UEFA had been officially inaugurated on 15 June 1954 inBasel, Switzerland after consultation between the Italian, French, and Belgian associations.[2] The first round pairings were fixed by the organisers and not drawn as would be the case for all future European Cup matches. The clubs participating in the first season of the European Cup were selected by French football magazineL'Equipe on the basis that they were representative and prestigious clubs in Europe.[3]
When the tournament started,Real Madrid,Anderlecht,AC Milan,Rot-Weiss Essen,Reims,Djurgården andAGF were the reigning champions of their respective national leagues. English championsChelsea initially agreed to compete and were drawn against Swedish side Djurgården; however, under pressure from theFootball League, who saw the tournament as a distraction to domestic football, they later withdrew from the competition,[4][5] and were replaced byGwardia Warsaw ofPoland. In addition,Holland Sport,Honvéd andAB rejected the opportunity to represent the Netherlands, Hungary and Denmark, being replaced byPSV Eindhoven,Vörös Lobogó andAGF respectively.
Scottish championsAberdeen were controversially overlooked by theSFA in favour ofHibernian who finished in fifth place.[6] They were considered one of the best teams in Scotland, having won the Scottish title in1950–51 and1951–52, but the main reason they were invited was because they were the only team in the country to have floodlights installed at their ground.Dynamo Moscow, the champions of theSoviet Union, did not participate due to climatic restrictions. This was also the only UEFA tournament to include a representative ofSaarland, unified intoWest Germany in 1957.
Note – differences in information: RSSSF website indicates that the goal scored on 26th minute was scored by Robert Körner, while UEFA website indicates that it was scored by his younger brother Alfred Körner.