The 1980–81 European Cup was the 26th 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 ...
club tournament, and was won for a third time by
Liverpool
Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...
, who beat six-time champions
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 ...
in the final. In the 11 seasons up to and including this one, there were only four winners of the European Cup (
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 Gree ...
,
Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...
,
Nottingham Forest and Liverpool), but there were eleven different runners-up. This sequence was ended the
following year, when Bayern Munich lost to first-time finalists
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, ...
.
Nottingham Forest, the defending champions, were eliminated by
CSKA 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 Sport ...
in the first round.
Preliminary round
First leg
Second leg
''Budapest Honvéd won 11–0 on aggregate.''
First round
First leg
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Second leg
''Aberdeen won 1–0 on aggregate.''
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''Liverpool won 11–2 on aggregate.''
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''CSKA Sofia won 2–0 on aggregate.''
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''Szombierki Bytom won 4–2 on aggregate.''
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''Bayern Munich won 7–2 on aggregate.''
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''Ajax won 3–0 on aggregate.''
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''Baník Ostrava won 2–1 on aggregate.''
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''BFC Dynamo won 4–2 on aggregate.''
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''Spartak Moscow won 9–0 on aggregate.''
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''Esbjerg won 3–2 on aggregate.''
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''Real Madrid won 7–2 on aggregate.''
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''Budapest Honvéd won 3–0 on aggregate.''
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''Nantes won 3–0 on aggregate.''
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''Internazionale won 3–1 on aggregate.''
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''Basel won 5–1 on aggregate.''
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''Red Star Belgrade won 7–3 on aggregate.''
Second round
First leg
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Second leg
''Liverpool won 5–0 on aggregate.''
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''CSKA Sofia won 5–0 on aggregate.''
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''Bayern Munich won 6–3 on aggregate.''
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''1–1 on aggregate; Baník Ostrava won on away goals.''
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''Spartak Moscow won 3–2 on aggregate.''
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''Real Madrid won 3–0 on aggregate.''
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''Internazionale won 3–2 on aggregate.''
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''Red Star Belgrade won 2–1 on aggregate.''
Quarter-finals
First leg
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Second leg
''Liverpool won 6–1 on aggregate.''
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''Bayern Munich won 6–2 on aggregate.''
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''Real Madrid won 2–0 on aggregate.''
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''Internazionale won 2–1 on aggregate.''
Semi-finals
First leg
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Second leg
''1–1 on aggregate; Liverpool won on away goals.''
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''Real Madrid won 2–1 on aggregate.''
Final
Top scorers
The top scorers from the 1980–81 European Cup (excluding preliminary round) are as follows:
See also
*
1981 Intercontinental Cup
The 1981 Intercontinental Cup was an association football match between Liverpool of England and Flamengo of Brazil on 13 December 1981 at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. The annual Intercontinental Cup was contested between the winners ...
External links
1980–81 All matches – season at UEFA website* All scorers 1980–81 European Cup (excluding preliminary round) according t
protocols UEFA
– results and line-ups (archive)
{{DEFAULTSORT:1980-81 European Cup
1980–81 in European football
European Champion Clubs' Cup seasons