# 1991–92 European Cup

The 1991–92 European Cup was the 37th season of the European Cup football club tournament. It was the first European Cup to have a group stage, from which the winning clubs progressed to the final. 1991–92 was the tournament's last edition before it was re-branded as the UEFA Champions League.
The group stage involved the eight winning clubs from round 2. The clubs were split into two groups of four, playing each other home and away, and the winning club from each group met in the 1992 European Cup Final.
The competition was won for the first time by Barcelona after extra time in the final against Sampdoria, the first victory in the tournament by a team from Spain since 1966. This would mark the first of a total of five European Cup trophies for Barcelona. The winning goal was scored by Ronald Koeman with a free kick.
The defending champions, Red Star Belgrade, did not have an opportunity to play at their own ground because of the Yugoslav Wars, thereby reducing their chances of defending their title. Red Star were eliminated in the group stage. It was also the final season in which the clubs from that country were able to participate in the primary European football competition since the summer of 1991 Slovenia and Croatia announced their independence.
In addition, it was the last time an East German team competed in the European Cup, Hansa Rostock.
English clubs returned to the European Cup, after their five-year ban from European competitions following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985. The 1990 Football League champions Liverpool had been unable to participate in the 1990–91 European Cup because they had been banned for an additional sixth year. Arsenal represented England in 1991–92, and reached the second round.

## Teams

A total of 32 teams participated in the competition, all entering into the first round. Teams are ordered below by the 1990 UEFA association coefficients.
Qualified teams for 1991–92 European Cup :
| Red Star Belgrade (1st) | 1. FC Kaiserslautern (1st) | Sampdoria (1st) | Barcelona (1st) |
| Anderlecht (1st) | Benfica (1st) | Marseille (1st) | Dynamo Kyiv (1st) |
| PSV Eindhoven (1st) | Universitatea Craiova (1st) | Rangers (1st) | IFK Göteborg (1st) |
| Austria Wien (1st) | Hansa Rostock (1st) | Grasshopper (1st) | Sparta Prague (1st) |
| HJK (1st) | Brøndby (1st) | Etar Veliko Tarnovo (1st) | Panathinaikos (1st) |
| Kispest Honvéd (1st) | Zagłębie Lubin (1st) | Beşiktaş (1st) | Flamurtari (1st) |
| Rosenborg (1st) | Apollon Limassol (1st) | Portadown (1st) | Fram (1st) |
| Hamrun Spartans (1st) | Union Luxembourg (1st) | Dundalk (1st) | Arsenal (1st) |
Associations without a participating team :
* Faroe Islands
* Liechtenstein
* San Marino
* Wales
Notes
* ^ Soviet Union (URS): All matches of Dynamo Kyiv, representing the Football Federation of the Soviet Union as champions of the 1990 Soviet Top League, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 26 show the flag of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
* ^ Germany (GER): The original slot allocation of the former West/East Germany still applied. 1. FC Kaiserslautern qualified as champions of the 1990–91 Bundesliga, while Hansa Rostock qualified as champions of the 1990–91 NOFV-Oberliga. Due to the reunification of Germany in October 1990, all flags show Germany instead of East/West Germany. However, Hansa Rostock matches and records were still counted for East Germany, and not for Germany, under UEFA regulations.

## Round and draw dates

All draws for the competition were held in Geneva, Switzerland.
Schedule for 1991–92 European Cup :
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
| First round | First round | 11 July 1991 | 17–18 September 1991 | 2 October 1991 |
| Second round | Second round | 4 October 1991 | 23 October 1991 | 6 November 1991 |
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 8 November 1991 | 27 November 1991 | 27 November 1991 |
| Group stage | Matchday 2 | 8 November 1991 | 11–12 December 1991 | 11–12 December 1991 |
| Group stage | Matchday 3 | 8 November 1991 | 4 March 1992 | 4 March 1992 |
| Group stage | Matchday 4 | 8 November 1991 | 18 March 1992 | 18 March 1992 |
| Group stage | Matchday 5 | 8 November 1991 | 1 April 1992 | 1 April 1992 |
| Group stage | Matchday 6 | 8 November 1991 | 15 April 1992 | 15 April 1992 |
| Final | Final | 8 November 1991 | 20 May 1992 at Wembley Stadium, London | 20 May 1992 at Wembley Stadium, London |

## First round

The first legs were played on 17 and 18 September, and the second legs on 2 October 1991.
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Barcelona | 3–1 | Hansa Rostock | 3–0 | 0–1 |
| 1. FC Kaiserslautern | 3–1 | Etar Veliko Tarnovo | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| Union Luxembourg | 0–10 | Marseille | 0–5 | 0–5 |
| Sparta Prague | 2–2 (a) | Rangers | 1–0 | 1–2 (a.e.t.) |
| Hamrun Spartans | 0–10 | Benfica | 0–6 | 0–4 |
| Arsenal | 6–2 | Austria Wien | 6–1 | 0–1 |
| HJK | 0–4 | Dynamo Kyiv | 0–1 | 0–3 |
| Brøndby | 4–2 | Zagłębie Lubin | 3–0 | 1–2 |
| Fram | 2–2 (a) | Panathinaikos | 2–2 | 0–0 |
| IFK Göteborg | 1–1 (a) | Flamurtari | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Beşiktaş | 2–3 | PSV Eindhoven | 1–1 | 1–2 |
| Anderlecht | 4–1 | Grasshopper | 1–1 | 3–0 |
| Red Star Belgrade | 8–0 | Portadown | 4–0 | 4–0 |
| Universitatea Craiova | 2–3 | Apollon Limassol | 2–0 | 0–3 |
| Kispest Honvéd | 3–1 | Dundalk | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| Sampdoria | 7–1 | Rosenborg | 5–0 | 2–1 |

## Second round

The first legs were played on 23 October, and the second legs on 6 November 1991.
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Barcelona | 3–3 (a) | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | 2–0 | 1–3 |
| Marseille | 4–4 (a) | Sparta Prague | 3–2 | 1–2 |
| Benfica | 4–2 | Arsenal | 1–1 | 3–1 (a.e.t.) |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 2–1 | Brøndby | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Panathinaikos | 4–2 | IFK Göteborg | 2–0 | 2–2 |
| PSV Eindhoven | 0–2 | Anderlecht | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Red Star Belgrade | 5–1 | Apollon Limassol | 3–1 | 2–0 |
| Kispest Honvéd | 3–4 | Sampdoria | 2–1 | 1–3 |

## Group stage
### Group A

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | SAM | RSB | AND | PAN |
| 1 | Sampdoria | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 8 | Advance to final | — | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| 2 | Red Star Belgrade | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 10 | −1 | 6 | | 1–3 | — | 3–2 | 1–0 |
| 3 | Anderlecht | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 6 | | 3–2 | 3–2 | — | 0–0 |
| 4 | Panathinaikos | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 4 | | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | — |

### Group B

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | BAR | SPP | BEN | DKV |
| 1 | Barcelona | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 9 | Advance to final | — | 3–2 | 2–1 | 3–0 |
| 2 | Sparta Prague | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 6 | | 1–0 | — | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| 3 | Benfica | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 5 | | 0–0 | 1–1 | — | 5–0 |
| 4 | Dynamo Kyiv | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 12 | −9 | 4 | | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | — |

## Final

The final was played on 20 May 1992 at Wembley Stadium in London, England.

## Top scorers

The top scorers from the 1991–92 European Cup are as follows:
| Rank | Name | Team | Goals |
| 1 | Sergei Yuran | Benfica | 7 |
| 1 | Jean-Pierre Papin | Marseille | 7 |
| 3 | Luc Nilis | Anderlecht | 6 |
| 3 | Darko Pančev | Red Star Belgrade | 6 |
| 3 | Gianluca Vialli | Sampdoria | 6 |
| 6 | Isaías | Benfica | 5 |
| 7 | Hristo Stoichkov | Barcelona | 4 |
| 7 | César Brito | Benfica | 4 |
| 7 | Marc Degryse | Anderlecht | 4 |
| 7 | Attilio Lombardo | Sampdoria | 4 |
| 7 | Roberto Mancini | Sampdoria | 4 |
| 7 | Siniša Mihajlović | Red Star Belgrade | 4 |
| 7 | Alan Smith | Arsenal | 4 |