The Parc des Princes in Paris hosted the final.
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Tournament details | |
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Dates | 4 September 1955 – 13 June 1956 |
Teams | 16 |
Final positions | |
Champions | Real Madrid (1st title) |
Runners-up | Stade Reims |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 29 |
Goals scored | 127 (4.38 per match) |
Top scorer(s) | Miloš Milutinović (8 goals) |
The 1955–56 European Cup was the first season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. The tournament was won by Real Madrid, who beat Stade Reims 4–3 in the final at Parc des Princes, Paris, on 13 June 1956.
The participating clubs in this first edition of the European Cup were selected by the French football magazine L'Equipe on the basis that these were the most representative and prestigious clubs in Europe. Of the originally selected teams, Chelsea (England) was barred from participation by the country's Football Association, who saw the tournament as a distraction to domestic football. Chelsea were replaced by Gwardia Warszawa of Poland. In addition, Holland Sport, Honved and BK Copenhagen rejected the opportunity to represent the Netherlands, Hungary and Denmark respectively, being replaced by PSV Eindhoven, Vörös Lobogó and Aarhus. This was also the only UEFA tournament to include a representative of Saarland, unified into West Germany in 1957.
The first round pairings were fixed by the organisers and not drawn as would be the case for all future European Cup matches.