# 1965–66 European Cup

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 (1st) | LASK (1st) | Anderlecht (1st) | Levski Sofia (1st) |
| APOEL (1st) | Sparta Prague (1st) | Boldklubben 1909 (1st) | Vorwärts Berlin (1st) |
| Manchester United (1st) | HJK (1st) | Nantes (1st) | Panathinaikos (1st) |
| Ferencváros (1st) | Keflavík (1st) | Inter Milan (1st) | Stade Dudelange (1st) |
| Sliema Wanderers (1st) | Feyenoord (1st) | Derry City (1st) | Lyn (2nd) |
| Górnik Zabrze (1st) | Benfica (1st) | Drumcondra (1st) | Dinamo București (1st) |
| Kilmarnock (1st) | Real Madrid (1st) | Djurgårdens IF (1st) | Lausanne-Sports (1st) |
| Fenerbahçe (1st) | Werder Bremen (1st) | Partizan (1st) |

## 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).
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Feyenoord | 2–6 | Real Madrid | 2–1 | 0–5 |
| 17 Nëntori | 0–1 | Kilmarnock | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| Fenerbahçe | 1–5 | Anderlecht | 0–0 | 1–5 |
| Lyn | 6–8 | Derry City | 5–3 | 1–5 |
| Panathinaikos | 4–2 | Sliema Wanderers | 4–1 | 0–1 |
| Keflavík | 2–13 | Ferencváros | 1–4 | 1–9 |
| Dinamo București | 7–2 | Boldklubben 1909 | 4–0 | 3–2 |
| HJK | 2–9 | Manchester United | 2–3 | 0–6 |
| Drumcondra | 1–3 | Vorwärts Berlin | 1–0 | 0–3 |
| Stade Dudelange | 0–18 | Benfica | 0–8 | 0–10 |
| Djurgårdens IF | 2–7 | Levski Sofia | 2–1 | 0–6 |
| Lausanne-Sports | 0–4 | Sparta Prague | 0–0 | 0–4 |
| LASK | 2–5 | Górnik Zabrze | 1–3 | 1–2 |
| APOEL | 0–10 | Werder Bremen | 0–5 | 0–5 |
| Partizan | 4–2 | Nantes | 2–0 | 2–2 |

### 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 round | First round | First round | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final | |
| Anderlecht | 9 | – | 9 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Derry City | 0 | – | 0 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Derry City | 0 | – | 0 | Anderlecht | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | Real Madrid | 0 | 4 | 4 | | | | | | | | |
| Kilmarnock | 2 | 1 | 3 | Real Madrid | 0 | 4 | 4 | | | | | | | | |
| Real Madrid | 2 | 5 | 7 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Real Madrid | 2 | 5 | 7 | | | | | Real Madrid | 1 | 1 | 2 | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | Inter Milan | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | |
| Dinamo Bucuresti | 2 | 0 | 2 | | | | | | | | | Inter Milan | 0 | 1 | 1 | | |
| Inter Milan | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Inter Milan | 1 | 2 | 3 | Inter Milan | 4 | 1 | 5 | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | Ferencváros | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | |
| Ferencváros | 0 | 3 | 3 | Ferencváros | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | |
| Panathinaikos | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Panathinaikos | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | Real Madrid | 2 | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | Partizan | 1 | |
| Sparta Prague | 3 | 2 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | | | | Partizan | 1 |
| Górnik Zabrze | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Górnik Zabrze | 0 | 1 | 1 | Sparta Prague | 4 | 0 | 4 | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | Partizan | 1 | 5 | 6 | | | | | | | | |
| Partizan | 3 | 0 | 3 | Partizan | 1 | 5 | 6 | | | | | | | | |
| Werder Bremen | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Werder Bremen | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | | Partizan | 2 | 0 | 2 | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | Manchester United | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | |
| Vorwärts Berlin | 0 | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | | Manchester United | 0 | 1 | 1 | | |
| Manchester United | 2 | 3 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Manchester United | 2 | 3 | 5 | Manchester United | 3 | 5 | 8 | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | Benfica | 2 | 1 | 3 | | | | | | | | |
| Levski Sofia | 2 | 2 | 4 | Benfica | 2 | 1 | 3 | | | | | | | | |
| Benfica | 2 | 3 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | | | |

## First round

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Anderlecht | 9–0 | Derry City | 9–0 | (w/o) |
| Kilmarnock | 3–7 | Real Madrid | 2–2 | 1–5 |
| Dinamo București | 2–3 | Inter Milan | 2–1 | 0–2 |
| Ferencváros | 3–1 | Panathinaikos | 0–0 | 3–1 |
| Sparta Prague | 5–1 | Górnik Zabrze | 3–0 | 2–1 |
| Partizan | 3–1 | Werder Bremen | 3–0 | 0–1 |
| Vorwärts Berlin | 1–5 | Manchester United | 0–2 | 1–3 |
| Levski Sofia | 4–5 | Benfica | 2–2 | 2–3 |

### 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 Brandywell Stadium state of the pitch, with IFA informing UEFA that it's not fit to host European Cup tie and ordering Derry City to play either at Windsor Park or Showgrounds, which club's board refusued to do. However, minutes after losing first leg 9–0, board directors had 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

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Anderlecht | 3–4 | Real Madrid | 1–0 | 2–4 |
| Inter Milan | 5–1 | Ferencváros | 4–0 | 1–1 |
| Sparta Prague | 4–6 | Partizan | 4–1 | 0–5 |
| Manchester United | 8–3 | Benfica | 3–2 | 5–1 |

### 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

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Real Madrid | 2–1 | Inter Milan | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Partizan | 2–1 | Manchester United | 2–0 | 0–1 |

### Second leg

Real Madrid won 2–1 on aggregate.
Partizan won 2–1 on aggregate.

## Top goalscorers

The top scorers from the 1965–66 European Cup (including preliminary round) were as follows:
| Rank | Player | Team | Goals |
| 1 | Flórián Albert | Ferencváros | 7 |
| 1 | Eusébio | Benfica | 7 |
| 3 | John Connelly | Manchester United | 6 |
| 3 | Mustafa Hasanagić | Partizan | 6 |
| 5 | Amancio | Real Madrid | 5 |
| 5 | Georgi Asparuhov | Levski Sofia | 5 |
| 5 | David Herd | Manchester United | 5 |
| 5 | Ivan Mráz | Sparta Prague | 5 |
| 5 | Ferenc Puskás | Real Madrid | 5 |
| 10 | José Augusto | Benfica | 4 |
| 10 | George Best | Manchester United | 4 |
| 10 | Andrej Kvašňák | Sparta Prague | 4 |
| 10 | Pirri | Real Madrid | 4 |
| 10 | Jacques Stockman | Anderlecht | 4 |
| 10 | Paul Van Himst | Anderlecht | 4 |