The 1961 European Cup Winners' Cup Final was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

match contested between

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and Rangers of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. It was the final match of the

1960–61 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1960–61 season of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, European Cup Winners' Cup club association football, football tournament was won by Italian club ACF Fiorentina, Fiorentina in two-legged final victory against Rangers F.C., Rangers of Scotland. O ...

and the first

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

final. It was the only time that the final was played over two legs. The first leg was played at

Ibrox Park Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Rangers Football Club, Ibrox is the third largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated capacity of . ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and the second leg at the Stadio Comunale in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

. It was Rangers first European final and in doing so became the first British team to reach the final of a European football competition. It was Fiorentina's second European final having previously reached the

1957 European Cup Final The 1957 European Cup Final was a football match played at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain, on 30 May 1957 to determine the winners of the 1956–57 European Cup. It was contested between Real Madrid of Spain and Fiorentina of Italy ...

. Fiorentina won the final 4–1 on aggregate.Rangers again beaten by Italians
Glasgow Herald, 29 May 1961 (via Google news archive)

Route to the final

Rangers

Rangers were required to play a preliminary round in the competition where they beat Ferencváros from Hungary 5-4 on aggregate. They were then drawn against Borussia Mönchengladbach from Germany who they then defeated 11-0 on aggregate. In the semi final Rangers were then required to play English team Wolverhampton Wanderers. Rangers won the tie 3-1 on aggregate to reach their first ever European final.

Fiorentina

Fiorentina went straight into the quarter-finals where they played FC Luzern from Switzerland. They subsequently defeated them and Dinamo Zagreb to reach the final.

Background

The 1961 final was the only time that it had been played over two legs until the competition was merged with the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

in 1999. Fiorentina, who were managed by Hungarian

Nándor Hidegkuti Nándor Hidegkuti (3 March 1922 – 14 February 2002) was a Hungarian football player and manager. He played as a forward or attacking midfielder and spent the majority of his playing career at MTK Hungária FC. During the 1950s he was also ...

, were the recent

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

winners and had reached the final of the European Cup four years earlier. Their team included many Italian internationals including goalkeeper

Enrico Albertosi Enrico "Ricky" Albertosi (; born 2 November 1939) is an Italian former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Regarded as one of Italy's greatest ever goalkeepers, he had a successful club career, winning titles with Fiorentina, Cagliari, and Mi ...

and Swedish star player

Kurt Hamrin Kurt Roland "Kurre" Hamrin (; born 19 November 1934) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a winger. He began his career in his home country with AIK, but later played for several Italian clubs, most notably Fiorentina, with w ...

. Rangers were managed by

Scot Symon James Scotland Symon (9 May 1911 – 30 April 1985) was a Scottish football player and manager. He also played cricket for Scotland in an age when it was possible to play and excel in several sports. Footballer Symon started his professional c ...

and had reached the semi-final of the European Cup the previous year. Since the start of the 1960-61 season , the all-Scottish Rangers team also included

Jim Baxter James Curran Baxter (29 September 1939 – 14 April 2001) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a left half. He is generally regarded as one of the country's greatest ever players. He was born, educated and started his career ...

who would go on to become a legendary figure of the club. Rangers top scorer Jimmy Millar missed the first leg through injury but featured in the return match.

Match details

First leg

Second leg

References

External links

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup results at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
{{ACF Fiorentina matches 3 Cup Winners' Cup Final 1961 Cup Winners' Cup Final 1961

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

Cup Winners' Cup Final 1961 Cup Winners' Cup Final 1961 Cup Winners' Cup Final Cup Winners' Cup Final 1960s in Glasgow European Cup Winners' Cup Final International sports competitions in Glasgow European Cup Winners' Cup Final Football in Glasgow