The City Ground

EUROPEAN CUP

First played:: 1956
Seasons:: 66
Wikipedia:: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Champion_Clubs%27_Cup
Holders:: Chelsea

The European Cup/Champions League is the main club competition in Europe. Started in 1955-56 as a single-elimination tournament for national champions only, it was won for the first five seasons by Real Madrid. It was expanded in 1992 to include a group stage and allow countries to have multiple entrants.

Following the First Division title win in 1978, our very first game in the European Cup had us drawn against the current two-time champions Liverpool where we won 2-0. We went through the tournament unbeaten with some of our most memorable games (including winning away in the semi-final at Cologne after a 3-3 draw in the first leg). The final bought the most famous goal for Forest when Trevor Francis scored on the stroke of half time with a header from a John Robertson cross.

We defended the title the following season again winning away in Germany after losing 1-0 to Dynamo Berlin in the quarter final and beating Kevin Keegan's Hamburg 1-0 in the final.

It came full circle in the 1980-81 season however. As two-time defending champions we went out in the first round, losing 2-0 on aggregate to CSKA Sofia. Liverpool then beat Sofia on their way to winning the title for a third time.

European Cup Record

Cup	First Game	Last Game	Seasons	P	W	D	L	F	A
European Cup	Sep 13, 1978	Oct 01, 1980	3	20	12	4	4	32	14

Round by round

Cup	Round	Name	First Game	Last Game	P	W	D	L	F	A
European Cup	1	1st round (last 32)	Sep 13, 1978	Oct 01, 1980	6	2	2	2	5	3
European Cup	2	2nd round (last 16)	Oct 18, 1978	Nov 07, 1979	4	4			11	3
European Cup	Quarter	Quarter final (last 8)	Mar 07, 1979	Mar 19, 1980	4	2	1	1	8	4
European Cup	Semi	Semi-final	Apr 11, 1979	Apr 23, 1980	4	2	1	1	6	4
European Cup	Final	Final	May 30, 1979	May 28, 1980	2	2			2	0

All European Cup games

Season	Date	Opponent	Round	Leg	H/A	Score	Ground	Scorers
1978-79	Wed Sep 13, 1978	Liverpool	1	1	H	2-0		Birtles (26), Barrett (87)
	Wed Sep 27, 1978	Liverpool	1	2	A	0-0	Anfield
	Wed Oct 18, 1978	AEK Athens	2	1	A	2-1	Olympic Stadium	McGovern (10), Birtles (45)
	Wed Nov 01, 1978	AEK Athens	2	2	H	5-1		Needham (8), Woodcock (36), Anderson (40), Birtles (66, 72)
	Wed Mar 07, 1979	Grasshoppers Zurich	Quarter	1	H	4-1		Birtles (31), Robertson (47 pen), Gemmill (87), Lloyd (89)
	Wed Mar 21, 1979	Grasshoppers Zurich	Quarter	2	A	1-1	Letzigrund	O'Neill (38)
	Wed Apr 11, 1979	Cologne	Semi	1	H	3-3		Birtles (28), Bowyer (53), Robertson (63)
	Wed Apr 25, 1979	Cologne	Semi	2	A	1-0	Mungersdorfer Stadion	Bowyer (65)
	Wed May 30, 1979	Malmo FF	Final		N	1-0	Olympic Stadium	Francis (45)
1979-80	Wed Sep 19, 1979	Osters Vaxjo	1	1	H	2-0		Bowyer (63, 73)
	Wed Oct 03, 1979	Osters Vaxjo	1	2	A	1-1	Myresjohus Arena	Woodcock (79)
	Wed Oct 24, 1979	Arges Pitesti	2	1	H	2-0		Woodcock (12), Birtles (16)
	Wed Nov 07, 1979	Arges Pitesti	2	2	A	2-1	Stadionul Nicolae Dobrin	Bowyer (5), Birtles (23)
	Wed Mar 05, 1980	Dynamo Berlin	Quarter	1	H	0-1
	Wed Mar 19, 1980	Dynamo Berlin	Quarter	2	A	3-1	Sportforum Hohenschonhausen	Francis (15, 35), Robertson (39 pen)
	Wed Apr 09, 1980	Ajax	Semi	1	H	2-0		Francis (33), Robertson (61 pen)
	Wed Apr 23, 1980	Ajax	Semi	2	A	0-1	De Meer Stadion
	Wed May 28, 1980	Hamburg SV	Final		N	1-0	Bernabeu Stadium	Robertson (21)
1980-81	Wed Sep 17, 1980	CSKA Sofia	1	1	A	0-1	Balgarska Armia Stadium
	Wed Oct 01, 1980	CSKA Sofia	1	2	H	0-1