Rangers F.C. played their first official match in competitive European football on 2 October 1956.
To date, the club has featured in over 300 matches and played in four UEFA sanctioned tournaments as well as an additional two other European competitions, namely the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and the European Super Cup.
Overview
1960s to 1980s The club's first European opponents were Austrian side First Vienna, faced in a friendly match during a tour of Austria and Czechoslovakia in the 1903–04 season, which Rangers won 7–2. The team concluded the tour with six victories from six games. Rangers's first competitive match was a European Cup second-round match against Nice in 1956. The match ended in a 2–1 home victory for Rangers thanks to goals from Max Murray (Rangers' first European goal scorer) and Billy Simpson.
In the 1960–61 season, Rangers took part in the inaugural European Cup Winners' Cup. In this season, they became the second British club to reach a European final (emulating Birmingham City, who had reached the final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup the previous year), eventually losing 4–1 on aggregate to Fiorentina. Rangers were also runners-up to Bayern Munich in 1966–67. However, they did go on to win the trophy in 1972 after defeating Dynamo Moscow.
The 1982–83 season saw Rangers play in the UEFA Cup for the first time. They defeated Borussia Dortmund in the first round but were eliminated in the following round by 1. FC Köln.
1990s Rangers became the first Scottish club to appear in the UEFA Champions League, when in 1992 they defeated Danish side Lyngby in the first round. Rangers faced Leeds United in the second round in a tie dubbed the "Battle of Britain" due to the clubs being the respective champions of Scotland and England. In this, the inaugural season of the Champions League, the tournament was open only to national champions, with knock-out rounds leading to a group stage of eight teams in two groups of four, and only the winners of each group progressing to a one-off final match. Although unbeaten, Rangers finished second in Group A, one point behind French champions Marseille, who defeated Milan in the final. The French club were later involved in a match-fixing scandal and were stripped of their national title. It is not clear whether the group stage of the 1992–93 Champions League should be considered as a semi-final, given that the winners of each group went into the final, or as a quarter-final, given that it was contested by the last eight teams in the competition. However, Rangers' second-placed finish in their group made them one of the top four teams in that season's tournament – their highest ever finish in the Champions League and equalling their 1959–60 run to the semi-finals in its predecessor format of the competition, the European Cup.
In 1999–2000 under Dick Advocaat, the club had assembled a squad containing several Dutchmen and other internationals, at huge expense. They eliminated UEFA Cup holders Parma in the Champions League qualifying round, only to be drawn in a group containing two more of Europe's strongest teams: Bayern Munich were the 1999 runners-up, while Valencia were destined to be the 2000 runners-up, and those two clubs met in the 2001 final. Despite that quality of opposition, Rangers came close to eliminating Bayern, and after falling into the UEFA Cup, lost to Borussia Dortmund via a last-minute goal and a penalty shootout.
2000s In the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League, Rangers seemed poised to progress from the group after beating Sturm Graz and Monaco in the first two rounds of fixtures, but collected just two more points and finished third, with German opposition (Kaiserslautern) again swiftly ending UEFA Cup hopes.
In 2001–02, Rangers quickly dropped into the secondary competition and survived a late missed penalty to overcome Paris Saint-Germain (whose team included future Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldinho, and Mikel Arteta, who would soon move to Glasgow); they were knocked out by the eventual winners Feyenoord, inspired by former Celtic striker Pierre van Hooijdonk. By that time Alex McLeish had taken over from Advocaat, heralding an era of less lavish spending as the failure to succeed in Europe despite the heavy investment translated as worrying figures on Rangers' financial reports; this debt would later have dire consequences for the club, although in the short and medium term more domestic honours were won.
Rangers became the first Scottish club to qualify from the Champions League group stage in 2005–06, and from the UEFA Cup group stage in 2006–07.
After dropping into the 2007–08 UEFA Cup from the Champions League (where they had come close to progressing from a group including Barcelona, VfB Stuttgart and Lyon),Rangers... 2008 UEFA Cup: How the Light Blues made it to Manchester, Christopher Jack, Glasgow Times, 12 June 2015Rangers' long and winding road to Manchester for 2008 Uefa Cup final, Andy Campbell & David Currie, BBC Sport, 5 June 2020 Rangers reached the 2008 UEFA Cup final, eliminating Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen, Sporting CP and Fiorentina in a run characterised by Walter Smith's solid defensive tactics and narrow victories against strong opponents. The Manchester final saw a huge number of Rangers supporters (estimated at 150,000-200,000) make the short journey from Scotland, but the event was marred by serious disorder at one of the city's main 'fan zones' after the screen showing the match failed to function. On the field they met Russian side Zenit Saint Petersburg (coached by Dick Advocaat) at the City of Manchester Stadium but lost 2–0; aiming for four trophies, Rangers ultimately ended up with only two – the League Cup and Scottish Cup – at the end of an exhausting 68-game season.
Despite seemingly gaining valuable experience in that campaign, a surprise loss to FBK Kaunas of Lithuania followed in the opening qualification round of the Champions League in 2008–09, which did not even offer a path to the UEFA Cup at such an early stage.Rangers' European exit just the start of Smith's problems, Ewan Murray, The Guardian, 6 August 2008
2010s Although the financial situation continued to affect the club, three consecutive Scottish league titles between 2009 and 2011 brought further Champions League football to Ibrox, including meetings with Sevilla, Stuttgart and Manchester United, but only one win in 12 group stage matches, against Bursaspor.
The 2011–12 season was Rangers' 51st European campaign. However, due to entering administration in 2012 and the subsequent liquidation of the club's holding company, the new entity set up in its place, The Rangers International Football Club Plc, was restricted from European competition by UEFA for three seasons as rules stated they needed to present three years' worth of accounts; Rangers were therefore not eligible for participation again until 2015–16.
Rangers next qualified for Europe having finished third in the 2016–17 Scottish Premiership, however their participation in the Europa League proved to be brief and disappointing, as semi-professionals Progrès Niederkorn of Luxembourg overturned a 1–0 deficit to win 2–0 at home and advance in the Second qualifying round. The next campaign in the same competition was more successful: Rangers successfully overcame four early rounds to reach the Group Stage, where the ability of all the teams was demonstrated to be around the same level; Rangers gave a decent account of themselves but ultimately finished third and failed to progress.
Rangers qualified for the Europa League for the second consecutive season in 2019–20, beating Midtjylland and Legia Warsaw in qualifying. They were placed in a group with Porto, Feyenoord and Young Boys. Rangers performed well in the group stage, beating Porto and Feyenoord at Ibrox and drawing with both away. In their final fixture, Rangers led Young Boys 1–0 at Ibrox and were on course to progress as group winners, however an 89th-minute equaliser meant they finished 2nd behind Porto. Rangers were drawn against another Portuguese side, Braga, in the Round of 32. In the first leg at Ibrox, Rangers trailed by two goals after 60 minutes but won 3–2 after an extraordinary comeback thanks to a brace from Ianis Hagi and a goal from Joe Aribo, where he beat multiple Braga defenders to score.Rangers 3-2 Sporting Braga: Hosts complete incredible comeback, Martin Watt, BBC Sport, 20 February 2020 Rangers then won the second leg in Portugal 1–0 with a goal from Ryan Kent to progress 4–2 on aggregate. In the Round of 16, Rangers were knocked out by German side Bayer Leverkusen led by Kai Havertz, losing 4–1 on aggregate – the second leg of the tie was delayed by five months due to COVID-19 pandemic.Rangers finally end 19/20 season after defeat in Europa League – five days after they started 2020/21 campaign, The Independent, 6 August 2020
2020s In the 2020–21 season, Rangers again qualified for the Europa League group stage, meaning they had made it to the same point for the third consecutive season under Steven Gerrard – without losing or even trailing in a qualifying match. Rangers achieved impressive results during the qualifying rounds (which were played as single matches behind very small crowds or none at all due to the pandemic), beating Willem II 4–0 away and Galatasaray 2–1 at Ibrox. They were placed in Group D with Benfica, Standard Liège and Lech Poznań and continued their strong run with an away win over Standard (featuring a spectacular goal from the halfway line by Kemar Roofe), the first time the Belgians had lost a home tie in 16 matches.Standard 0-2 Rangers: Kemar Roofe stunner adds to James Tavernier penalty, Glasgow Times, 22 October 2020 Another Belgian club, Royal Antwerp, were beaten home and away in the Round of 32 but the run was ended by Slavia Prague in the Round of 16 with two red cards for Rangers players and the tie ending in an angry brawl due to a racist comment made by a Slavia player.Rangers 0-2 Slavia Prague (1-3 agg): Steven Gerrard's side have two men sent off in exit, Thomas Duncan, BBC Sport, 18 March 2021