The 1978–79 UEFA Cup was the eighth season of the UEFA Cup, the third-tier club football competition organised by UEFA. The final was played over two legs at the Red Star Stadium, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and at the Rheinstadion, Düsseldorf, West Germany. It was won by Borussia Mönchengladbach of West Germany, who defeated Red Star Belgrade of Yugoslavia by an aggregate result of 2–1 to claim their second UEFA Cup title.
Red Star Belgrade became the third Yugoslav and second Serbian team to reach a European final, but couldn't defeat the more experienced West German side, who reached their fourth European final out of five in a seven-year span.
Association team allocation A total of 64 teams from 31 UEFA member associations participate in the 1978–79 UEFA Cup. The original allocation scheme was as follows:
3 associations have four teams qualify. 3 associations have three teams qualify. 18 associations have two teams qualify. 7 associations have one team qualify.
East Germany and Bulgaria were the two associations selected to have a third birth for this season, while Poland and Switzerland went back to two qualified teams. +Associations in the 1978–79 UEFA CupFour teams West Germany England ItalyThree teams Spain East Germany BulgariaTwo teams Netherlands Soviet Union Belgium Yugoslavia Hungary Portugal Czechoslovakia Poland France Scotland Greece Switzerland Sweden Romania Austria Turkey Denmark NorwayOne team Republic of Ireland Northern Ireland Finland Cyprus Malta Iceland LuxembourgDid not compete Wales Albania
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 1978–79 UEFA Cup Borussia Mönchengladbach Hertha BSC Stuttgart Duisburg Everton Manchester City Arsenal West Bromwich Albion Vicenza Torino AC Milan Napoli Athletic Bilbao Valencia Sporting Gijón Dynamo Berlin Lokomotive Leipzig Carl Zeiss Jena CSKA Sofia Levski-Spartak Sofia Botev Plovdiv Ajax Twente Dinamo Tbilisi Torpedo Moscow Standard Liège Lierse Red Star Belgrade Hajduk Split Budapest Honvéd MTK Budapest Benfica Braga Dukla Prague Lokomotíva Košice Śląsk Wrocław Lech Poznań Nantes Strasbourg Dundee United Hibernian Panathinaikos Olympiacos Basel Lausanne-Sport Elfsborg Norrköping Argeș Pitești Politehnica Timișoara Rapid Wien Sturm Graz Galatasaray Adanaspor B 1903 Esbjerg Molde IK Start Finn Harps Glentoran KuPS Kuopio Pezoporikos Larnaca Hibernians ÍBV Jeunesse Esch
Schedule The schedule of the competition was as follows. Matches were scheduled for Wednesdays, though some matches took place on Tuesdays or Thursdays. Also, both away games for Śląsk Wrocław in the first two rounds were held on a Saturday. +Schedule for 1978–79 UEFA CupRoundFirst legSecond legFirst round5–16 September 197814–28 September 1978Second round18–21 October 197831 October – 2 November 1978Third round22–23 November 19786 December 1978Quarter-finals7 March 197920–21 March 1979Semi-finals10–11 April 197924–25 April 1979Final9 May 197923 May 1979
First round
First leg
Enzo Ferrero scored an olympic goal.
Second leg
Dukla Prague won 2–1 on aggregate.
1–1 on aggregate. Milan won in a penalty shoot-out.
Valencia won 5–3 on aggregate.
Borussia Mönchengladbach won 7–2 on aggregate.
Argeș Pitești won 5–1 on aggregate.
Ajax won 3–2 on aggregate.
Everton won 10–0 on aggregate.
Lausanne-Sport won 2–0 on aggregate.
Benfica won 2–0 on aggregate.
Sporting Gijón won 3–1 on aggregate.
Braga won 7–3 on aggregate.
West Bromwich Albion won 6–2 on aggregate.
6–6 on aggregate, Red Star Belgrade won on away goals rule.
KuPS won 6–5 on aggregate.
Stuttgart won 7–3 on aggregate.
Torpedo Moscow won 7–3 on aggregate.
Strasbourg won 4–3 on aggregate.
MSV Duisburg won 10–2 on aggregate.
Standard Liège won 1–0 on aggregate.
Esbjerg won 1–0 on aggregate.
Arsenal won 7–1 on aggregate.
Carl Zeiss Jena won 3–2 on aggregate.
1–1 on aggregate, ÍBV won on away goals rule.
Manchester City won 4–3 on aggregate.
Hibernian won 3–2 on aggregate.
Politehnica Timișoara won 3–2 on aggregate.
Śląsk Wrocław won 7–3 on aggregate.
Levski Sofia won 4–3 on aggregate.
Dinamo Tbilisi won 3–1 on aggregate.
Hajduk Split won 3–2 on aggregate.
Hertha BSC won 2–1 on aggregate.
Budapest Honvéd won 8–2 on aggregate.
Second round
First leg
Second leg
Ajax won 5–0 on aggregate.
Budapest Honvéd won 4–2 on aggregate.
2–2 on aggregate, Dukla Prague won on away goals rule.
Valencia won 6–4 on aggregate.
MSV Duisburg won 3–0 on aggregate.
Stuttgart won 3–2 on aggregate.
2–2 on aggregate, Arsenal won on away goals rule.
Hertha BSC won 2–1 on aggregate.
Śląsk Wrocław won 4–1 on aggregate.
Esbjerg won 6–1 on aggregate.
Manchester City won 4–2 on aggregate.
Milan won 4–1 on aggregate. On 23 November 1978, UEFA fined Milan $14,000 for a bribery attempt to the Scottish referee John Gordon and linesmen Rollo Kyle and David McCartney (Italian club took the officials to shop for free the day before the game). Curiously, UEFA did not sanction the referee at all, however, Scottish Football Association suspended him.
Strasbourg won 2–1 on aggregate.
West Bromwich Albion won 3–0 on aggregate.
Borussia Mönchengladbach won 2–0 on aggregate.
Red Star Belgrade won 2–1 on aggregate.
Third round
First leg
Second leg
Manchester City won 5–2 on aggregate.
Borussia Mönchengladbach won 5–3 on aggregate.
Budapest Honvéd won 4–3 on aggregate.
Hertha BSC won 5–2 on aggregate.
MSV Duisburg won 4–0 on aggregate.
Red Star Belgrade won 2–1 on aggregate.
West Bromwich Albion won 3–1 on aggregate.
Dukla Prague won 5–4 on aggregate.
Quarter-finals
First leg
Second leg
4–4 on aggregate, MSV Duisburg won on away goals rule.
Hertha BSC won 3–2 on aggregate.
Borussia Mönchengladbach won 4–2 on aggregate.
Red Star Belgrade won 2–1 on aggregate.
Semi-finals
First leg
Second leg
Borussia Mönchengladbach won 6–3 on aggregate.
2–2 on aggregate, Red Star Belgrade won on away goals rule.
Final
First leg
Second leg
Borussia Mönchengladbach won 2–1 on aggregate.
References
External links 1978–79 All matches UEFA Cup – season at UEFA website Official Site Results at RSSSF.com All scorers 1978–79 UEFA Cup according to protocols UEFA 1978/79 UEFA Cup - results and line-ups (archive)