1969 European Cup final

The **1969 European Cup Final** was a football match held at the Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, on 28 May 1969. Milan of Italy played against Ajax of the Netherlands to be the champions of Europe that season. Ajax made history by becoming the first Dutch side to reach the final. Although they were beaten by their Italian opponents 4–1.

As of 2022, Pierino Prati is the most recent player to score a hat-trick in a European Cup or Champions League final.

## Route to the final

Milan had a bye in the second round due to the withdrawal of a number of Eastern European clubs from the competition.

In the quarter-finals, eventual finalists Ajax were deadlocked 4–4 on aggregate against Portuguese side Benfica after two legs, forcing a replay. The Dutch champions won 3–0 in the replay. It took extra time to do so.

|colspan=4|Milan|Round|colspan=5|Ajax|||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Opponent|Agg.|1st leg|2nd leg||Opponent|Agg.|1st leg|2nd leg|Play-off||||
|align=left|Malmö FF|5–3|1–2 (A)|4–1 (H)|style="background:#c1e0ff;"|First round|align=left|Nürnberg|5–1|1–1 (A)|4–0 (H)||
|colspan="4"|Bye|style="background:#c1e0ff;"|Second round|align=left|Fenerbahçe|4–0|2–0 (H)|2–0 (A)|||||
|align=left|Celtic|1–0|0–0 (H)|1–0 (A)|style="background:#c1e0ff;"|Quarter-finals|align=left|Benfica|4–4 (r)|3–1 (A)|1–3  (H)|3–0|
|align=left|Manchester United|2–1|2–0 (H)|0–1 (A)|style="background:#c1e0ff;"|Semi-finals|align=left|Spartak Trnava|3–2|3–0 (H)|0–2 (A)||

### Details

||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|style="vertical-align:top; width:40%;"|{| style="font-size:90%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"||||||
|GK|**1**|Fabio Cudicini|||||
|RB|**2**|Angelo Anquilletti|||||
|LB|**3**|Karl-Heinz Schnellinger|||||
|RH|**4**|Roberto Rosato|||||
|CH|**5**|Saul Malatrasi|||||
|LH|**6**|Giovanni Trapattoni|||||
|OR|**7**|Kurt Hamrin|||||
|IR|**8**|Giovanni Lodetti|||||
|CF|**9**|Angelo Sormani|||||
|IL|**10**|Gianni Rivera (c)|||||
|OL|**11**|Pierino Prati|||||
|colspan=3|**Manager:**||||||
|colspan=3|Nereo Rocco|}|valign="top"||style="vertical-align:top; width:50%;"|{| style="font-size:90%; margin:auto" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"|
|GK|**1**|Gert Bals (c)|||||
|RB|**2**|Wim Suurbier|||||
|CB|**3**|Barry Hulshoff|||||
|CB|**4**|Velibor Vasović|||||
|LB|**5**|Theo van Duivenbode|||||
|RH|**6**|Henk Groot|||||
|LH|**7**|Anton Pronk|||||
|RW|**8**|Sjaak Swart|||||
|CF|**9**|Inge Danielsson|||||
|CF|**10**|Johan Cruyff|||||
|LW|**11**|Piet Keizer|||||
|colspan=3|**Substitutes:**||||||
|FW|**12**|Klaas Nuninga|||||
|MF|**13**|Bennie Muller|||||
|GK|**14**|Heinz Stuy|||||
|MF|**15**|Gerrie Mühren|||||
|MF|**16**|Ruud Suurendonk|||||
|colspan=3|**Manager:**||||||
|colspan=3|Rinus Michels|}|||||

## Related pages

- 1968–69 European Cup
- 1995 UEFA Champions League Final – contested by the same teams
- A.C. Milan in European football
- AFC Ajax in European football

## Other websites

- 1968–69 season at UEFA.com
- European Cups Archive at the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
- 1968–69 season at European Cup History

## Infobox (football match)

- **title**: 1969 European Cup Final
- **caption**: The Football programme, match programme cover
- **image size**: 200
- **event**: 1968–69 European Cup
- **team1**: A.C. Milan, Milan
- **team1score**: 4
- **team2**: AFC Ajax, Ajax
- **team2score**: 1
- **date**: 28 May 1969
- **stadium**: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Santiago Bernabéu
- **city**: Madrid
- **referee**: José María Ortiz de Mendíbil (Royal Spanish Football Federation, Spain)
- **attendance**: 31,782
- **previous**: 1968 European Cup Final, 1968
- **next**: 1970 European Cup Final, 1970