggregate'' ---- ''Atlético Madrid won 13–1 on aggregate'' ---- ''MTK Budapest won 6–0 on aggregate'' ---- ''Sporting CP won 6–4 on aggregate''

First round

¹ Atlético Madrid beat CSKA Sofia 3–1 in a playoff to qualify for the quarter-finals.

First leg

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Second leg

''Standard Liège won 6–2 on aggregate'' ---- ''Wismut Karl Marx Stadt won 6–2 on aggregate'' ---- ''Schalke 04 won 4–3 on aggregate'' ---- ''Wiener Sport-Club won 3–2 on aggregate'' ---- ''Young Boys won 6–2 on aggregate'' ---- ''2–2 on aggregate'' ;Play-off ''Atlético Madrid won play-off 3–1.'' ---- ''Real Madrid won 3–1 on aggregate'' ---- ''Reims won 7–0 on aggregate''

Quarter-finals

¹ Young Boys beat Wismut Karl Marx Stadt 2–1 in a playoff to qualify for the semi-finals.

First leg

---- ---- ----

Second leg

''Reims won 3–2 on aggregate'' ---- ''Atlético Madrid won 4–1 on aggregate'' ---- ''Real Madrid won 7–1 on aggregate'' ---- ''2–2 on aggregate'' ;Play-off ''Young Boys won play-off 2–1.''

Semi-finals

¹ Real Madrid beat Atlético Madrid 2–1 in a playoff.

First leg

----

Second leg

''2–2 on aggregate'' ;Play-off ''Real Madrid won play-off 2–1.'' ---- ''Reims won 3–1 on aggregate''

Final

The 1959 European Cup Final was played on 3 June 1959 at the

in Stuttgart, West Germany. Real Madrid's victory was their fourth consecutive title, maintaining their status as the only team to have won the competition. Reims were runners-up for a second time, having already lost to Real in the inaugural final in 1956.

Top scorers

The top scorers from the 1958–59 European Cup were as follows:

References

External links

1958–59 All matches – season at UEFA website
* All scorers 1958–59 European Cup (excluding preliminary round) according t

+ all scorer

- results and line-ups (archive) {{DEFAULTSORT:1958-59 European Cup 1958–59 in European football European Champion Clubs' Cup seasons