The 1980–81 UEFA Cup was the 10th edition of the UEFA Cup, the third-tier club football competition organised by UEFA. The final was played over two legs at Portman Road, Ipswich, England, and at the Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was won by Ipswich Town of England, who defeated AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands by an aggregate result of 5–4 to claim their only UEFA Cup title.
This was the only European title for Ipswich Town, who never made it past a quarterfinal round before, and would never go beyond the third round in future competitions. As of 2024, this has been the only appearance in a major European final for both teams, which was also the case with the finalists of the European Cup Winners' Cup that season. Both are the only current instances in a major UEFA tournament; it has also happened with the finalists of the 1968–69 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which is considered an unofficial tournament by UEFA.
The UEFA ranking was introduced to serve as the method to determine the number of competing teams per country, and the Fairs Cup entry criteria was finally abolished.1979 ranking
Association team allocation A total of 64 teams from 31 UEFA member associations participate in the 1980–81 UEFA Cup. For the first time, an association ranking based on the newly introduced UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association:
Associations 1–3 each have four teams qualify. Associations 4–8 each have three teams qualify. Associations 9–21 each have two teams qualify. Associations 22–32 each have one team qualify.
Association ranking For the 1980–81 UEFA Cup, the associations are allocated places according to their 1979 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 1974–75 to 1978–79.
+Association ranking for 1980-81 UEFA CupRankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes1 West Germany52.61752 Netherlands39.20043 Belgium38.3004 England38.14135 Spain35.8006 Soviet Union33.0507 Yugoslavia28.2508 East Germany26.6509 Italy25.932210 France24.25011 Hungary22.65012 Czechoslovakia21.50013 Poland18.85014 Portugal17.75015 Austria17.70016 Switzerland17.65017 Scotland16.500RankAssociationCoeff.TeamsNotes18 Sweden15.4002- Wales15.000019 Greece15.000220 Bulgaria13.20021 Romania10.80022 Turkey10.000123 Denmark7.75024 Republic of Ireland7.33225 Norway6.25026 Finland5.49827 Northern Ireland4.66628 Cyprus3.99929 Malta3.66430 Iceland3.33131 Albania2.000032 Luxembourg1.6661
Teams The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for competition: TH: Title holders CW: Cup winners CR: Cup runners-up LC: League Cup winners 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position P-W: End-of-season European competition play-offs winners
+ Qualified teams for 1980–81 UEFA Cup Eintracht Frankfurt Hamburger SV Stuttgart Kaiserslautern Köln AZ Alkmaar PSV Eindhoven Utrecht Twente Standard Liège Molenbeek Lokeren Anderlecht Manchester United Ipswich Town Wolverhampton Real Sociedad Sporting de Gijón Barcelona Shakhtar Donetsk Dynamo Kyiv Dynamo Moscow Sarajevo Radnički Niš Napredak Kruševac Dynamo Dresden Magdeburg Vorwärts Frankfurt Juventus Torino Sochaux Saint-Étienne Újpest Dózsa Vasas Zbrojovka Brno Bohemians Prague Widzew Łódź Śląsk Wrocław Porto Boavista VÖEST Linz LASK Grasshoppers Servette St Mirren Dundee United IFK Göteborg Elfsborg Aris Panathinaikos Levski-Spartak Sofia Beroe Stara Zagora Steaua București Argeș Pitești Fenerbahçe S.K. KB Dundalk Moss KuPS Ballymena United Pezoporikos Larnaca Sliema Wanderers ÍA Red Boys Differdange Notes
Schedule The schedule of the competition was as follows. Matches were scheduled for Wednesdays, though some matches in the first two rounds exceptionally took place on Tuesdays. +Schedule for 1980–81 UEFA CupRoundFirst legSecond legFirst round16–17 September 198024 September – 1 October 1980Second round21–22 October 19804–5 November 1980Third round26 November 198010 December 1980Quarter-finals4 March 198118 March 1981Semi-finals8 April 198122 April 1981Final6 May 198120 May 1981
First round
First leg
Second leg
Zbrojovka Brno won 5–1 on aggregate.
3–3 on aggregate; Kaiserslautern won on away goals.
Magdeburg won 5–3 on aggregate.
AZ Alkmaar won 10–0 on aggregate.
Vorwärts Frankfurt won 4–2 on aggregate.
Dynamo Dresden won 2–0 on aggregate.
Utrecht won 2–0 on aggregate.
FC Bohemians Praha won 4–3 on aggregate.
1–1 on aggregate; Levski Sofia won on away goals.
Eintracht Frankfurt won 3–1 on aggregate.
Sochaux won 3–2 on aggregate.
Twente won 5–3 on aggregate.
Beroe Stara Zagora won 3–1 on aggregate.
Porto won 1–0 on aggregate.
Grasshopper won 8–3 on aggregate.
Hamburg won 7–5 on aggregate.
St Mirren won 2–1 on aggregate.
Ipswich Town won 6–4 on aggregate.
Köln won 10–0 on aggregate.
Juventus won 6–4 on aggregate.
Lokeren won 2–1 on aggregate.
Saint-Étienne won 14–0 on aggregate.
Radnički Niš won 6–2 on aggregate.
1–1 on aggregate; Widzew Łódź won on away goals.
PSV Eindhoven won 3–2 on aggregate.
Torino won 4–3 on aggregate.
Dundee United won 7–2 on aggregate.
Barcelona won 3–0 on aggregate.
Standard Liège won 3–2 on aggregate.
Real Sociedad won 2–1 on aggregate.
Boavista won 2–1 on aggregate.
Stuttgart won 10–1 on aggregate.
Second round
First leg
Second leg
Real Sociedad won 3–2 on aggregate.
Standard Liège won 4–2 on aggregate.
1. FC Köln won 4–1 on aggregate.
1–1 on aggregate; Lokeren won on away goals
Eintracht Frankfurt won 4–3 on aggregate.
Sochaux won 3–2 on aggregate.
1–1 on aggregate; Dynamo Dresden won on away goals
Grasshoppers won 3–2 on aggregate.
Ipswich Town won 3–2 on aggregate.
Radnički Niš won 3–1 on aggregate.
AZ Alkmaar won 6–1 on aggregate.
Hamburg won 3–2 on aggregate.
Saint-Étienne won 2–0 on aggregate.
Torino won 3–2 on aggregate.
Stuttgart won 7–2 on aggregate.
4–4 on aggregate; Widzew Łódź won 4–1 on penalties.
Third round
First leg
Second leg
4–4 on aggregate; Sochaux won on away goals.
3–3 on aggregate; Grasshoppers won 4–3 on penalties.
Saint-Étienne won 6–0 on aggregate.
Ipswich Town won 5–1 on aggregate.
Lokeren won 3–2 on aggregate.
AZ won 7–2 on aggregate.
Standard Liège won 5–2 on aggregate.
Köln won 5–4 on aggregate.
Quarter-finals
First leg
Second leg
Ipswich Town won 7–2 on aggregate.
AZ Alkmaar won 2–1 on aggregate.
Sochaux won 2–1 on aggregate.
Köln won 3–2 on aggregate.
Semi-finals
First leg
Second leg
AZ Alkmaar won 4–3 on aggregate.
Ipswich Town won 2–0 on aggregate.
Final
First leg
Second leg
Ipswich Town won 5–4 on aggregate.
See also 1980–81 European Cup 1980–81 European Cup Winners' Cup
References
External links 1980–81 All matches UEFA Cup – season at UEFA website Official website Results at RSSSF.com All scorers 1980–81 UEFA Cup according to 1980/81 UEFA Cup - results and line-ups (archive)