Aberdeen F.C. in Europe
Contents |
Early Lessons
Aberdeen played their first official match in competitive European football in early September, 1967. This was a European Cup Winners' Cup first round game against KR Reykjavik of Iceland. The match ended in a 10-0 thrashing home victory for Aberdeen in front of packed Pittodrie. This 10-0 debut result for Aberdeen on the European stage had bettered Dundee's 8-1 Scottish record drubbing of Cologne a few seasons previous.
However things could have been so much different for the Dons had they been granted their rightful place in the inaugral European Cup in 1955 as the Scottish League Champions. However Hibernian were elected for the championship instead.
Aberdeen were regular competitors in Europe during the late 1960's and all throughout the 1970's, however the team very rarely reached the latter stages of a European event. In fact it took Aberdeen 14 years of European football to reach the Third Round of a major event, this being against SV Hamburg in the UEFA Cup of season 1981-82.
Aberdeen had the distinction of being the very first team to be knocked out of a European competition on the football lottery of penalty kicks during the first round of the European Cup Winners' Cup of 1970-71, when after a thrilling 4-4 two legged aggregate scoreline against Hungarian outfit Honvéd, the match had gone all the way to penalties, the very first time this had happened in European football. Aberdeen were the losers on the night by 5 kicks to 4 in Budapest.
When Aberdeen played in Europe, chances were it was going to be against a big team from the continent, and very rarely did this not happen. during the following years in Aberdeens European runs they faced the might of teams such as Juventus, the mighty Borussia Mönchengladbach and the then dominant Liverpool. On each of these occasions the Dons came out on fairly convincing defeats, but this was all a learning curb for tiny Aberdeen, and the crowning moment was soon to come when the Dons had put all the lessons taught by the giants of the European stage, into good use.
It wasn't until season 1980-81 that Aberdeen finally made their breakthrough onto the biggest stage of them all, the European Cup. Aberdeen had dominated their league the season previous with the appointment of Sir Alex Ferguson as their manager and a rejuvenated young squad full of talent and flair, and most importantly a passion to win and produce big upsets on the day.
That was exactly what had happened when Aberdeen were drawn against a very young and very experienced Austria Memphis in the opening round of the European Cup campaign. Aberdeen had ground out a result at home winning by the narrowest of margins, and were full of confidence heading to Austria for the return leg. Aberdeen didn't disappoint the legions of Red Army supporters who had made their journey to follow their beloved team. Aberdeen were on the backfoot for most of the return leg, rarely advancing into the opponents half throughout the 90 minutes, but this team were built on a solid back line of Willie Miller and a young Alex McLeish with the final result on the day, a 0-0 shut-out. Aberdeen had done the near impossible by knocking Austria Memphis off their perch as a leading force in Europe in those days and advanced to round 2 where the draw had yet again sprung on the Dons a giant, the daunting task of Liverpool. The run would end in the next round when the dons were out played and eventually losing the two legged affair by 5 goals to 0. Aberdeen took this as another big lesson to learn, but the most memorable of adventures was now only 2 seasons away...
Aberdeen had produced an upset the next year in the UEFA Cup of 1981-82 by knocking out defending champions Ipswich Town in the opening round before going on to lose in the third round to future European Champions SV Hamburg.
The lessons had now been learnt and the time to shine was now upon the Dons, the season was 1982-83, and Aberdeen had qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup a competition Aberdeen had never really done all that well in previously. But all that was soon about to change.
History In The Making
Aberdeen's History in Europe
| Season | Competition | Round | Opposition | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967-68 | European Cup Winners' Cup | First Round | KR Reykjavik | 10-0, 4-1 |
| Second Round | Standard Liège | 0-3, 2-0 | ||
| 1968-69 | Inter-Cities Fairs Cup | First Round | Slavia Sofia | 0-0, 2-0 |
| Second Round | Real Zaragoza | 2-1, 0-3 | ||
| 1970-71 | European Cup Winners' Cup | First Round | Honvéd | 3-1, 1-3 ¹ |
| 1971-72 | UEFA Cup | First Round | Celta Vigo | 2-0, 1-0 |
| Second Round | Juventus | 0-2, 1-1 | ||
| 1972-73 | UEFA Cup | First Round | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 2-3, 3-6 |
| 1973-74 | UEFA Cup | First Round | Finn Harps | 4-1, 3-1 |
| Second Round | Tottenham Hotspur | 1-1, 1-4 | ||
| 1977-78 | UEFA Cup | First Round | R.W.D. Molenbeek | 0-0, 1-2 |
| 1978-79 | European Cup Winners' Cup | First Round | PFC Marek Dimitrov | 2-3, 3-0 |
| Second Round | Fortuna Dusseldorf | 0-3, 2-0 | ||
| 1979-80 | UEFA Cup | First Round | Eintracht Frankfurt | 1-1, 0-1 |
| 1980-81 | European Cup | First Round | Austria Memphis | 1-0, 0-0 |
| Second Round | Liverpool | 0-1, 0-4 | ||
| 1981-82 | UEFA Cup | First Round | Ipswich Town | 1-1, 3-1 |
| Second Round | FC Argeş Piteşti | 3-0, 2-2 | ||
| Third Round | SV Hamburg | 3-2, 1-3 | ||
| 1982-83 | European Cup Winners' Cup | Qualifier | Sion | 7-0, 4-1 |
| First Round | Dinamo Tirana | 1-0, 0-0 | ||
| Second Round | Lech Poznań | 2-0, 1-0 | ||
| Quarter-Final | Bayern Munich | 0-0, 3-2 | ||
| Semi-Final | Waterschei | 5-1, 0-1 | ||
| Final | Real Madrid | 2-1 | ||
| 1993-84 | European Cup Winners Cup | First Round | IA Akranes | 2-1, 1-1 |
| Second Round | Beveren | 0-0, 4-1 | ||
| 1983 | European Super Cup | Final | SV Hamburg | 0-0, 2-0 |
| 1983-84 | European Cup Winners' Cup | Quarter-Final | Újpest Dosza | 0-2, 3-0 |
| Semi-Final | F.C. Porto | 0-1, 0-1 | ||
| 1984-85 | European Cup | First Round | Dynamo Berlin | 2-1, 1-2 |
| 1985-86 | European Cup | First Round | IA Akranes | 3-1, 4-1 |
| Second Round | Servette | 0-0, 1-0 | ||
| Quarter Final | IFK Gothenburg | 2-2, 0-0 | ||
| 1986-87 | European Cup Winners' Cup | First Round | Sion | 2-1, 0-3 |
| 1987-88 | UEFA Cup | First Round | Bohemians | 0-0, 1-0 |
| Second Round | Feyenoord | 2-1, 0-1 | ||
| 1988-89 | UEFA Cup | First Round | Dynamo Dresden | 0-0, 0-2 |
| 1989-90 | UEFA Cup | First Round | Rapid Vienna | 2-1, 0-1 |
| 1990-91 | UEFA Cup | First Round | Nea Salamina | 2-0, 3-0 |
| Second Round | Legia Warsaw | 0-0, 0-1 | ||
| 1991-92 | UEFA Cup | First Round | BK 1903 | 0-1, 0-2 |
| 1991-92 | UEFA Cup Winners' Cup | First Round | Valur | 3-0, 4-0 |
| Second Round | Torino | 2-3, 1-2 | ||
| 1994-95 | UEFA Cup | Qualifying Round | Skonto Riga | 0-0, 1-1 |
| 1996-97 | UEFA Cup | Qualifying Round | Žalgiris Vilnius | 4-1, 1-3 |
| First Round | Barry Town FC | 3-1, 3-3 | ||
| Second Round | Brondby | 0-2, 0-0 | ||
| 2000-01 | UEFA Cup | Qualifying Round | Bohemians | 1-2, 1-0 |
| 2003-03 | UEFA Cup | Qualifying Round | Nistru Otaci | 1-0, 0-0 |
| First Round | Hertha Berlin | 0-0, 0-1 | ||
| 2007-08 | UEFA Cup | First Round | FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 0-0, 1-1 |
| Group B | Panathinaikos | 0-3 | ||
| Group B | Lokomotiv Moscow | 1-1 | ||
| Group B | Atlético Madrid | 0-2 | ||
| Group B | FC Copenhagen | 4-0 | ||
| Third Round | Bayern Munich | 2-2, 1-5 |
Footnotes
- ¹ - After a 4-4 draw with Hungarian side Honvéd, over two legs, Aberdeen became the first European club in history to be knocked out on penalty kicks. [1]