1995-96_UEFA_Champions_League
1995–96 UEFA Champions League
41st season of the UEFA club football tournament
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.
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | Qualifying: 9–23 August 1995 Competition proper: 13 September 1995 – 22 May 1996 |
| Teams | Competition proper: 16 Total: 24 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Juventus (2nd title) |
| Runners-up |  Ajax |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 61 |
| Goals scored | 159 (2.61 per match) |
| Attendance | 1,870,462 (30,663 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Jari Litmanen (Ajax) 9 goals |
← 1994–95 1996–97 → | |
It was the first tournament in which three points were awarded for a win instead of two.
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 UEFA Cup.[1]
| Group stage | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| AjaxTH (1st) |
 Nantes (1st) |
 Real Madrid (1st) |
 Porto (1st) |
| Juventus (1st) |
 Borussia Dortmund (1st) |
 Blackburn Rovers (1st) |
 Spartak Moscow (1st) |
| Qualifying round | |||
 Anderlecht (1st) |
 AaB (1st) |
 Legia Warsaw (1st) |
 Ferencváros (1st) |
 Beşiktaş (1st) |
 Göteborg (1st) |
 Steaua București (1st) |
 Hajduk Split (1st) |
 Casino Salzburg (1st) |
 Rangers (1st) |
 Rosenborg (1st) |
 Anorthosis Famagusta (1st) |
 Panathinaikos (1st) |
 Grasshopper (1st) |
 Maccabi Tel Aviv (1st) |
 Dynamo Kyiv (1st) |
The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held in Geneva, Switzerland).
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying round | 12 July 1995 | 9 August 1995 | 23 August 1995 | |
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 25 August 1995 | 13 September 1995 | |
| Matchday 2 | 27 September 1995 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 18 October 1995 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 1 November 1995 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 22 November 1995 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 6 December 1995 | |||
| Knockout phase | Quarter-finals | 6 March 1996 | 20 March 1996 | |
| Semi-finals | 3 April 1996 | 17 April 1996 | ||
| Final | 22 May 1996 at Stadio Olimpico, Rome | |||
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 Aalborg BK replacing them in the group stage. Dynamo's ban was eventually reduced to one season.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grasshopper |
2–1 | Maccabi Tel Aviv |
1–1 | 1–0 |
| Rangers |
1–0 | Anorthosis Famagusta |
1–0 | 0–0 |
| Legia Warsaw |
3–1 | IFK Göteborg |
1–0 | 2–1 |
| Casino Salzburg |
0–1 | Steaua București |
0–0 | 0–1 |
| Dynamo Kyiv |
4–1 | Aalborg BK |
1–0 | 3–1 |
| Rosenborg |
4–3 | Beşiktaş |
3–0 | 1–3 |
| Anderlecht |
1–2 | Ferencváros |
0–1 | 1–1 |
| Panathinaikos |
1–1 (a) | Hajduk Split |
0–0 | 1–1 |
11 teams of 16 made their debut in the UEFA Champions League group stage: Aalborg BK, 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. Aalborg, Ferencvaros, Grasshopper, Legia and Rosenborg were the first teams to play in group stage from Denmark, Hungary, Switzerland, Poland and Norway respectively.
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | PAN | NAN | POR | AAB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Panathinaikos |
6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 11 | Advance to knockout stage | — | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | |
| 2 | Nantes |
6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 9 | 0–0 | — | 0–0 | 3–1 | ||
| 3 | Porto |
6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 7 | 0–1 | 2–2 | — | 2–0 | ||
| 4 | AaB[lower-alpha 1] |
6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 12 | −7 | 4 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 2–2 | — |
Notes:
- After matchday 1 in the group, Aalborg BK replaced Dynamo Kyiv, who were banned following a failed attempt to bribe a referee.
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | SPA | LW | ROS | BR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spartak Moscow |
6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 4 | +11 | 18 | Advance to knockout stage | — | 2–1 | 4–1 | 3–0 | |
| 2 | Legia Warsaw |
6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 8 | −3 | 7 | 0–1 | — | 3–1 | 1–0 | ||
| 3 | Rosenborg |
6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 16 | −5 | 6 | 2–4 | 4–0 | — | 2–1 | ||
| 4 | Blackburn Rovers |
6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 8 | −3 | 4 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 4–1 | — |
Group C
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | JUV | DOR | STE | RAN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juventus |
6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 4 | +11 | 13 | Advance to knockout stage | — | 1–2 | 3–0 | 4–1 | |
| 2 | Borussia Dortmund |
6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 9 | 1–3 | — | 1–0 | 2–2 | ||
| 3 | Steaua București |
6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 6 | 0–0 | 0–0 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 4 | Rangers |
6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 14 | −8 | 3 | 0–4 | 2–2 | 1–1 | — |
Group D
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | AJA | RM | FER | GRA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ajax |
6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 1 | +14 | 16 | Advance to knockout stage | — | 1–0 | 4–0 | 3–0 | |
| 2 | Real Madrid |
6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 10 | 0–2 | — | 6–1 | 2–0 | ||
| 3 | Ferencváros |
6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 19 | −10 | 5 | 1–5 | 1–1 | — | 3–3 | ||
| 4 | Grasshopper |
6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 13 | −10 | 2 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–3 | — |
Bracket
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | |||||||||||||
| Borussia Dortmund
| 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Ajax
| 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||||
| Ajax
| 0 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||||||
| Panathinaikos
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Legia Warsaw
| 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Panathinaikos
| 0 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||||||
| Ajax
| 1 (2) | ||||||||||||||
| Juventus (p)
| 1 (4) | ||||||||||||||
| Real Madrid
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Juventus
| 0 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Juventus
| 2 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Nantes
| 0 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||||||
| Nantes
| 2 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Spartak Moscow
| 0 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||
Quarter-finals
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borussia Dortmund |
0–3 | Ajax |
0–2 | 0–1 |
| Legia Warsaw |
0–3 | Panathinaikos |
0–0 | 0–3 |
| Real Madrid |
1–2 | Juventus |
1–0 | 0–2 |
| Nantes |
4–2 | Spartak Moscow |
2–0 | 2–2 |
Semi-finals
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ajax |
3–1 | Panathinaikos |
0–1 | 3–0 |
| Juventus |
4–3 | Nantes |
2–0 | 2–3 |
Final
| Ajax | 1–1 (a.e.t.) | Juventus |
|---|---|---|
Litmanen  41' |
Report | Ravanelli 12' |
| Penalties | ||
Davids  Litmanen  Scholten Silooy |
2–4 | Ferrara Pessotto Padovano Jugović |
| Rank | Name | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jari Litmanen |
Ajax |
9 |
| 2 | Alessandro Del Piero |
Juventus |
6 |
| Raúl |
Real Madrid |
6 | |
| Krzysztof Warzycha |
Panathinaikos |
6 | |
| 5 | Patrick Kluivert |
Ajax |
5 |
| Yuriy Nikiforov |
Spartak Moscow |
5 | |
| Nicolas Ouédec |
Nantes |
5 | |
| Fabrizio Ravanelli |
Juventus |
5 | |
| 9 | Mike Newell |
Blackburn Rovers |
4 |
 Iván Zamorano |
Real Madrid |
4 | |
| 11 | Erik Bo Andersen |
Aalborg BK |
3 |
| Karl Petter Løken |
Rosenborg |
3 | |
| Reynald Pedros |
Nantes |
3 | |
| Sergei Yuran |
Spartak Moscow |
3 | |
 Japhet N'Doram |
Nantes |
3 |
- 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)