The 1992–93 UEFA Champions League, originally known as the 1992–93 European Cup, was the 38th European Cup, the premier European club football tournament, and the first season with the UEFA Champions League branding (originally adopted only in the group stage).
It was the second season of the competition in which the eight second round winners would be split into two groups, with the winner of each one meeting in the final. In addition, a preliminary round was required as this was the first season after the break-up of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, resulting in many new countries eligible to enter the champions of their own leagues into the competition. Israel and the Faroe Islands were also represented for the first time.
The tournament was won for the first time by Marseille, defeating Milan in the final, becoming the first French team to win the European Cup/Champions League.
However, soon after Marseille's victory allegations of match fixing were levelled at them and their president Bernard Tapie. This involved a league game that took place 6 days before the final where Marseille, it emerged, had fixed their title-clinching Division 1 game against Valenciennes so they could concentrate on the final against Milan. It is believed that Tapie bribed Valenciennes to lose so that Marseille would win the French league earlier, and above all that they would not injure the Marseille players before the final against Milan. Before the 1991 European Cup final against Red Star Belgrade, Marseille had a few injured players, Tapie did not want to repeat this mistake. This resulted in Marseille being stripped of their league title by the French Football Federation (although not the European Cup, as the match in question was not in that competition). They were banned from defending their European title in the 1993–94 season, and contesting the Intercontinental Cup and Super Cup. During the 1995 trial over Marseille's financial accounts, it was revealed that they had an annual budget of Fr5 million (about €760,000) dedicated to the purchase of matches from 1989 to 1993. UEFA, along with the French Federation and French authorities, investigated several Marseille matches during the 1992–93 season. These investigations have not established any formal proof concerning alleged match-fixing in the Champions League. Therefore, Marseille's status as 1993 European champion was not affected.
Barcelona, the defending champions, were eliminated in the second round by CSKA Moscow.
Teams In total, 36 national champions participated in 1992–93 UEFA Champions League season. The 8 lowest-ranked champions according to the 1992 club seeding coefficients entered in the preliminary round, while the 28 best-ranked champions entered in the first round.
Distribution RoundTeams entering in this roundTeams advancing from the previous roundPreliminary round(8 teams) 8 champions ranked 29–36 by seeding coefficientFirst round(32 teams) 28 champions ranked 1–28 by seeding coefficient (including title holders) 4 winners from the qualifying roundSecond round(16 teams) 16 winners from the first roundGroup stage(8 teams) 8 winners from the second roundFinal(2 teams) 2 group winners from the group stage
Since the title holders (Barcelona) qualified via their domestic league, the title holder spot was vacated and the following changes to the default access list were made: The champions ranked 27th and 28th (APOEL and Union Luxembourg) were promoted from the preliminary round to the first round.
Ranking
The teams were ranked according to their 1992 UEFA seeding coefficients, which took into account performances in European competitions from 1987–88 to 1991–92. Each club and national association had a seeding coefficient calculated (total points divided by total matches), with both values added together to determine the club's final coefficient. This ranking then determined the round each team would enter.
+ Qualified teams for 1992–93 UEFA Champions League (by ranking)AssociationTeamFirst round3Barcelona TH2.9741Marseille 3.1162Milan 3.0524VfB Stuttgart 2.7105Club Brugge 2.5946Porto 2.4767PSV Eindhoven 2.4128Lech Poznań 2.3399Dinamo București 2.32310Rangers 2.28711CSKA Moscow 2.11612IFK Göteborg 2.08013Austria Wien 2.02914Sion 1.99315AEK Athens 1.97416Slovan Bratislava 1.77717CSKA Sofia 1.68718Ferencváros 1.61819Lyngby 1.43120Beşiktaş 1.37521Leeds United 1.37122Kuusysi 1.16023Glentoran 0.83324Žalgiris 0.66625Víkingur Reykjavík 0.46826Viking 0.43327APOEL 0.35228Union Luxembourg 0.291Preliminary round29Shelbourne 0.26930Valletta 0.20031KÍ 0.000Maccabi Tel Aviv 0.000Norma Tallinn 0.000Olimpija Ljubljana 0.000Skonto 0.000Tavriya Simferopol 0.000
+Associations without a participating team
Notes
Round and draw dates All draws for the competition were held in Geneva, Switzerland.
+Schedule for 1992–93 UEFA Champions LeaguePhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legPreliminary round15 July 199219 August 19922 September 1992First round16 September 199230 September 1992Second round2 October 199221 October 19924 November 1992Group stageMatchday 16 November 199225 November 1992Matchday 29 December 1992Matchday 33 March 1993Matchday 417 March 1993Matchday 57 April 1993Matchday 621 April 1993Final26 May 1993 at Olympiastadion, Munich
Preliminary round
First round
Second round
Group stage
The group stage began on 25 November 1992 and ended on 21 April 1993. The eight teams were divided into two groups of four, and the teams in each group played against each other on a home-and-away basis, meaning that each team played a total of six group matches. For each win, teams were awarded two points, with one point awarded for each draw. At the end of the group stage, the first team in each group advanced to the final.
Group A
Group B
Final
The final was played on 26 May 1993 at the Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany.
Top goalscorers The top scorers from the 1992–93 UEFA Champions League (excluding preliminary round) are as follows:
RankNameTeamGoals1 Romário PSV Eindhoven72 Marco van Basten Milan6 Franck Sauzée Marseille6 Alen Bokšić Marseille65 Johnny Ekström IFK Göteborg56 Marco Simone Milan4 Gert Verheyen Club Brugge4 Zé Carlos Porto4 Emil Kostadinov Porto4 Túlio Sion4
See also 1992–93 European Cup Winners' Cup 1992–93 UEFA Cup
References
External links
1992–93 All matches – season at UEFA website European Cup results at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation All scorers 1992–93 UEFA Champions League (excluding preliminary round) according to protocols UEFA + all scorers preliminary round – results and line-ups (archive)