Tournament details | |
---|---|
Dates | 19 August – 2 September 1992 (qualifying) 16 September 1992 – 26 May 1993 (competition proper) 25 November 1992 – 21 April 1993 (UEFA Champions League) |
Teams | 8 (UEFA Champions League) 32 (first round) 36 (total) |
Final positions | |
Champions | Marseille (1st title) |
Runners-up | Milan |
Tournament statistics | |
Matches played | 82 |
Goals scored | 195 (2.38 per match) |
Top scorer(s) |
Romário (7 goals) |
The 1992–93 UEFA Champions League was the 38th European Cup, the premier European club football tournament, and the first season with the UEFA Champions League logo (originally adopted only in the group stage).
It was the second tournament to have a group stage involving the eight second round winners split into two groups, and the winner of each one met in the final. In addition, a preliminary round was required as this was the first season after the break-up of the USSR and Yugoslavia, resulting in a large number of new countries eligible to enter the champions of their own leagues into the competition. Israel and the Faroe Islands were also represented for the first time.
The tournament was won for the first time by Marseille, defeating Milan in the final. However, soon after Marseille's victory allegations of match fixing were levelled at them and their president Bernard Tapie. This involved a league game where Marseille, it emerged, had fixed their title-clinching Division 1 game against Valenciennes so they could concentrate on the Milan tie. It is believed that Tapie bribed Valenciennes to lose so that Marseille would win the French league earlier, giving them more time to prepare for the European Cup final. This resulted in Marseille being stripped of their league title by the French Football Federation (although not the European Cup, as the match in question was not in that competition). They were banned from defending their European title in the 1993–94 season, and contesting the Intercontinental Cup and Super Cup. In 1994 Marseille was also relegated to the Division 2.