 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Dates | Qualifying: 7–21 August 1996 Competition proper: 11 September 1996 – 28 May 1997 |
| Teams | Competition proper: 16 Total: 24 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Borussia Dortmund (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Juventus |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 61 |
| Goals scored | 161 (2.64 per match) |
| Attendance | 2,093,228 (34,315 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Milinko Pantić (Atlético Madrid) 5 goals |
1997–98 → | |
The1996–97 UEFA Champions League was the 42nd season ofUEFA's premier European clubfootball tournament, the fifth since its rebranding as theUEFA Champions League, and the last that involved only clubs that were champions of their domestic leagues. Due to theBosman ruling, restrictions on foreign players in matchday squads were lifted from this season.
The tournament was won byBorussia Dortmund in a 3–1 final victory against defending championsJuventus. It was their only title in the tournament to date, and the first title for Germany since its reunification in 1990.
24 teams entered the competition: the national champions of each of the top 23 nations in the UEFA coefficient rankings, and UEFA Champions League holders,Juventus. The national champions of the associations ranked 1–7, plus the title holders, all received a bye to the group stage, while the national champions of the associations ranked 8–23 entered in the qualifying round. The remaining national champions from the associations ranked 24–48 were only allowed to participate inUEFA Cup.[1]
For the 1996–97 UEFA Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their 1996UEFA association coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 1991–92 to 1995–96.[1][2][3]
Apart from the allocation based on the association coefficients, an association could have an additional team participating in the Champions League, as noted below:
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| Round | Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from the previous round |
|---|---|---|
| Qualifying round (16 teams) |
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| Group stage (16 teams) |
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| Knockout stage (8 teams) |
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The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held inGeneva,Switzerland).
| Phase | Round | Draw date | First leg | Second leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying round | 6 July 1996 | 7 August 1996 | 21 August 1996 | |
| Group stage | Matchday 1 | 23 August 1996 | 11 September 1996 | |
| Matchday 2 | 25 September 1996 | |||
| Matchday 3 | 16 October 1996 | |||
| Matchday 4 | 30 October 1996 | |||
| Matchday 5 | 20 November 1996 | |||
| Matchday 6 | 4 December 1996 | |||
| Knockout phase | Quarter-finals | 5 March 1997 | 19 March 1997 | |
| Semi-finals | 9 April 1997 | 23 April 1997 | ||
| Final | 28 May 1997 atOlympiastadion,Munich | |||
The winners of each tie in the preliminary round entered the Champions League group stage, whilst the losers entered theUEFA Cup first round.
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Maccabi Tel Aviv  | 1–2 |  Fenerbahçe | 0–1 | 1–1 |
Rangers  | 10–3 |  Alania Vladikavkaz | 3–1 | 7–2 |
Panathinaikos  | 1–3 |  Rosenborg | 1–0 | 0–3 (a.e.t.) |
IFK Göteborg  | 4–1 |  Ferencváros | 3–0 | 1–1 |
Widzew Łódź  | 4–4 (a) |  Brøndby | 2–1 | 2–3 |
Grasshopper  | 6–0 |  Slavia Prague | 5–0 | 1–0 |
Club Brugge  | 2–5 |  Steaua București | 2–2 | 0–3 |
Rapid Wien  | 6–2 |  Dynamo Kyiv | 2–0 | 4–2 |
Brown: Group A;
Red: Group B;
Orange: Group C;
Yellow: Group D.Atlético Madrid,Auxerre,Fenerbahçe,Rapid Wien andWidzew Łódź made their debut in the group stage.
Italy became the first association to have two teams in the Champions League group stage.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | AUX | AJX | GRA | RAN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Auxerre | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 12 | Advance toknockout stage | — | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | |
| 2 |  Ajax | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 12 | 1–2 | — | 0–1 | 4–1 | ||
| 3 | Grasshopper | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 9 | 3–1 | 0–1 | — | 3–0 | ||
| 4 | Rangers | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 13 | −8 | 3 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | — |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ATM | DOR | WID | STE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Atlético Madrid | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 13 | Advance toknockout stage | — | 0–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | |
| 2 | Borussia Dortmund | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 8 | +6 | 13 | 1–2 | — | 2–1 | 5–3 | ||
| 3 | Widzew Łódź | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 4 | 1–4 | 2–2 | — | 2–0 | ||
| 4 | Steaua București | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 15 | −10 | 4 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–0 | — |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | JUV | MUN | FEN | RWI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juventus | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 1 | +10 | 16 | Advance toknockout stage | — | 1–0 | 2–0 | 5–0 | |
| 2 |  Manchester United | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 9 | 0–1 | — | 0–1 | 2–0 | ||
| 3 | Fenerbahçe | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 6 | −3 | 7 | 0–1 | 0–2 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 4 | Rapid Wien | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 12 | −10 | 2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | — |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | POR | ROS | MIL | GOT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Porto | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 16 | Advance toknockout stage | — | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | |
| 2 | Rosenborg | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 11 | −4 | 9 | 0–1 | — | 1–4 | 1–0 | ||
| 3 | Milan | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 11 | +2 | 7 | 2–3 | 1–2 | — | 4–2 | ||
| 4 | IFK Göteborg | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 13 | −6 | 3 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 2–1 | — |
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borussia Dortmund | 4–1 | Auxerre | 3–1 | 1–0 |
| Manchester United | 4–0 | Porto | 4–0 | 0–0 |
| Ajax | 4–3 | Atlético Madrid | 1–1 | 3–2 (a.e.t.) |
| Rosenborg | 1–3 | Juventus | 1–1 | 0–2 |
| Team 1 | Agg. Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borussia Dortmund | 2–0 | Manchester United | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Ajax | 2–6 | Juventus | 1–2 | 1–4 |
The final was played on 28 May 1997 at theOlympiastadion inMunich, Germany.
