UEFA had been officially inaugurated on 15 June 1954 in Basel, Switzerland after consultation between the Italian, French, and Belgian associations.[2] The first round pairings were fixed by the organisers and not drawn as would be the case for all future European Cup matches. The clubs participating in the first season of the European Cup were selected by French football magazine L'Equipe on the basis that they were representative and prestigious clubs in Europe.[3]
When the tournament started, Real Madrid, Anderlecht, AC Milan, Rot-Weiss Essen, Reims, Djurgården and AGF were the reigning champions of their respective national leagues. English champions Chelsea initially agreed to compete and were drawn against Swedish side Djurgården; however, under pressure from the Football League, who saw the tournament as a distraction to domestic football, they later withdrew from the competition,[4][5] and were replaced by Gwardia Warsaw of Poland. In addition, Holland Sport, Honvéd and AB rejected the opportunity to represent the Netherlands, Hungary and Denmark, being replaced by PSV Eindhoven, Vörös Lobogó and AGF respectively.
Scottish champions Aberdeen were controversially overlooked by the SFA in favour of Hibernian who finished in fifth place.[6] They were considered one of the best teams in Scotland, having won the Scottish title in 1950–51 and 1951–52, but the main reason they were invited was because they were the only team in the country to install floodlights on their grounds. Dynamo Moscow, the champions of the Soviet Union, did not participate due to climatic restrictions. This was also the only UEFA tournament to include a representative of Saarland, unified into West Germany in 1957.
Teams
A total of 16 teams participated in the competition.
Note – differences in information: RSSSF website indicates that the goal scored on 26th minute was scored by Robert Körner, while UEFA website indicates that it was scored by his younger brother Alfred Körner.
