The 1968–69 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 ...

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 ...

club tournament was won by

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

, who beat

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 ...

4–1 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 ...

, giving Milan its first European Cup title since 1963, and its second overall. A number of

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

clubs withdrew from the first two rounds when

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 ...

paired up all of the Eastern Bloc clubs against one another in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Substitutions of two players at any game time were allowed; obligatory match dates were introduced (two weeks between the legs) and fixed on Wednesdays; the away goal rule was extended to the first and second rounds.

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

were the defending champions, but were eliminated by eventual champions Milan in the semi-finals.

Teams

A total of 32 teams participated in the competition. Thirty-one leagues were represented, with England being represented by its most recent champion,

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

, as well as defending European champion,

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 ...

made their 14th consecutive appearance in the competition, while

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

and Benfica each made their ninth appearances.

Nürnberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the largest city in Franconia, the second-largest city in the German state of Bavaria, and its 544,414 (2023) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest city in Germany. ...

and Steaua București both made their first appearances in the competition since the 1961-62 European Cup. This year's competition included only five debutants: Denmark's AB, Cyprus's

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou () is a Cyprus, Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL Limassol also maintains a AEL Limassol B.C., men's and AEL Limassol B.C. (women), women's basketball teams, a wom ...

, England's

, Norway's Rosenborg, and Czechoslovakia's Spartak Trnava. This was the smallest number to date.

Bracket

First round

First leg

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

Second leg

''Milan won 5–3 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Celtic won 4–2 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Manchester United won 10–2 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Anderlecht won 5–2 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Rapid Wien won 6–4 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Real Madrid won 12–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Ajax won 5–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Fenerbahçe won 2–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Benfica won 8–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Reipas Lahti won 3–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Spartak Trnava won 5–3 on aggregate.'' ---- ''AEK Athens won 5–3 on aggregate.'' ---- ''AB won 4–3 on aggregate.''

Second round

First leg

---- ---- ---- ---- ''The home leg of Reipas Lahti was played in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

just before the Rapid Wien–

match.'' ----

Second leg

''Celtic won 6–2 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Manchester United won 4–3 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Rapid Wien won 2–2 on away goals.'' ---- ''Ajax won 4–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Spartak Trnava won 16–2 on aggregate.'' ---- ''AEK Athens won 2–0 on aggregate.''

Quarter-finals

First leg

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

Second leg

''Milan won 1–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Manchester United won 3–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''4–4 on aggregate. Tie is decided by a tie-breaker match on neutral ground.'' ---- ''Spartak Trnava won 3–2 on aggregate.''

Tie-breakers

''Ajax win the tie-breaker.''

Semi-finals

First leg

----

Second leg

''Milan won 2–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Ajax won 3–2 on aggregate.''

Final

Top scorers

The top scorers from the 1968–69 European Cup are as follows:

References

External links

1968–69 All matches – season at UEFA website
* All scorers 1968–69 European Cup according t
protocols UEFA
– results and line-ups (archive) {{DEFAULTSORT:1968-69 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 ...