The 1957–58 European Cup was the third season of the European Cup, Europe's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by Real Madrid, who beat Milan 3–2 in the final, in extra time following a 2–2 draw after 90 minutes. This was Real Madrid's third European Cup title in a row. However, the 1957–58 season was marred by the air disaster in Munich, when eight Manchester United players died on their way home from Belgrade, after a 3–3 draw in the quarter-final second leg with Red Star Belgrade. The English champions were ultimately defeated in the semi-finals by the eventual runners-up, Milan of Italy, after being highly touted to win the competition and dominate European football for many years like Real Madrid before them, with the "Busby Babes" having an average age of only 22.
It was the first time that teams from the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and East Germany participated, while Turkey could not send any club, since the Turkish FA failed to register Beşiktaş for the draw in time. Sevilla was invited despite having been runners-up in Spain the year before, as Spanish champions Real Madrid had already qualified as holders; the two Spanish sides met in the quarter-finals, the first time two sides from the same country played against each other in the competition.
Teams A total of 24 teams participated in the competition.
Ajax, Benfica, CCA București, Dukla Prague, Glenavon, Royal Antwerp, Saint-Étienne, Sevilla, Shamrock Rovers, Stade Dudelange, Vasas, Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt and Young Boys made their debut appearances in the European Cup while Rapid Wien, AGF and Real Madrid marked their third.
All participants were their respective associations champions, except for Sevilla and Gwardia Warsaw.
Rapid Wien Royal Antwerp CDNA Sofia Dukla Prague AGF Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt Manchester United Saint-Étienne Vasas Milan Stade Dudelange Ajax Glenavon Gwardia Warsaw Benfica Shamrock Rovers CCA București Rangers Real Madrid TH Sevilla IFK Norrköping Young Boys Borussia Dortmund Red Star Belgrade
Preliminary round The draw for the preliminary round took place at the headquarters of the French Football Federation in Paris on Tuesday, 23 July 1957.Corriere dello Sport, 24 July 1957. As title holders, Real Madrid received a bye, and the remaining 23 teams were grouped geographically into three pots. The first four teams drawn in each pot, and four more teams in pot 1, would play the preliminary round in September, while the remaining clubs received byes.
Pot 1Western EuropePot 2Central EuropePot 3Eastern EuropeDrawn Shamrock Rovers Red Star Belgrade Gwardia Warsaw Manchester United Stade Dudelange Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt Sevilla Milan CDNA Sofia Benfica Rapid Wien Vasas AGF Glenavon Rangers Saint-ÉtienneByes IFK Norrköping Young Boys CCA București Royal Antwerp Borussia Dortmund Dukla Prague Ajax
The calendar was decided by the involved teams, with all matches to be played by 30 October.
First leg
Second leg
Rangers won 4–3 on aggregate.
Aarhus won 3–0 on aggregate.
Sevilla won 3–1 on aggregate.
Red Star Belgrade won 14–1 on aggregate.
Manchester United won 9–2 on aggregate.
Vasas won 7–3 on aggregate.
Milan 6–6 Rapid Wien on aggregate; play-off needed.
Gwardia Warsaw 4–4 Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt on aggregate; play-off needed.
Play-off
Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt qualified due to a coin toss, after their play-off against Gwardia Warsaw was abandoned with the result of 1–1 after 100 minutes due to floodlight power failure.
Milan won play-off 4–2.
Bracket
First round
First leg
Second leg
Red Star Belgrade won 4–3 on aggregate.
Ajax won 4–1 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 8–1 on aggregate.
Vasas won 3–2 on aggregate.
Sevilla won 4–2 on aggregate.
Manchester United won 3–1 on aggregate.
Borussia Dortmund 5–5 CCA București on aggregate; play-off needed.
Milan won 6–1 on aggregate.
Play-off
Borussia Dortmund won play-off 3–1.
Quarter-finals
First leg
Second leg
Manchester United won 5–4 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 10–2 on aggregate.
Vasas won 6–2 on aggregate.
Milan won 5–2 on aggregate.
Semi-finals
First leg
Second leg
Real Madrid won 4–2 on aggregate.
Milan won 5–2 on aggregate.
Final
Top goalscorers The top scorers from the 1957–58 European Cup (including preliminary round) were as follows: RankPlayerTeamGoals1 Alfredo Di Stéfano Real Madrid102 Bora Kostić Red Star Belgrade93 Lajos Csordás Vasas84 Dezső Bundzsák Vasas6 Ernesto Grillo Milan6 Gastone Bean Milan5 Juan Alberto Schiaffino Milan8 Jovan Cokić Red Star Belgrade4 Héctor Rial Real Madrid Dennis Viollet Manchester United
Notes
References
External links
1957–58 All matches – season at UEFA website European Cup results at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation All scorers 1957–58 European Cup (excluding preliminary round) according to protocols UEFA + all scorers preliminary round – results and line-ups (archive)