1960 European Cup final

1960 European Cup final
Match programme cover
Event1959–60 European Cup
Real Madrid Eintracht Frankfurt
Spain West Germany
7 3
Date18 May 1960
VenueHampden Park, Glasgow
RefereeJack Mowat (Scotland)
Attendance127,621[1]
← 1959
1961 →

The 1960 European Cup final was the fifth final in the history of the European Cup, and was contested by Real Madrid of Spain and Eintracht Frankfurt of West Germany.[2] Real won 7–3 in front of a crowd of over 127,000 people at Glasgow's Hampden Park stadium, still the highest attendance for a European Cup final. There were an estimated 70 million television viewers around Europe. Widely regarded as one of the greatest football matches ever played,[3] it also remains the highest-scoring final in the history of the competition.[4]

Frankfurt reached the final through an impressive 12–4 aggregate victory over Scottish champions Rangers, whereas Madrid overcame their bitter rivals Barcelona 6–2 over two legs.[5]

The match was initially in doubt as the German Football Association had banned their clubs from taking part in matches with any team containing Ferenc Puskás after the Hungarian had alleged the West German team had used drugs in 1954. Puskás had to make a formal written apology before the match could take place.[6]

Puskás and Di Stefano were two of only three players to have scored a hat-trick in a European Cup final, with Puskás being the only one to ever score four goals. The other was Pierino Prati for Milan in their 4–1 victory over Ajax in 1969. Puskás repeated the feat in 1962 but ended up losing to holders Benfica.

  1. ^ Lowe, Sid (18 May 2020). "'We marked an era' – 60 years on from when Real won 7–3 at Hampden". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  2. ^ Keating, Frank (15 May 2002). "Hampden dazzled by white magic". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  3. ^ "The greatest matches of all time". The Daily Telegraph. London. 4 July 2007. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  4. ^ "On this day in 1960, our fifth European Cup was won". Real Madrid CF. 18 May 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
  5. ^ "1959/60: Dazzling Madrid crush Frankfurt". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  6. ^ Hesse-Lichtenburger, Ulrich (2003). Tor! The Story of German Football. WSC Books Limited. p. 141. ISBN 978-0-9540134-5-5.