1979–80 UEFA Cup

The 1979–80 UEFA Cup was the ninth season of the UEFA Cup, the third-tier club football competition organised by UEFA. The final was played in West Germany over two legs, at the Bökelbergstadion., Mönchengladbach, and at the Waldstadion, Frankfurt. It was won by Eintracht Frankfurt, who defeated title holders and fellow West German side Borussia Mönchengladbach on the away goals rule after a 3–3 aggregate draw to claim their first UEFA Cup title.

The competition was notable for the dominance of West German teams, who were only knocked out of the tournament among themselves, setting up for an all-German final, the first out of the two ever played in UEFA history. All four semi-finalists came from West Germany, with this being the only instance in a UEFA club competition, and one of them defeated the fifth team in the quarter-finals.

This was the last edition of the UEFA Cup where the 64 spots were allocated to the respective associations by the invitation method inherited from the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Beginning in 1980, the newly introduced UEFA country rankings would determine the number of teams for each country, based on results from the five-year period preceding the last completed season.

Association team allocation
A total of 64 teams from 31 UEFA member associations participate in the 1979–80 UEFA Cup. The original allocation scheme was as follows:

Czechoslovakia was the only association selected to have an extra third birth for this season, while Bulgaria and East Germany went back to two qualified teams. The remaining spot went to West Germany for title holders Borussia Mönchengladbach. With this being the last season before the introduction of the UEFA rankings, only four of the 20 two-team associations had never been chosen for the extra third birth over eight seasons of rotation: Greece, Turkey, Denmark and Norway.
 * 3 associations have four teams qualify.
 * 3 associations have three teams qualify.
 * 18 associations have two teams qualify.
 * 7 associations have one team qualify.

Teams
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for competition:


 * TH: Title holders
 * CW: Cup winners
 * CR: Cup runners-up
 * LC: League Cup winners
 * 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position
 * P-W: End-of-season European competition play-offs winners

Schedule
The schedule of the competition was as follows. Matches were scheduled for Wednesdays, though some matches in the first two rounds exceptionally took place on Tuesdays or Thursdays. Also, the second leg of the semi-finals was played on a Tuesday.

First round

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Second leg
Zbrojovka Brno won 7–1 on aggregate.

AGF won 2–1 on aggregate.

Eintracht Frankfurt won 2–1 on aggregate.

Aris Thessaloniki won 4–3 on aggregate.

Dynamo Dresden won 5–1 on aggregate.

Borussia Mönchengladbach won 4–1 on aggregate.

Dinamo București won 12–0 on aggregate.

1–1 on aggregate; Dundee United won on away goals.

Bayern Munich won 4–2 on aggregate.

Carl Zeiss Jena won 4–1 on aggregate.

Dynamo Kyiv won 3–2 on aggregate.

Grasshoppers won 6–0 on aggregate.

Monaco won 3–2 on aggregate.

Feyenoord won 2–0 on aggregate.

Kaiserslautern won 8–2 on aggregate.

Red Star Belgrade won 3–1 on aggregate.

Standard Liège won 2–0 on aggregate.

Inter Milan won 3–2 on aggregate.

2–2 on aggregate; Keflavík won on away goals.

Malmö FF won 4–1 on aggregate.

Napoli won 2–1 on aggregate.

Baník Ostrava won 6–2 on aggregate.

Perugia won 1–0 on aggregate.

Lokomotiv Sofia won 3–2 on aggregate.

Diósgyőri VTK won 4–2 on aggregate.

Ipswich Town won 10–1 on aggregate.

Sporting CP won 2–0 on aggregate.

PSV Eindhoven won 1–0 on aggregate.

Leeds United won 7–0 on aggregate.

2–2 on aggregate; Stuttgart won on away goals.

Saint-Étienne won 4–2 on aggregate.

Universitatea Craiova won 3–1 on aggregate.

Second round

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Second leg
Zbrojovka Brno won 5–2 on aggregate.

Bayern Munich won 5–2 on aggregate.

Aris Thessaloniki won 4–1 on aggregate.

Borussia Mönchengladbach won 4–3 on aggregate.

Eintracht Frankfurt won 3–2 on aggregate.

Diósgyöri VTK won 4–1 on aggregate.

1–1 on aggregate; Stuttgart won on away goals.

Dynamo Kyiv won 2–1 on aggregate.

Universitatea Craiova won 4–0 on aggregate.

Feyenoord won 5–1 on aggregate.

1–1 on aggregate; Grasshoppers won on away goals.

Lokomotiv Sofia won 5–4 on aggregate.

Saint-Étienne won 6–2 on aggregate.

Red Star Belgrade won 6–4 on aggregate.

Kaiserslautern won 3–1 on aggregate.

Standard Liège won 3–2 on aggregate.

Third round

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Second leg
Saint-Étienne won 7–4 on aggregate.

Bayern Munich won 4–3 on aggregate.

Borussia Mönchengladbach won 2–1 on aggregate.

Kaiserslautern won 8–1 on aggregate.

Eintracht Frankfurt won 4–2 on aggregate.

Stuttgart won 5–0 on aggregate.

2–2 on aggregate; Lokomotiv Sofia won on away goals.

Zbrojovka Brno won 5–3 on aggregate.

Quarter-finals

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Second leg
Bayern Munich won 4–2 on aggregate.

Borussia Mönchengladbach won 6–1 on aggregate.

Eintracht Frankfurt won 6–4 on aggregate.

Stuttgart won 4–1 on aggregate.

Semi-finals

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Second leg
Eintracht Frankfurt won 5–3 on aggregate.

Borussia Mönchengladbach won 3–2 on aggregate.

Second leg
3–3 on aggregate; Eintracht Frankfurt won on away goals.