1998 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final

The 1998 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final was a football match that took place on 13 May 1998 at Råsunda Stadium in Stockholm, Sweden to determine the winner of the 1997–98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. It was contested by Chelsea of England and VfB Stuttgart of Germany and was the 38th final of what was Europe's second largest football competition at the time.

Both clubs played a total of eight games in four stages to advance to the final. Chelsea had the upper hand in all but two of their encounters, defeating Tromsø IL with an accumulative score of 9–4 in a two-legged match and edging Vicenza by one goal. Stuttgart also enjoyed an advantage in all but two of their meetings, beating ÍBV 5–2 on aggregate and winning over Slavia Prague and Lokomotiv Moscow by two goals.

A crowd of 30,216 were in attendance to witness Chelsea win the match 1–0, with Gianfranco Zola scoring the winning goal in the second half, seconds after coming on as a substitute. As a result, the English club claimed the double, having previously won the League Cup earlier in the campaign. It was Chelsea's second conquest of the Cup Winners' Cup, adding to their 1971 victory. By winning the tournament, they also gained qualification for the 1998 UEFA Super Cup, which they eventually won.

Route to the final

Chelsea

Chelsea earned automatic qualification as the 1996–97 season winners of England's yearly competition, the FA Cup. In the first round of the event, they were drawn against Slovan Bratislava. Both matches resulted in 2–0 wins for the English outfit; the first leg took place at Stamford Bridge, and the second at Tehelné pole, as they won 4–0 in total.

Chelsea then faced Tromsø IL in the second round. They lost the first leg by 2–3 which took place at Alfheim Stadion, with Gianluca Vialli registering a brace. In the home leg, Chelsea beat Tromsø 7–1, during which Vialli scored a hat-trick; the other goals were scored by Dan Petrescu, who contributed with a double, Gianfranco Zola and Frank Leboeuf to ensure an amassed score of 9–4.

In the quarter-finals, Chelsea clashed with Real Betis. The opening game at Estadio Manuel Ruíz de Lopera was won with 2–1 after a Tore André Flo double, before a 3–1 win at home with goals signed by Frank Sinclair, Roberto Di Matteo and Zola were enough to hand Chelsea an overall 5–2 victory. The final opposition in the semi-finals was Vicenza. Chelsea lost the away fixture 0–1, at Stadio Romeo Menti. They ended the round with a 3–1 home victory, following goals by Gus Poyet, Zola and Mark Hughes to send them through to their second final.

VfB Stuttgart

VfB Stuttgart received a place in the tournament, following their celebrations in the 1996–97 campaign, of the German Cup, Germany's annual cup contest. Starting in the round of 32, the Germans were pitted against ÍBV. They rounded off the first tie, by completing a 3–1 win at Hásteinsvöllur, before a 2–1 victory at the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion was enough to see them through with 5–2.

As Stuttgart entered the second round, they were up against Germinal Ekeren. They won the first leg 4–0 at Veltwijckstadion with Fredi Bobic and Jonathan Akpoborie each scoring twice. In the return game, Stuttgart suffered a 2–4 loss, but regardless of this, goals from Frank Verlaat and Gerhard Poschner ensured they won the stage 6–4.

In the quarter-finals, Slavia Prague were Stuttgart's next opponents. The away leg at Stadion Evžena Rošického ended in a 1–1 draw following a Poschner goal. Back on German soil, Stuttgart won 2–0 after Krasimir Balakov scored two goals, giving them a 3–1 overall win. In the semi-finals, Stuttgart were drawn against Lokomotiv Moscow. The first home leg ended 2–1 to the German side, with Bobic finding the winning goal late; the first was netted by Akpoborie. At Lokomotiv Stadium, Bobic once again managed to score, during the first half, which proved to be decisive as Stuttgart won 1–0 and the concluding tie 3–1 to proceed to the final.

Pre-match

Background

Both Chelsea and Stuttgart ended their seasons in fourth place of their respective leagues, the FA Premier League and the Bundesliga. Chelsea beat Bolton Wanderers 2–0 on the last matchday, while Stuttgart oversaw a 1–0 win over Werder Bremen. Both sides also progressed in their cup competitions – Chelsea lost against Manchester United with three to five in the 1997–98 FA Cup third round, but found success with a 2–0 victory over Middlesbrough in the 1998 Football League Cup Final. Stuttgart saw themselves overrun 0–2 by Bayern Munich in the 1997 German League Cup Final, only to succumb to Bayern again with a 0–3 deficit in the 1997–98 German Cup semi-final.

Chelsea and Stuttgart faced each other for the first time in European football. The English side were appearing in their second Cup Winners' Cup final, having won the tournament in 1971, while Stuttgart made their debut. Chelsea had met German clubs once, in the 1965–66 season of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup against 1860 Munich – Chelsea advanced to the next round after managing a 2–2 stalemate at the Grünwalder Stadion, and a 1–0 home win.

Stuttgart had been pitted against English clubs on two meetings of the same competition, the former over Burnley in the following season. The Germans were knocked out in the opening stage, after being held 1–1, in the first game at Neckarstadion, before following up with a 0–2 loss at Turf Moor. The latter was opposite Leeds United, in the 1992–93 season of the UEFA Champions League; the club saw themselves be eliminated in the same fashion, as they won 3–0 at home, before losing the second leg 4–1. However, Leeds were awarded an automatic 3–0 win, after Stuttgart were found to have fielded an ineligible player. A play-off in Camp Nou was required to decide the round, which Stuttgart fell with 1–2.

Ticketing

Both teams were each given 12,000 tickets – the remaining 6,000 tickets were released, for purchase to the Swedish people. However, Stuttgart decided to send 11,000 of their 12,000 tickets back to UEFA, due to the German club's supporters finding it difficult to make their way to the country, as well as the absence of air flights available. Subsequently, none of the unsold tickets were granted for Chelsea and its followers; the consequences proved worse, when Stuttgart announced that they had issued tickets alone for those who had ordered the more higher-priced package. Thousands of these tickets made their way onto the black market and were snapped up by Chelsea fans. On the day of the match it was estimated that at least 25,000 of the 30,000 crowd were Chelsea fans. With most flying out from England, it also represented the largest airlift of people from the UK for a single event since World War II.

Venue

Råsunda Stadium was revealed as the official venue of the final in December 1997. Located in Solna, Stockholm, the stadium opened its doors to the public in 1937, and was used by the Sweden national team for their games in the 1958 FIFA World Cup, including the final, as well as most of their general ties. Råsunda also held four of the national team's fixtures, in the 1992 European Championship, and the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup Final; it was also the home base of AIK's matches, until demolishment plans began in 2012. For the final, Råsunda had a capacity of generally 35,000.

Match ball

Adidas Tricolore

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