1991–92 European Cup


The 1991–92 European Cup was the 37th season of the European Cup football club tournament. It was the first European Cup to have a group stage, from which the winning clubs progressed to the final. 1991–92 was the tournament's last edition before it was re-branded as the UEFA Champions League.
The group stage involved the eight winning clubs from round 2. The clubs were split into two groups of four, playing each other home and away, and the winning club from each group met in the 1992 European Cup Final.
The competition was won for the first time by Barcelona after extra time in the final against Sampdoria, the first victory in the tournament by a team from Spain since 1966. The winning goal was scored by Ronald Koeman with a free kick.
The defending champions, Red Star Belgrade, did not have an opportunity to play at their own ground because of the Yugoslav Wars, thereby reducing their chances of defending their title. Red Star were eliminated in the group stage. It was also the final season in which the clubs from that country were able to participate in the primary European football competition. The clubs from some other former Yugoslav republics were allowed to compete as early as in the 1993–94 season, but due to UN embargo it was only in 1997–98 when the clubs from Federal Republic of Yugoslavia returned to what was now the UEFA Champions League.
In addition, it was the last time an East German team competed in the European Cup, F.C. Hansa Rostock. After the reunification of Germany and its football leagues, the first eastern club to qualify was RB Leipzig, 26 years later, in the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League.
English clubs returned to the European Cup, after their five-year ban from European competitions following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985. The 1990 Football League champions Liverpool had been unable to participate in the 1990–91 European Cup because they had been banned for an additional sixth year. Arsenal represented England in 1991–92, and reached the second round.

Teams

A total of 32 teams participated in the competition, all entering into the [|first round].
Flamurtari Austria Wien Anderlecht Etar
Apollon Limassol Sparta Prague Brøndby Arsenal
HJK Helsinki Marseille Hansa Rostock 1. FC Kaiserslautern
Panathinaikos Budapest Honvéd Fram Reykjavík Sampdoria
Union Luxembourg Ħamrun Spartans PSV Eindhoven Portadown
Rosenborg Zagłębie Lubin Benfica Dundalk
Universitatea Craiova Rangers Dynamo Kyiv Barcelona
IFK Göteborg Grasshopper Beşiktaş Red Star BelgradeTH

Notes

First round

First leg

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Second leg

Brøndby won 4–2 on aggregate.
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Apollon Limassol won 3–2 on aggregate.
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IFK Göteborg 1–1 Flamurtari Vlorë on aggregate. IFK Göteborg won on away goals.
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Kaiserslautern won 3–1 on aggregate.
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Dynamo Kyiv won 4–0 on aggregate.
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Marseille won 10–0 on aggregate.
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Sampdoria won 7–1 on aggregate.
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Fram Reykjavík 2–2 Panathinaikos on aggregate. Panathinaikos won on away goals.
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Budapest Honvéd won 3–1 on aggregate.
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Red Star Belgrade won 8–0 on aggregate.
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Arsenal won 6–2 on aggregate.
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PSV Eindhoven won 3–2 on aggregate.
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Anderlecht won 4–1 on aggregate.
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Barcelona won 3–1 on aggregate.
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Sparta Prague 2–2 Rangers on aggregate. Sparta Prague won on away goals.
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Benfica won 10–0 on aggregate.

Second round

First leg

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Second leg

Marseille 4–4 Sparta Prague on aggregate. Sparta Prague won on away goals.
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Red Star Belgrade won 5–1 on aggregate.
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Panathinaikos won 4–2 on aggregate.
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Dynamo Kyiv won 2–1 on aggregate.
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Anderlecht won 2–0 on aggregate.
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Barcelona 3–3 Kaiserslautern on aggregate. Barcelona won on away goals.
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Benfica won 4–2 on aggregate.
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Sampdoria won 4–3 on aggregate.

Group stage

Group A


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Match was played in Budapest, Hungary since UEFA suspended Yugoslav teams from playing their home matches in Yugoslavia due to the deteriorating security situation in the country caused by the ethnic incidents that eventually turned into the Yugoslav Wars.
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Match was played in Sofia, Bulgaria since UEFA suspended Yugoslav teams from playing their home matches in Yugoslavia due to the deteriorating security situation in the country caused by the ethnic incidents that eventually turned into the Yugoslav Wars.
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Match was played in Sofia, Bulgaria since UEFA suspended Yugoslav teams from playing their home matches in Yugoslavia due to the deteriorating security situation in the country caused by the ethnic incidents that eventually turned into the Yugoslav Wars.
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Group B


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Final

Top scorers

The top scorers from the 1991–92 European Cup are as follows:
RankNameTeamGoals
1 Sergei Yuran Benfica7
1 Jean-Pierre Papin Olympique Marseille7
3 Luc Nilis Anderlecht6
3 Darko Pančev Red Star Belgrade6
3 Gianluca Vialli Sampdoria6
6 Isaías Benfica5
7 Hristo Stoichkov Barcelona4
7 César Brito Benfica4
7 Marc Degryse Anderlecht4
7 Attilio Lombardo Sampdoria4
7 Roberto Mancini Sampdoria4
7 Siniša Mihajlović Red Star Belgrade4
7 Alan Smith Arsenal4