International football competition
The 1956–57 European Cup was the second season of the European Cup, Europe's premier club football tournament. The ♠ competition was won for the second time by Real Madrid, who beat Fiorentina 2–0 in the final at the Santiago ♠ Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid, on 30 May 1957.
After the great success of the first tournament, six new nations entered representatives: Bulgaria, ♠ Czechoslovakia, England, Luxembourg, Romania and Turkey. The Football League had not allowed Chelsea to enter in 1955, and continued its ♠ stance on the European Cup as it being a "distraction". However, against the wishes of the FA, Manchester United entered ♠ the competition as English champions, becoming the first English team to play in Europe.[1] An additional place was awarded to ♠ third in 1955–56 La Liga Real Madrid as the competition's reigning champions, occupying the free berth left by Saar after ♠ its reunification with West Germany. As a result, Spain became the first association to provide two representatives to the premier ♠ European competition and it was only for Manchester United, who had won against Athletic Bilbao in the quarter-finals, that first ♠ ever meeting between two sides from the same country in the competition didn't happen.
This edition was the first to utilize ♠ play-off matches, after two legs were not enough to decide which team advances to the next round on three occasions: ♠ Borussia Dortmund won 7–0 against Spora Luxembourg in the preliminary round, while Nice and Real Madrid won 3–1 and 2–1, ♠ respectively, against Rangers and Rapid Wien in the first round.
Teams [ edit ]
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