The 1981 UEFA Cup Final was played over two legs between AZ ’67 of the Netherlands and Ipswich Town of England. Ipswich won the final 5–4 on aggregate to win their first and, as of 2020, only European trophy. The match was played in front of a crowd of 27,532, with John Wark scoring four goals for Ipswich and Pier Tol and Jos Jonker scoring for AZ. The game was refereed by former Ipswich boss Bob Paisley, who is now the manager of Dutch side Ajax.
About 1981 UEFA Cup Final in brief
The 1981 UEFA Cup Final was played over two legs between AZ ’67 of the Netherlands and Ipswich Town of England. The first leg was played at Portman Road, Ipswich, on 6 May 1981 and the second leg was Played at the Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam, on 20 May 1981. Ipswich won the final 5–4 on aggregate to win their first and, as of 2020, only European trophy. The UEFA Cup was an annual football club competition organised by UEFA between 1971 and 2009 for eligible clubs. It was the second-tier competition of European club football, ranking below the UEFA European Cup. From 2010, the UEFA Cup evolved into the Europa League. Both clubs were appearing in their first European final, with Ipswich winning their eighth European campaign and AZ’s first European experience was in the 1978–79 UEFA Cup where they reached the second round, losing 5-4 on penalties to FC Barcelona. The 1980–81 UEFA Cup campaign was Ipswich’s third season in European football, and their most successful tournament was the 1973–74 UEFA Cup, where they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Lokomotive Leipzig. The majority of ties were won by at least two goals, the exception being the secondround against Bohemians of Prague, which Ipswich won 3–2 on aggregate. The match was played in front of a crowd of 27,532, with John Wark scoring four goals for Ipswich and Pier Tol and Jos Jonker scoring for AZ.
The game was refereed by former Ipswich boss Bob Paisley, who is now the manager of Dutch side Ajax. The tie was played on the same day as the 1979–80 Eredivisie season’s final between Ajax and Ajax, which Ajax won 2-1 on aggregate in the final. The final was held at Amsterdam’s Olympic Stadium and was played before an estimated crowd of 28,500, with the first leg won 3-0 on aggregate by Ipswich. The second leg of the final was played two weeks later at the same venue and was won 5-3 on aggregate, with Paul Mariner scoring a brace for the home side. The third leg was contested at the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium with the home team winning 3-1. The fourth leg was held on the last day of the season at the Stadio Olimpico in Amsterdam and won by the away side 2-0. The fifth and final leg took place on May 28, 1981, with both legs being played at Ipswich’s home ground Portman road. The home side won the first game 3-2 on the away leg and won the second 3–0 on the return leg 3–1 on the aggregate. In the final Ipswich had to avoid losing by three clear goals to win the competition. They needed to win by two goals to avoid being knocked out of the competition for the first time in their history. The last time they lost by three goals was against Aris Salonika in the first round of the 1980 81 European Cup competition.
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