The 1996–97 UEFA Champions League was the 42nd season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the fifth since its rebranding as the UEFA Champions League, and the last that involved only clubs that were champions of their domestic leagues. Due to the Bosman ruling, restrictions on foreign players in matchday squads were lifted from this season.
| |
| 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 |
← 1995–96 1997–98 → | |
The tournament was won by Borussia Dortmund in a 3–1 final victory against defending champions Juventus. 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 in UEFA Cup.[1]
| Group stage | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Juventus TH (2nd)
|
 Auxerre (1st)
|
Borussia Dortmund (1st)
|
 Porto (1st)
|
| Milan (1st)
|
 Atlético Madrid (1st)
|
 Ajax (1st)
|
 Manchester United (1st)
|
| Qualifying round | |||
 Club Brugge (1st)
|
 Brøndby (1st)
|
 Slavia Prague (1st)
|
 Ferencváros (1st)
|
 Panathinaikos (1st)
|
 Rapid Wien (1st)
|
 Rangers (1st)
|
 Steaua București (1st)
|
 Alania Vladikavkaz (1st)
|
 IFK Göteborg (1st)
|
 Rosenborg (1st)
|
 Widzew Łódź (1st)
|
 Fenerbahçe (1st)
|
 Grasshopper (1st)
|
 Dynamo Kyiv (1st)
|
 Maccabi Tel Aviv (1st)
|
The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held in Geneva, 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 at Olympiastadion, Munich | |||
The winners of each tie in the preliminary round entered the Champions League group stage, whilst the losers entered the UEFA 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 (aet) |
| 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 and Widzew 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 | AJA | GRA | RAN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Auxerre
|
6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 12 | Advance to knockout 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 | ATL | DOR | WID | STE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Atlético Madrid
|
6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 13 | Advance to knockout 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 | MU | FEN | RAP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juventus
|
6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 1 | +10 | 16 | Advance to knockout 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 | GÖT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Porto
|
6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 16 | Advance to knockout 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 | — |
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | |||||||||||||
| Borussia Dortmund
| 3 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Auxerre
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Borussia Dortmund
| 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Manchester United
| 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Manchester United
| 4 | 0 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Porto
| 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Borussia Dortmund
| 3 | ||||||||||||||
| Juventus
| 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Ajax (aet)
| 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Atlético Madrid
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||||
| Ajax
| 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Juventus
| 2 | 4 | 6 | ||||||||||||
| Rosenborg
| 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Juventus
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 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(aet) |
| 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 |
| Borussia Dortmund | 3–1 | Juventus |
|---|---|---|
Riedle  29', 34'Ricken 71' |
Report | Del Piero 65' |
Attendance: 59,000
Referee: Sándor Puhl (Hungary)
| Rank | Name | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Milinko Pantić
|
Atlético Madrid
|
5 |
| 2 | Nicola Amoruso
|
Juventus
|
4 |
 Artur
|
Porto
|
4 | |
 Alen Bokšić
|
Juventus
|
4 | |
| Alessandro Del Piero
|
Juventus
|
4 | |
| Mário Jardel
|
Porto
|
4 | |
| Lars Ricken
|
Borussia Dortmund
|
4 | |
| Karl-Heinz Riedle
|
Borussia Dortmund
|
4 | |
| Marco Simone
|
Milan
|
4 | |
| Christian Vieri
|
Juventus
|
4 | |
 Diego Simeone
|
Atlético Madrid
|
4 |
