The 1965–66 European Cup was the 11th season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by Real Madrid, winners of the first five European Cups from 1956 to 1960, who beat Partizan 2–1 in a close final at Heysel Stadium in Brussels on 11 May 1966.
Inter Milan were the defending champions, but were eliminated by eventual winners Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
No new association entered its representative, which happened only for the second time after 1959–60 edition. However, Cyprus returned to the competition after their inaugural 1963–64 season.
In the preliminary round, Benfica recorded highest aggregate win in the history of the European Cup by beating Stade Dudelange 18–0 (8–0 away, 10–0 at home).
Teams A total of 31 teams participated in the competition.
For the first time since inaugural edition all associations were represented by only one team.
17 Nëntori, LASK, Levski Sofia, APOEL, Sparta Prague, HJK, Nantes, Keflavík, Derry City, Kilmarnock, Lausanne-Sports, and Werder Bremen made their debut in the competition.
Djurgårdens IF made their first appearance since the inaugural 1955–56 tournament, while Manchester United and Stade Dudelange returned to the competition after seven years.
All participants were their respective associations champions, except for Lyn. They were leading 1. divisjon at the summer break on 1 July 1965, after 9 of 18 matches had been played, but finished second in autumn of 1965.
17 Nëntori LASK Anderlecht Levski Sofia APOEL Sparta Prague Boldklubben 1909 Vorwärts Berlin Manchester United HJK Nantes Panathinaikos Ferencváros Keflavík Inter Milan TH Stade Dudelange Sliema Wanderers Feyenoord Derry City Lyn Górnik Zabrze Benfica Drumcondra Dinamo București Kilmarnock Real Madrid Djurgårdens IF Lausanne-Sports Fenerbahçe Werder Bremen Partizan
Preliminary round
Similar to previous editions, only title holders Inter Milan received a bye to the first round. The remaining clubs would play the preliminary round in September and October, apart from two matches that took place in late August.
For the second time in row teams in the preliminary round were not divided geographically into pots, which resulted in some teams covering over 6,200 kilometres for their ties (e.g. Keflavík and Ferencváros), while other had shorter trips (e.g. LASK and Górnik Zabrze – around 800 kilometres).
First leg
Second leg
Ferencváros won 13–2 on aggregate.
Derry City won 8–6 on aggregate.
Anderlecht won 5–1 on aggregate.
Vorwärts Berlin won 3–1 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 6–2 on aggregate.
Górnik Zabrze won 5–2 on aggregate.
Kilmarnock won 1–0 on aggregate.
Sparta Prague won 4–0 on aggregate.
Levski Sofia won 7–2 on aggregate.
Benfica won 18–0 on aggregate.
Dinamo București won 7–2 on aggregate.
Manchester United won 9–2 on aggregate.
Panathinaikos won 4–2 on aggregate.
Werder Bremen won 10–0 on aggregate.
Partizan won 4–2 on aggregate.
Bracket
First round
First leg
Second leg
Ferencváros won 3–1 on aggregate.
Partizan won 3–1 on aggregate.
Sparta Prague won 5–1 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 7–3 on aggregate.
Manchester United won 5–1 on aggregate.
Benfica won 5–4 on aggregate.
There were serious concerns regarding the state of the Brandywell Stadium pitch. The IFA informed UEFA that it was unfit to host the European Cup tie. THE IFA ordered Derry City to play either at Windsor Park or Showgrounds, which the Derry board refused to do. However, minutes after losing the first leg 9–0, the Derry directors officially informed Anderlecht that they would be forfeiting the second leg of the tie.
Anderlecht won 9–0 on aggregate.
Inter Milan won 3–2 on aggregate.
Quarter-finals
First leg
Second leg
Inter Milan won 5–1 on aggregate.
Real Madrid won 4–3 on aggregate.
Partizan won 6–4 on aggregate.
Manchester United won 8–3 on aggregate.
Semi-finals
First leg
Second leg
Real Madrid won 2–1 on aggregate.
Partizan won 2–1 on aggregate.
Final
Top goalscorers The top scorers from the 1965–66 European Cup (including preliminary round) were as follows:
RankPlayerTeamGoals1 Flórián Albert Ferencváros7 Eusébio Benfica3 John Connelly Manchester United6 Mustafa Hasanagić Partizan5 Amancio Real Madrid5 Georgi Asparuhov Levski Sofia David Herd Manchester United Ivan Mráz Sparta Prague Ferenc Puskás Real Madrid10 José Augusto Benfica4 George Best Manchester United Andrej Kvašňák Sparta Prague Pirri Real Madrid Jacques Stockman Anderlecht Paul Van Himst Anderlecht
Notes
References
External links 1965–66 All matches – season at UEFA website European Cup results at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation All scorers 1965–66 European Cup (excluding preliminary round) according to protocols UEFA – results and line-ups (archive) Y. Lander, European Cups History, part 1 (Kharkiv, 2003) – some attendance data.