The 1995–96 UEFA Champions League was the 41st season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, and the fourth since its rebranding as the UEFA Champions League. The tournament was won by Juventus, who beat defending champions Ajax on penalties in the final for their first European Cup since 1985, and their second overall. It was the only Champions League title that Juventus won in the 1990s, despite reaching the next two finals, and one of only three Italian wins in the final, despite there being a Serie A club in every final for seven consecutive years from 1992 to 1998.
It was the first tournament in which three points were awarded for a win instead of two.
Association team allocation
24 teams entered the competition – the national champions of each of the top 24 nations in the UEFA coefficient rankings, including UEFA Champions League holders, Ajax. The national champions of the associations ranked 1–7, plus the title holders, all received a bye to the group stage, while the national champions of the associations ranked 8–24 entered in the qualifying round. The remaining national champions from the associations ranked 25–47 were only allowed to participate in the UEFA Cup.
Association ranking
For the 1995–96 UEFA Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their 1995 UEFA association coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 1990–91 to 1994–95.
Distribution
Since the title holders (Ajax) qualified for the Champions League qualifying round through their domestic league and entered the group stage automatically, their spot in the qualifying round was vacated. Due to this, as well as Yugoslavia's exclusion, the following changes to the default access list were made:
- The champions of association 24 and 25 (Cyprus and Ukraine) were promoted from the UEFA Cup preliminary round to the Champions League qualifying round.
Teams
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round:
- TH: Champions League title holders
- 1st: League position of the previous season
Round and draw dates
The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held in Geneva, Switzerland).
Qualifying round
Dynamo Kyiv won their tie against AaB, but, in their first group game against Panathinaikos, they were accused of a failed attempt to bribe the referee, Antonio López Nieto, to get a win. Despite an appeal, they were ejected from the competition and banned for two years, with AaB replacing them in the group stage. Dynamo's ban was eventually reduced to one season.
Group stage
11 teams of 16 made their debut in the UEFA Champions League group stage: AaB, Blackburn Rovers, Borussia Dortmund, Ferencváros, Grasshopper, Juventus, Legia Warsaw, Nantes, Panathinaikos, Real Madrid and Rosenborg. Panathinaikos had already played in the group stage of the 1991–92 European Cup. AaB, Ferencvaros, Grasshopper, Legia and Rosenborg were the first teams to play in group stage from Denmark, Hungary, Switzerland, Poland and Norway respectively.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Knockout stage
Bracket
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
The final was played on 22 May 1996 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy.
Top goalscorers
See also
- 1995–96 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
- 1995–96 UEFA Cup
- 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup
References
External links
- 1995–96 All matches – season at UEFA website
- All matches - Line ups
- European Cup results at RSSSF
- All scorers 1995–96 UEFA Champions League (excluding qualifying round) according to protocols UEFA all scorers qualifying round
- 1995/96 UEFA Champions League – results and line-ups (archive)
