| Tourney Name: | UEFA Cup |
| Year: | 1971–72 |
| Dates: | – |
| Num Teams: | 63[1] |
| Associations: | 31 |
| Champion Other: | Tottenham Hotspur |
| Count: | 1 |
| Second Other: | Wolverhampton Wanderers |
| Matches: | 122 |
| Goals: | 368 |
| Attendance: | 2110102 |
| Top Scorer: | Ludwig Bründl (Eintracht Braunschweig) 10 goals |
| Prevseason: | 1970–71 (Inter-Cities Fairs Cup) |
| Nextseason: | 1972–73 |
The 1971–72 UEFA Cup was the inaugural season of the UEFA Cup, now known as the UEFA Europa League, which became the third club football competition organised by UEFA. The tournament retained the structure and format of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which ran from 1955 to 1971 and had been held independently of UEFA by an organizing committee composed mostly of FIFA executives.
The final was played in England over two legs, at Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, and at White Hart Lane, London. The first UEFA Cup was won by Tottenham Hotspur, who defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers by an aggregate result of 3–2.
English clubs had won the last four editions of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. This was the first ever European final between two clubs from England, a feat that would not be repeated until the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League. This was Wolverhampton's lone appearance in a European final, and Tottenham's second European title, nine years after their success in the European Cup Winners' Cup.
The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was created in 1955, being actually started a few months earlier than the UEFA-organised European Cup during the summer. The 'Fairs Cup', as it came to be known, was intended to provide a competitive background for matches between the representative teams of cities that hosted international trade fairs, which were being held in the previous years. As such, its calendar was highly irregular, with the first two editions being played over a five-year span.
The tournament had the backing of several influential football officials. This included FIFA Executive Committee members Ernst Thommen, who was the president of the Swiss Football Association, as well as Sir Stanley Rous and Ottorino Barassi. With no further need for international governance, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was internally regulated, from the referees to the disciplinary measures, and no coordination at all with the European Cup. At first, UEFA gave no further attention to the concept, as it was also inmersed from 1957 onwards in taking over the International Youth Tournament (nowadays, the UEFA European Under-19 Championship) thad had been initiated by FIFA.[2]
This approach changed at the start of the 60's as UEFA structures consolidated, being tasked by the FIFA statues to bring order to European competitions. In 1961, UEFA took over the European Cup Winners Cup after its inaugural edition, and in 1962 devised a plan to streamline the continental calendars and its competitions. A new ruling stated that "competitions open to the clubs of all National Associations affiliated to UEFA may only be organized by UEFA itself". However, this wasn't initially enforced with the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, due to its good reputation and the influence held by its organisers. In the meantime, the competition had adjusted to an annual schedule, while club teams quickly replaced city teams.
By 1964, the belief within the UEFA Executive Committee was that the competition "should be governed and organised by UEFA itself", to ensure consistency over the rules, refereeing and disciplinary matters.[3] An initial proposal by the Scottish Football Association for UEFA to take over the tournament fell through by 15 votes to 5, due to the opposition of Sir Stanley Rous in his new role as FIFA president, and the support of the Football Association. However, when Scotland submitted a new proposal in 1966, the English association did agree that time, and the motion was narrowly passed by 11 votes to 10 despite the efforts of Rous to prevent it.
Owing to the minimal margin between both positions, UEFA agreed to enter a negotiation period with the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup organizers. The terms were finally approved in 1968, and UEFA was due to take over for the 1969–70 edition. However, just a few months prior, most of the member association presidents agreed to extend the 'transitional period', which lasted for two further years. The tournament was then renamed as the UEFA Cup.
The main changes came with the entry criteria. Teams would no longer be bound to their city being host to an international trade fair, and multiple teams from the same city could be entered. Qualification for the UEFA Cup was devised purely on sporting merits, either by the highest-placed European teams that had not qualified for the European Cup or UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, or by winning a secondary cup competition, such as a league cup. Initially, the lone exception to the rule came from England, which still applied the 'one city, one team' rule until UEFA imposed the standard qualification procedure in 1975. Otherwise, the UEFA Cup retained the same 64-team, five knock-out rounds format for a two-legged final, with multiple teams from Europe's strongest leagues.
A total of 64 teams from 32 UEFA member associations were entered in the 1971–72 UEFA Cup. As the 'trade fair' requirement was abolished, teams from the Soviet Union, Cyprus and Albania were admitted for the first time, which required further modifications into the allocation scheme previously set up by the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
Due to the newly entered associations, Belgium, Scotland and Yugoslavia lost the fourth birth they had gained the previous season, while England went back from five to four teams as the 'title holders' extra berth was not needed. Denmark and Greece also lost their second UEFA Cup birth, and East Germany regained their second birth, while Sweden and Bulgaria were also granted a second birth
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The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for competition:
The schedule of the competition was as follows. Matches were primarily scheduled for Wednesdays, though some matches took place on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
| First round | 14–22 September 1971 | 28 September – 6 October 1971 | |
| Second round | 19–21 October 1971 | 2–4 November 1971 | |
| Third round | 23 November – 8 December 1971 | 8–15 December 1971 | |
| Quarter-finals | 23 February – 9 March 1972 | 7–22 March 1972 | |
| Semi-finals | 5 April 1972 | 19 April 1972 | |
| Final | 3 May 1972 | 17 May 1972 |
Teams from the same nation could not be drawn against one another.
|}1 Vllaznia withdrew after Albanian authorities banned the team from international competition, due to its volleyball team coming back from abroad with gifts and items that were deemed forbidden.
2 This match was played in Reykjavík.
3 Chemie Halle withdrew after the first leg following the Hotel 't Silveren Seepaerd fire.
Vllaznia withdrew after Albanian authorities banned the team from international competition, due to its volleyball team coming back from abroad with gifts and items that were deemed forbidden; Rapid Wien were awarded a walkover.----Ferencváros won 4–2 on aggregate.----ADO Den Haag won 7–2 on aggregate.----Tottenham Hotspur won 15–1 on aggregate.----Eintracht Braunschweig won 7–1 on aggregate.----2–2 on aggregate. Vitória de Setúbal won on away goals.----Carl Zeiss Jena won 4–3 on aggregate.----UTA Arad won 5–4 on aggregate.----OFK Beograd won 6–3 on aggregate.----Juventus won 11–0 on aggregate.----Vasas won 2–1 on aggregate.----Zaglebie Walbrzych won 4–2 on aggregate.----Spartak Moscow won 3–2 on aggregate.----Željezničar won 4–3 on aggregate.----Dinamo Zagreb won 8–2 on aggregate.----St Johnstone won 4–2 on aggregate.----Hertha BSC won 7–2 on aggregate.----Rosenborg won 4–0 on aggregate.----Real Madrid won 4–2 on aggregate.----Chemie Halle withdrew ahead of the return leg due to the Eindhoven hotel fire that claimed the life of Halle's 21-year-old midfielder Wolfgang Hoffmann one day before the match. PSV Eindhoven were awarded a walkover.[4] ----Lierse won 4–2 on aggregate.----Aberdeen won 3–0 on aggregate.----1. FC Köln won 3–2 on aggregate.----Dundee won 5–2 on aggregate.----Legia Warsaw won 3–1 on aggregate.----Athletic Bilbao won 3–2 on aggregate.----Wolverhampton Wanderers won 7–1 on aggregate.----Rapid București won 2–1 on aggregate.----Bologna won 3–1 on aggregate.----Nantes won 3–1 on aggregate.----2–2 on aggregate. Panionios won on away goals.----Milan won 7–0 on aggregate.
Teams from the same nation could not be drawn against one another.
|}1 After the final whistle in the first leg, visiting Panionios fans invaded the pitch and attacked Ferencváros players, match officials, and Hungarian police. Panionios were ejected from the competition.
2 This match was played in 's-Hertogenbosch.
Rapid București won 4–2 on aggregate.----Dundee won 5–4 on aggregate.----UTA Arad won 3–2 on aggregate.----Carl Zeiss Jena won 5–1 on aggregate.----2–2 on aggregate. Rapid Wien won on away goals.----3–3 on aggregate. Željezničar won on away goals.----After the final whistle in the first leg, visiting Panionios fans invaded the pitch and attacked Ferencváros players, match officials, and Hungarian police. Panionios were ejected from the competition. Ferencváros were awarded a walkover.----Eintracht Braunschweig won 4–3 on aggregate.----4–4 on aggregate. Lierse won on away goals.----Wolverhampton Wanderers won 7–1 on aggregate.----Tottenham Hotspur won 1–0 on aggregate.----St Johnstone won 2–1 on aggregate.----Milan won 5–4 on aggregate.----3–3 on aggregate. PSV Eindhoven won on away goals.----Vitória de Setúbal won 4–0 on aggregate.----Juventus won 3–1 on aggregate.
Teams from the same nation could not be drawn against one another.
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Wolverhampton Wanderers won 4–0 on aggregate.----UTA Arad won 3–1 on aggregate.----Juventus won 5–1 on aggregate.----Ferencváros won 6–3 on aggregate.----Lierse won 4–1 on aggregate.----Željezničar won 5–2 on aggregate.----Milan won 3–2 on aggregate.----Tottenham Hotspur won 5–0 on aggregate.
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Milan won 3–1 on aggregate.----Tottenham Hotspur won 3–1 on aggregate.----Wolverhampton Wanderers won 3–2 on aggregate.----3–3 on aggregate. Ferencváros won 5–4 on penalties.
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Wolverhampton Wanderers won 4–3 on aggregate.----Tottenham Hotspur won 3–2 on aggregate.
See main article: 1972 UEFA Cup final.
Tottenham Hotspur won 3–2 on aggregate.