The 1992–93 UEFA Champions League, originally known as the 1992–93 European Cup, was the 38th

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 ...

, the premier European club

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tournament, and the first season with the UEFA Champions League branding (originally adopted only in the group stage). It was the second season of the competition in which the eight second round winners would be split into two groups, with the winner of each one meeting in the final. In addition, a preliminary round was required as this was the first season after the break-up of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, resulting in many new countries eligible to enter the champions of their own leagues into the competition.

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and the

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were also represented for the first time. The tournament was won for the first time by

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 ...

, defeating

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 ...

in the

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, becoming the first French team to win the European Cup/Champions League. However, soon after Marseille's victory allegations of

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were levelled at them and their president Bernard Tapie. This involved a league game that took place 6 days before the final where Marseille, it emerged, had fixed their title-clinching Division 1 game against

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

so they could concentrate on the final against Milan. It is believed that Tapie bribed Valenciennes to lose so that Marseille would win the French league earlier, and above all that they would not injure the Marseille players before the final against Milan. Before the

1991 European Cup final The 1991 European Cup final was a football match held at the Stadio San Nicola in Bari, Italy, on 29 May 1991, that saw Red Star Belgrade of Yugoslavia defeat Marseille of France in a penalty shoot-out. After normal time and extra time could not ...

against

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 ...

, Marseille had a few injured players, Tapie did not want to repeat this mistake. This resulted in Marseille being stripped of their league title by the

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(although not the European Cup, as the match in question was not in that competition). They were banned from defending their European title in the 1993–94 season, and contesting the Intercontinental Cup and

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

. During the 1995 trial over Marseille's financial accounts, it was revealed that they had an annual budget of Fr5 million (about €760,000) dedicated to the purchase of matches from 1989 to 1993. UEFA, along with the French Federation and French authorities, investigated several Marseille matches during the 1992–93 season. These investigations have not established any formal proof concerning alleged match-fixing in the Champions League. Therefore, Marseille's status as 1993 European champion was not affected.

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, the defending champions, were eliminated in the second round by

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

Teams

In total, 36 national champions participated in 1992–93 UEFA Champions League season. The 8 lowest-ranked champions according to the 1992 club seeding coefficients entered in the preliminary round, while the 28 best-ranked champions entered in the first round.

Distribution

Since the title holders (

) qualified via their domestic league, the title holder spot was vacated and the following changes to the default access list were made: *The champions ranked 27th and 28th ( APOEL and

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 ...

) were promoted from the preliminary round to the first round.

Ranking

The teams were ranked according to their 1992 UEFA seeding coefficients, which took into account performances in European competitions from 1987–88 to 1991–92. Each club and national association had a seeding coefficient calculated (total points divided by total matches), with both values added together to determine the club's final coefficient. This ranking then determined the round each team would enter. Notes

Round and draw dates

All draws for the competition were held in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, Switzerland.

Preliminary round

First round

Second round

Group stage

The group stage began on 25 November 1992 and ended on 21 April 1993. The eight teams were divided into two groups of four, and the teams in each group played against each other on a home-and-away basis, meaning that each team played a total of six group matches. For each win, teams were awarded two points, with one point awarded for each draw. At the end of the group stage, the first team in each group advanced to the final.

Group A

Group B

Final

The final was played on 26 May 1993 at the Olympiastadion in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Germany.

Top goalscorers

The top scorers from the 1992–93 UEFA Champions League (excluding preliminary round) are as follows:

References

External links

1992–93 All matches – season at UEFA website
* All scorers 1992–93 UEFA Champions League (excluding preliminary round) according t
protocols UEFA
+ all scorer

– results and line-ups (archive) {{DEFAULTSORT:1992-93 UEFA Champions League UEFA Champions League seasons 1 1