spain: real reaches new heights
business as usual in spain. despite european success by teams such as atlético madrid and valencia cf, at home it was the old rivalry between real madrid and fc barcelona. the merengues decided the affair quite narrowly, defended their title and reclaiming national dominance by winning their fourth title in six seasons. atlético madrid wasn't too far behind, and real zaragoza also had a very decent season.
it ended up being a special season for miguel munoz's men because they managed to win the copa generalísimo for the first time in the european cup era, completing the double. if they had managed to win the final against benfica, it would have been the first treble in history. the beaten finalist was sevilla cf, which meant they would represent spain in next season's cup winner's cup.
it ended up being a special season for miguel munoz's men because they managed to win the copa generalísimo for the first time in the european cup era, completing the double. if they had managed to win the final against benfica, it would have been the first treble in history. the beaten finalist was sevilla cf, which meant they would represent spain in next season's cup winner's cup.
italy: milan back on top as juventus fail miserably
milan's brazilian: josé "mazzola" altafini
brazilian striker mazzola was the decisive man in milan's title campaign that season, leading the top scorer board at the end of the season. after two juventus-seasons, the scudetto went back to milan, who were eager to try and go for the european cup title. internazionale came in second, distant enough and just edging out fiorentina, bologna (!) and roma, who all had great seasons. juventus' first relatively successful european adventure had a price, seeing them finishing as low as 12nd, with only 10 victories in 34 matches. at the end, brazilian paulo amaral, who had been responsible for the fitness of the 1958 world-cup winning brazilian squad, took over to try to restart next season.
the cup was a very curious event, since spal, an otherwise practically unknown side from the city of ferrara, beat crisis-hit juventus 4-1 in the semifinals and played ssc napoli in the final. the future maradona-team took the title, a rare event from the vesuvan club.
the cup was a very curious event, since spal, an otherwise practically unknown side from the city of ferrara, beat crisis-hit juventus 4-1 in the semifinals and played ssc napoli in the final. the future maradona-team took the title, a rare event from the vesuvan club.
england: ipswich who?
english champions from the east coast
the quality and, at the same time, problem with the english first division at the time was a certain lack of continuity. it seemed that every year, the national title was up for grabs, depending mostly on the quality of squads which did not change too much - the perks of amateur football, no doubt. this also meant that no single team was really dominating to a point that it could also leave its mark in europe, different from the leagues in southern europe or even in scotland. so in 1962, the surprise champions was ipswich town, the fifth different english champion in the last seven years. to prove the point, lets have a quick look at the other four: manchester united had a bad season and ended up in 15th, the wolves even finished 18th, avoiding relegation by not much. at least the last two champions, burnley and tottenham, finished second and third, respectively. everton did well for the second year in a row and finished a decent fourth.
in the fa cup semis, it was an ex-champions affair: while burnley defeated fulham, the hotspurs eliminated manchester united. in the final, jimmy greaves and bobby smith scored the important leading goals to give tottenham their title defense.
in the fa cup semis, it was an ex-champions affair: while burnley defeated fulham, the hotspurs eliminated manchester united. in the final, jimmy greaves and bobby smith scored the important leading goals to give tottenham their title defense.
portugal: lisbon rules
sporting got the better of benfica
a sequence of two league titles came to an end for sl benfica as sporting lisbon did one better than the previous year and clinched the title for the first time since 1958. fc porto was pretty close, but could not make it at the end, while benfica had to be satisfied with third in the primeira divisao, which was becoming increasingly important on the continent. gd fabril had one of their greatest seasons ever and were able to impress, and os belenenses had a pretty good season themselves.
benfica did manage to win the taca de portugal, beating vitoria de setubal in the final. that made it at least one national title per season since 1957, without counting european glory!
benfica did manage to win the taca de portugal, beating vitoria de setubal in the final. that made it at least one national title per season since 1957, without counting european glory!
germany: 1.fc köln finally win
nürnberg lost, but won the cup
last year’s defending champion and record title winner 1.fc nürnberg made it to the final once again. after winning the oberliga süd, they won all matches in their group to comfortably qualify for the final match. on the other side, cup winners werder bremen did not make to the group stage before the final, eliminated by schalke in the qualy. köln dominated a group and won the very first and decisive match against eintracht frankfurt, who came in second. the final was an easy affair for the challengers, who beat the champions 4-0; karl-heinz schnellinger was part of that team, a familiar name to football aficionados since he went on to play for milan just a few seasons later.
nürnberg did make the german cup final, beating fortuna düsseldorf there. it was fortuna’s third fb-pokal final defeat since 1957, and second after extra time. strangely enough, at the time the cup was played after the championship was over, but before the beginning of the new season… .
nürnberg did make the german cup final, beating fortuna düsseldorf there. it was fortuna’s third fb-pokal final defeat since 1957, and second after extra time. strangely enough, at the time the cup was played after the championship was over, but before the beginning of the new season… .
the others: floriana's perfect season, surprises in scotland, denmark & sweden
albania: partizani claimed back the right to be called national champions by the smallest of margins, delegating defending champs to second by goal difference. it was the champion’s fourth title in five seasons. partizani added the cup and now had seven titles in seven seasons.
austria: the club that carries the name of the country and its capital retained their title ahead of linzer ask, who had a great season. traditional club admira came in third, ahead of the two ex-champions wiener sc and rapid, who had lackluster seasons for their standards. austria also won the cup for the second time in three seasons, making it 4 titles in the 3 years for them.
belgium: at the end, european success paid its toll on standard liege, who did not defend their title and came in second in the belgian first division. rsc anderlecht were much stronger and won it in their rhythm of every three seasons (1956, 1959, 1962). royal antwerp did a good job again, for the first time after three poorer seasons.
bulgaria: who will break the cdna sofia spell? this season, no one. eighth title in eight seasons. at least this time they did not manage the double, leaving it to botev plovdiv. in the league, only spartak plovdiv could really be satisfied with their season, besides the champs.
cyprus: it was the first time in the european era that both the league and the cup were played in a season – and anorthosis famagusta won them both, winning 4 out of the last 6 league titles and 2 out of 2 cup titles!
czechoslovakia: one can say that dukla praha was on a roll. fourth time national champions in six season, that reads domination. only slovak team slovan nitra came close the them in the league this season. dukla also won the first ever cup competition, beating the then called dynamo zilina in the final. with the czechs leaving a stronger impression in europe, dukla’s titles become even more impressive.
denmark: surprise, surprise: esbjerg fb became danish champions in 1961. i mean, they did have a couple of decent seasons in the european cup era until then, and one lost cup final. but this time, they won a race up to the end with kb, today part of fc copenhagen and at the time the second favorite after disappointing agf aarhus, who finished only fifth. b1913 also had a good season. in the summer, esbjerg also reached the cup final, but lost that to b1909.
faroe islands: tb tvoroyri must be the classical example of a cup side. they won four of the last six cups on the islands, but had no championship to their name. ki klaksvik, on the other hand, won their fourth league in six years without ever having won the cup. hb tórshavn had won 3 leagues and 2 cups at the time, but left 1961 empty handed.
finland: a tight race between title and cup holders fc haka, 1959 champions hifk helsiniki and fc kiffen (at the time called kif helksinki) ended up with hifk’s second league win in three years. ktp won their second cup in the european cup era.
france: things didn’t change in france. the defending champions never retain their title and stade de reims wins the league every two years. while title holders monaco only came in sixth in a tight season, rc paris and nîmes olympique fought reims to the end, without success. st etienne won their first silverware since the league title in 1957, by beating nancy in the coupe de france final.
east germany: ask vorwärts berlin, a club now located at the polish border in frankfurt (oder), defended their title from 1960 in this longer version of a season, since the league decided to use the fall-spring calendar instead of the soviet calendar year season. it was their third league win in four seasons, taking command of the league that a few years earlier was ruled by wismut karl-marx-stadt. empor rostock, today hansa, were the only ones to get close and finished second. the cup was won by chemie halle (now hallescher fc), who beat dynamo berlin 3-1. this was chemie’s second cup win in the european cup era.
greece: panathinaikos won the traditional duel against olympiacos this time around. that marked their third league win in a row, after four consecutive olympiacos triumphs in the ec era. apollon and aek also had good seasons, but were not strong enough to really challenge for the title. a curiosity occurred in the cup final between the two top dogs: numerous interruptions and loss of light caused it to end in a 0-0 draw, with no replay and no title holders!
hungary: vasas budapest became the first team in the european cup era to defend their league title. they did it by overcoming ujpesti by a small margin. ferencvaros came in third, tatabanya fourth. this was vasas’ third championship when no one else even had two – once again in the ec era.
iceland: for the fourth season in a row, ia akranes and kr reykjavik alternate, and this season it was kr’s turn. they even managed the first ever double, winning the cup.
israel: there they go again: petah tikva won their fourth Israeli title in a row, quite an incredible record. the cup competition gave maccabi haifa their first title in the ec era.
liechtenstein: for the seventh time in a row, fc vaduz won the cup, beating fc schaan in the final for the third time in a row.
luxembourg: the jeunesse esch era seemed at an end as union luxembourg won another title, only followed by alliance dudelange. the runners-up did beat union in the cup final for the second year in a row.
malta: just like 1957 and 1958, floriana followed a cup win with league success and won their second title in the european cup era. last year’s champ hibernians switched trophies and got the cup. floriana’s league campaign was special, because they achieved 14 wins in 14 matches, a very rare 100% season by any european club; not even 12 out of 14 wins was enough to give runners-up valletta the title.
netherlands: feyenoord became the first club in the european cup era to defend their dutch title, just coming in front of psv eindhoven, the phillips club. blauw-wit amsterdam did very well to finish third. sparta rotterdam completed the city’s joy by winning the cup against lowly dhc.
northern ireland: in another close finish this in 1961/62, linfield held on to their title by goal difference, leaving portadown in second. bellymena and ards also had a strong season, while glenavon did not challenge the top this time. in the cup final, linfield beat portadown 4-0 and have now won 5 titles in the last 4 seasons.
norway: frederikstad lost their title to brann bergen, who had a relatively comfortable margin over the defending champs and steinkjer. frigg oslo, lyn oslo and valarengen also had decent campaigns. frederikstad did win the cup.
poland: champions 1957 and 1959, górnik zabrze maintained their odd year success with the 1961 title, clearly in front of polonia bytom. legia, wisla and ruch also played decent seasons. after five years with no cup competition, it was reinstated and zaglebie sosnowiec won it.
republic of ireland: after the cup in 1960, shelbourne now made it big and claimed the league title in 1962, ahead on goal difference in a head-to-head finish line against cork celtic. shamrock rovers also had a decent season, in third. and they beat shelbourne in the cup final, to become the first irish club with 4 titles in the european cup era.
romania: would steaua manage their third consecutive league win, or would petrolul fight back? neither! dinamo bucharest became national champions for the first time since 1956, a few points clear of petrolul. progresul also had a good, while steaua finished a disappointing 9th. they did manage their third title in as many seasons by winning the cupa româniei.
scotland: historical event in the premier league – dundee fc won the championship and will represent the scots in the european cup! rangers were a few points away, and celtic a few more. dunfermline and kilmarnock had decent seasons as well. the rangers did win their 16th cup, only their second in the european cup era. they beat st.mirren in the final. that means that only 1958 was titleless domestically for rangers fc. celtic glasgow had no title whatsoever in the ec era, up to that point.
sweden: in denmark, esbjerg was the surprise champion. in sweden, it is elfsborg, who controlled defending champs norrköping and european cup representatives ifk göteborg at the end.
switzerland: servette seem to start a new era in swiss football, defending their title pretty clear from lausanne sports and la chaux-de-fonts. grasshoppers also had an ok season. lausanne did win the cup, defeating ac bellinzona in the final.
turkey: galatasaray beat fener and besiktas to their first turkish title. altay came in 4th after a solid season.
soviet union: dynamo kyiv finally broke the russian title sequence and crowned themselves soviet champions. torpedo, spartak and cska finished behind. shakhtar continued ukranian bliss with their cup success.
wales: bangor city beat wrexham to clinch their first welsh cup title in the european cup era.
yugoslavia: partizan belgrade won the title with a huge advantage over the others. ofk belgrade won the cup, beating spartak zlatibor vador.
austria: the club that carries the name of the country and its capital retained their title ahead of linzer ask, who had a great season. traditional club admira came in third, ahead of the two ex-champions wiener sc and rapid, who had lackluster seasons for their standards. austria also won the cup for the second time in three seasons, making it 4 titles in the 3 years for them.
belgium: at the end, european success paid its toll on standard liege, who did not defend their title and came in second in the belgian first division. rsc anderlecht were much stronger and won it in their rhythm of every three seasons (1956, 1959, 1962). royal antwerp did a good job again, for the first time after three poorer seasons.
bulgaria: who will break the cdna sofia spell? this season, no one. eighth title in eight seasons. at least this time they did not manage the double, leaving it to botev plovdiv. in the league, only spartak plovdiv could really be satisfied with their season, besides the champs.
cyprus: it was the first time in the european era that both the league and the cup were played in a season – and anorthosis famagusta won them both, winning 4 out of the last 6 league titles and 2 out of 2 cup titles!
czechoslovakia: one can say that dukla praha was on a roll. fourth time national champions in six season, that reads domination. only slovak team slovan nitra came close the them in the league this season. dukla also won the first ever cup competition, beating the then called dynamo zilina in the final. with the czechs leaving a stronger impression in europe, dukla’s titles become even more impressive.
denmark: surprise, surprise: esbjerg fb became danish champions in 1961. i mean, they did have a couple of decent seasons in the european cup era until then, and one lost cup final. but this time, they won a race up to the end with kb, today part of fc copenhagen and at the time the second favorite after disappointing agf aarhus, who finished only fifth. b1913 also had a good season. in the summer, esbjerg also reached the cup final, but lost that to b1909.
faroe islands: tb tvoroyri must be the classical example of a cup side. they won four of the last six cups on the islands, but had no championship to their name. ki klaksvik, on the other hand, won their fourth league in six years without ever having won the cup. hb tórshavn had won 3 leagues and 2 cups at the time, but left 1961 empty handed.
finland: a tight race between title and cup holders fc haka, 1959 champions hifk helsiniki and fc kiffen (at the time called kif helksinki) ended up with hifk’s second league win in three years. ktp won their second cup in the european cup era.
france: things didn’t change in france. the defending champions never retain their title and stade de reims wins the league every two years. while title holders monaco only came in sixth in a tight season, rc paris and nîmes olympique fought reims to the end, without success. st etienne won their first silverware since the league title in 1957, by beating nancy in the coupe de france final.
east germany: ask vorwärts berlin, a club now located at the polish border in frankfurt (oder), defended their title from 1960 in this longer version of a season, since the league decided to use the fall-spring calendar instead of the soviet calendar year season. it was their third league win in four seasons, taking command of the league that a few years earlier was ruled by wismut karl-marx-stadt. empor rostock, today hansa, were the only ones to get close and finished second. the cup was won by chemie halle (now hallescher fc), who beat dynamo berlin 3-1. this was chemie’s second cup win in the european cup era.
greece: panathinaikos won the traditional duel against olympiacos this time around. that marked their third league win in a row, after four consecutive olympiacos triumphs in the ec era. apollon and aek also had good seasons, but were not strong enough to really challenge for the title. a curiosity occurred in the cup final between the two top dogs: numerous interruptions and loss of light caused it to end in a 0-0 draw, with no replay and no title holders!
hungary: vasas budapest became the first team in the european cup era to defend their league title. they did it by overcoming ujpesti by a small margin. ferencvaros came in third, tatabanya fourth. this was vasas’ third championship when no one else even had two – once again in the ec era.
iceland: for the fourth season in a row, ia akranes and kr reykjavik alternate, and this season it was kr’s turn. they even managed the first ever double, winning the cup.
israel: there they go again: petah tikva won their fourth Israeli title in a row, quite an incredible record. the cup competition gave maccabi haifa their first title in the ec era.
liechtenstein: for the seventh time in a row, fc vaduz won the cup, beating fc schaan in the final for the third time in a row.
luxembourg: the jeunesse esch era seemed at an end as union luxembourg won another title, only followed by alliance dudelange. the runners-up did beat union in the cup final for the second year in a row.
malta: just like 1957 and 1958, floriana followed a cup win with league success and won their second title in the european cup era. last year’s champ hibernians switched trophies and got the cup. floriana’s league campaign was special, because they achieved 14 wins in 14 matches, a very rare 100% season by any european club; not even 12 out of 14 wins was enough to give runners-up valletta the title.
netherlands: feyenoord became the first club in the european cup era to defend their dutch title, just coming in front of psv eindhoven, the phillips club. blauw-wit amsterdam did very well to finish third. sparta rotterdam completed the city’s joy by winning the cup against lowly dhc.
northern ireland: in another close finish this in 1961/62, linfield held on to their title by goal difference, leaving portadown in second. bellymena and ards also had a strong season, while glenavon did not challenge the top this time. in the cup final, linfield beat portadown 4-0 and have now won 5 titles in the last 4 seasons.
norway: frederikstad lost their title to brann bergen, who had a relatively comfortable margin over the defending champs and steinkjer. frigg oslo, lyn oslo and valarengen also had decent campaigns. frederikstad did win the cup.
poland: champions 1957 and 1959, górnik zabrze maintained their odd year success with the 1961 title, clearly in front of polonia bytom. legia, wisla and ruch also played decent seasons. after five years with no cup competition, it was reinstated and zaglebie sosnowiec won it.
republic of ireland: after the cup in 1960, shelbourne now made it big and claimed the league title in 1962, ahead on goal difference in a head-to-head finish line against cork celtic. shamrock rovers also had a decent season, in third. and they beat shelbourne in the cup final, to become the first irish club with 4 titles in the european cup era.
romania: would steaua manage their third consecutive league win, or would petrolul fight back? neither! dinamo bucharest became national champions for the first time since 1956, a few points clear of petrolul. progresul also had a good, while steaua finished a disappointing 9th. they did manage their third title in as many seasons by winning the cupa româniei.
scotland: historical event in the premier league – dundee fc won the championship and will represent the scots in the european cup! rangers were a few points away, and celtic a few more. dunfermline and kilmarnock had decent seasons as well. the rangers did win their 16th cup, only their second in the european cup era. they beat st.mirren in the final. that means that only 1958 was titleless domestically for rangers fc. celtic glasgow had no title whatsoever in the ec era, up to that point.
sweden: in denmark, esbjerg was the surprise champion. in sweden, it is elfsborg, who controlled defending champs norrköping and european cup representatives ifk göteborg at the end.
switzerland: servette seem to start a new era in swiss football, defending their title pretty clear from lausanne sports and la chaux-de-fonts. grasshoppers also had an ok season. lausanne did win the cup, defeating ac bellinzona in the final.
turkey: galatasaray beat fener and besiktas to their first turkish title. altay came in 4th after a solid season.
soviet union: dynamo kyiv finally broke the russian title sequence and crowned themselves soviet champions. torpedo, spartak and cska finished behind. shakhtar continued ukranian bliss with their cup success.
wales: bangor city beat wrexham to clinch their first welsh cup title in the european cup era.
yugoslavia: partizan belgrade won the title with a huge advantage over the others. ofk belgrade won the cup, beating spartak zlatibor vador.