The 1960–61 European Cup was the sixth season of the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

's premier club

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tournament. The competition was won by Benfica, who beat

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

3–2 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

Wankdorf Stadium Wankdorf Stadium (, ) was a football stadium in Bern, Switzerland, and the home of Swiss club BSC Young Boys. Built in 1925, it hosted the finals of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, the 1960–61 European Cup, and the 1988–89 European Cup Winners' C ...

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, on 31 May 1961. It was the first time that five-time winners

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

did not make it to the final, when they were knocked out by eventual first-time finalists Barcelona in the first round. Benfica was the first Portuguese team to reach the final and to win the tournament. For the first time a team from Norway participated. However, again two teams withdrew from the competition after initial draw: Romanian CCA București was fearing a shameful elimination in front of the Czechoslovakians, while Northern Irish Glenavon and East German Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt were refused visas to the other's country. UEFA authorised neutral venues but Glenavon withdrew due to the higher cost and lower revenue. On 9 November 1960, in a first round game against Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabéu Barcelona's

Luis Suárez Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz (; born 24 January 1987) is a Uruguayan professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami CF, Inter Miami. Known for his go ...

converted penalty to score a 1000th goal in the history of European Cup.

Teams

A total of 28 teams were placed in the competition bracket, but finally only 26 participated since Romanian CCA București and Northern Irish Glenavon withdrew from the competition. Spain continued to be represented by two clubs, with Real Madrid qualifying as title holders and

as Spanish champions. CDNA Sofia appeared in the fifth edition of European Cup, with only Real Madrid having more appearances in the competition. Lierse, Spartak Hradec Králové,

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

, IFK Helsingfors,

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

, Panathinaikos,

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

, Újpesti Dózsa,

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

and IFK Malmö made their debut, while

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English, is an Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the f ...

, AGF,

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

, Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt,

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

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), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

, Benfica, CCA București, Heart of Midlothian and

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

returned to the competition. All entrants were their respective associations champions, except for title holders Real Madrid, as well as Swedish IFK Malmö and Polish Legia Warsaw, who were leaders of their respective leagues in spring, but later finished second.

Preliminary round

The draw for the preliminary round took place at

headquarters in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, on 7 July 1960.'' Corriere dello Sport'', 8 July 1960. As title holders, Real Madrid received a bye, and the remaining 27 teams were grouped geographically into three pots. The first team drawn in each pot also received a bye, 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.

First leg

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

Second leg

''Fredrikstad won 4–3 on aggregate.'' ---- ''IFK Malmö won 5–2 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Rapid Wien won 4–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''AGF won 3–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Reims won 11–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Barcelona won 5–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Benfica won 5–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Young Boys won 9–2 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Újpesti Dózsa won 5–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''CDNA Sofia won 4–3 on aggregate.''

Bracket

First round

First leg

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

Second leg

''AGF won 4–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''IFK Malmö won 2–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Rapid Wien 3–3 Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt on aggregate;

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eith ...

needed.'' ---- ''Barcelona won 4–3 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Hamburger SV won 8–3 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Benfica won 7–4 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Burnley won 4–3 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Spartak Hradec Králové won 1–0 on aggregate.''

Play-off

''Rapid Wien won play-off 1–0.''

Quarter-finals

First leg

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

Second leg

''Barcelona won 5–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Hamburger SV won 5–4 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Benfica won 7–2 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Rapid Wien won 4–0 on aggregate.'' ----

Semi-finals

First leg

----

Second leg

''Barcelona 2–2 Hamburger SV on aggregate;

needed.'' ---- ''Benfica won 4–1 on aggregate.''

Play-off

''Barcelona won play-off 1–0.''

Final

Top goalscorers

The top scorers from the 1960–61 European Cup (including preliminary round) are as follows:

Notes

References

External links

1960–61 All matches – season at UEFA website
* All scorers 1960–61 European Cup (excluding preliminary round) according t
protocols UEFA
– results and line-ups (archive) {{DEFAULTSORT:1960-61 European Cup UEFA Champions League seasons

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...