The 1990–91 European Cup was the 36th 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 ...

, a tournament for men's

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 ...

clubs in nations affiliated to the Union of European Football Associations (

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 ...

). It was won for the first time by

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

on penalties in the final against

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

; both were first-time finalists. This was only the second time that an Eastern European side had won the competition, after Steaua București of Romania in 1986. It was also the last tournament to be solely knock-out based, with a group stage added for the next season. Red Star won the tournament as the only Yugoslav club shortly before the

breakup of Yugoslavia After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, the constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia split apart in the early 1990s. Unresolved issues from the breakup caused a series of inter-ethnic Yugoslav ...

. This was also the last season to feature a team from

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, since the East and its

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

counterpart reunified in October 1990. Although this was the first season which English clubs were readmitted to European competition Liverpool did not compete in the European Cup as English champions due to the last year of their six year ban. Milan were eliminated by Marseille in the quarter-finals after the second leg had been awarded as a 3–0 win for Marseille when the eventual runners-up were leading 1–0, and 2–1 on aggregate, in injury time, when the floodlights failed. Milan refused to play on when floodlights were fixed and were banned, giving Marseille a 3–0 automatic win.

Teams

A total of 31 teams participated in the competition. Teams are ordered below by the 1989 UEFA association coefficients. Although 1990–91 marked the return of English clubs to the

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renamed the UEFA Cup Winne ...

and

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

, after a five-year ban resulting from the

Heysel Stadium disaster The Heysel Stadium disaster ( ; ; ) was a crowd disaster on 29 May 1985, when Juventus fans were escaping from an attack by Liverpool fans while they were pressed against a wall in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, before the start of ...

, Liverpool had been banned for an additional year, so could not participate in the European Cup as English champions.

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 ...

, the Dutch champions, were not allowed to participate in a European Cup competition because of the poor behaviour of their fans during a game the previous season, so their spot in the qualification was simply vacated, giving the two-time defending champions

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

a first-round bye. Notes

Seeding

For the first and second round draws, teams were ranked according to their 1990 UEFA club seeding coefficients. The seedings took into account performances in European competitions from 1985–86 to 1989–90, and were calculated by taking the club's total

UEFA coefficient In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football tournaments (country rankings only), ...

points earned divided by total matches played. *

(1.464)^TH *

(1.812) * Bayern Munich (1.615) *

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 ...

(1.475) *

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

(1.444) *

(1.423) *

Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, is a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. Kasse ...

(1.300) *

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

(1.272) * Dinamo București (1.200) * Rangers (1.200) * CSKA Sofia (1.166) *

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation's highest division. ...

(1.166) * Spartak Moscow (1.125) *

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

(1.000) * Swarovski Tirol (1.000) * Club Brugge (0.958) *

Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...

(0.928) * Kuusysi (0.916) * Panathinaikos (0.900) * Újpesti Dózsa (0.833) * Dinamo Tirana (0.800) *

Grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

(0.700) *

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 ...

(0.666) * APOEL (0.500) * Lillestrøm (0.500) *

Union Luxembourg Union Sportive Luxembourg, usually known as Union Luxembourg, was a football club, based in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. It is now a part of Racing FC Union Luxembourg. History Union Luxembourg was formed in 1925 as an amalgam of ...

(0.166) *

Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...

(0.000) * KA (0.000) * OB (0.000) *

Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

(0.000) * St Patrick's Athletic (0.000)

Bracket

First round

Seeding

The 30 teams were divided into a seeded and unseeded pot, each containing 15 teams, for the draw.

Summary

First leg

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

Second leg

''Bayern Munich won 7–2 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Rangers won 10–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Real Madrid won 10–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''CSKA Sofia won 3–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Dinamo București won 5–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Porto won 13–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Red Star Belgrade won 5–2 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Dynamo Dresden won 6–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Malmö FF won 5–4 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Napoli won 5–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Spartak Moscow won 4–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Swarovski Tirol won 7–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Club Brugge won 3–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Lech Poznań won 5–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Marseille won 5–1 on aggregate.''

Second round

Seeding

The 16 teams were divided into a seeded and unseeded pot, each containing 8 teams, for the draw.

Summary

First leg

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

Second leg

''Bayern Munich won 7–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Porto won 4–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Red Star Belgrade won 4–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''2–2 on aggregate. Dynamo Dresden won 5–4 on penalties.'' ---- ''0–0 on aggregate. Spartak Moscow won 5–3 on penalties.'' ---- ''Real Madrid won 11–3 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Milan won 1–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Marseille won 8–4 on aggregate.''

Quarter-finals

¹ – Match abandoned due to rioting after 78 mins. With Red Star Belgrade leading 2–1, they were awarded the match 3–0. ² – With the score at 1–0 to Marseille during stoppage time at the end of the second half, the floodlights failed. Milan refused to play on when lighting was restored and Marseille were awarded the match 3–0.

First leg

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

Second leg

''Bayern Munich won 3–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''The match was abandoned in the 78th minute as per the decision by the match referee Emilio Soriano Aladrén due to Dynamo Dresden fans causing commotion in the stands and pelting the pitch with objects that landed in the vicinity of Red Star player Robert Prosinečki who was about to take a corner kick and the assistant referee on the sideline. Following several minutes of unsuccessful attempts to calm the fans, the match referee ordered the teams off the pitch and the contest was never resumed. Red Star Belgrade led 2–1 on the night and 5–1 on aggregate at the moment of the stoppage. At a disciplinary hearing several days later, UEFA awarded a 3–0 win to Red Star Belgrade and banned Dynamo Dresden for a year from European competition.
Red Star Belgrade won 6–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Spartak Moscow won 3–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''The match was interrupted in injury time due to poor visibility after two of the four

floodlight A floodlight is a broad-beamed, high-intensity artificial light. It can provide functional area lighting for travel-ways, parking, entrances, work areas, and sporting venues to enable visibility adequate for safe task performance, ornament ...

s in the stadium failed. Marseille led 1–0 on the night and 2–1 on aggregate at the moment. When power was restored after 15 minutes, Milan director Adriano Galliani decided not to let his team go back on the pitch at which point the contest was abandoned permanently. UEFA awarded a 3–0 win to Marseille and banned Milan for a year from European competition including suspending Galliani from all official club functions for two years.
Marseille won 4–1 on aggregate.''

Semi-finals

First leg

----

Second leg

''Red Star Belgrade won 4–3 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Marseille won 5–2 on aggregate.''

Final

Top scorers

The top scorers from the 1990–91 European Cup are as follows:

References

External links

1990–91 All matches – season at UEFA website
* All scorers 1990–91 European Cup according t
protocols UEFA
{{DEFAULTSORT:1990-91 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 ...