This was the first of only two times in the history of the UEFA Cup, its unofficial predecessor
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, or its successor
UEFA Europa League where both finalists won their national championship in the same season. Until then, this had only happened twice in the
European Cup, and it would only happen once in the
European Cup Winners Cup.
Club Brugge was the first Belgian team to reach a UEFA Cup final, six years after
Anderlecht also reached the final in the
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, its predecessor tournament. The final's first leg was the last major final held at
Anfield in one of the three premier European club championships, although the stadium would also host two
UEFA Super Cup legs in later finals.
Association team allocation
A total of 64 teams from 31
UEFA member associations participate in the 1975–76 UEFA Cup. The original allocation scheme was as follows:
3 associations have four teams qualify.
3 associations have three teams qualify.
18 associations have two teams qualify.
7 associations have one team qualify.
The
Soviet Union and
Sweden were the two associations selected to have an extra third birth for this season, while the
Netherlands and
Austria went back to two qualified teams.
Wales: There was no national league in Wales before 1992 and the only competition organised by the
Football Association of Wales was the
Welsh Cup so Wales had just a single participant in European competitions, the winner (or best placed Welsh team as several English teams also competed) of the Welsh Cup which competed in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
Albania: Albanian teams were absent from European competition from 1973 to 1978 due to the international isolation of the country during
the communist rule of Enver Hoxha.[1]Vllaznia would have qualified for the UEFA Cup by league position.
Teams
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for competition:
TH: Title holders
CW: Cup winners
CR: Cup runners-up
LC: League Cup winners
2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position
P-W: End-of-season European competition play-offs winners
England: At the end of the
1974–75 Football League season in April, the
Football Association still applied the old Inter-Cities Fairs Cup ruling of 'one city, one team' to determine the teams that qualified for the UEFA Cup. As a result,
Everton was bypassed for the final English birth, as the city of Liverpool was already represented by second placed
Liverpool, and
Stoke City was nominated for the spot after finishing fifth. However, UEFA gave a ultimatum to the
English Football League in order for teams to qualify without geographical limitations, warning that English teams would not be accepted in European competitions otherwise. On 7 June 1975, the EFL formally confirmed Everton as the recipient of the fourth UEFA Cup spot.[2]
West Germany: The fourth UEFA Cup spot for West Germany was not awarded to the fourth best team not qualified for the European Cup or the European Cup Winners' Cup, which was
Fortuna Dusseldorf, as it was common practice. Instead, this place was awarded to
Duisburg, who had been runners-up in the
1974–75 DFB-Pokal.
Hungary:Vasas, who had finished 6th in the Hungarian league, qualified for the UEFA Cup by winning the Liberation Cup on its 30th anniversary. The tournament had not provided a European spot before, and would not do it ever since.[3]
Schedule
The schedule of the competition was as follows. Matches were scheduled for Wednesdays, though some matches took place on Tuesdays. In the first round, three first leg matches were played on a Thursday, and both legs of the match-up between
MSV Duisburg and
Enosis Neon Paralimni FC were played over three days in West Germany, with the first leg being held on a Sunday.
Lazio refused to play for security reasons, claiming it would be impossible to play due to political demonstrations following the execution in Spain of five
ETA and
FRAP members on 27 September on terrorism charges. UEFA awarded Barcelona a 3–0 victory, ruling those three goals were not applicable for the away goals rule.
^"Everton to replace Stoke in UEFA Cup". New Sunday Times. Kuala Lumpur: New Straits Times Press. Reuters. 8 June 1975. p. 15.
Archived from the original on 7 March 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
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Liverpool (2nd title)
Club Brugge
Enosis Neon Paralimni
11'
Real Sociedad
Budapest Honvéd
Marseille
Red Star Belgrade
Śląsk Wrocław
HJK Helsinki
Lazio
Avenir Beggen
Galatasaray
Dunav Ruse
AEK Athens
Dundee United
