# 1997–98 UEFA Champions League
The 1997–98 [UEFA Champions League](https://www.edgepedia.org/uefa-champions-league) was the 43rd season of Europe's premier club football tournament and the sixth since its rebranding from the [European Champion Clubs' Cup](https://www.edgepedia.org/european-champion-clubs-cup), and it is remembered as the season the competition first admitted non-champions: the runners-up of the top eight European leagues entered for the first time. [Real Madrid CF](https://www.edgepedia.org/real-madrid-cf) won the trophy, beating Juventus 1-0 in the final at the Amsterdam ArenA on 20 May 1998 with a second-half goal by Predrag Mijatović, claiming a seventh European title and their first since 1966.[1](https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0155-0e6a20959a54-7745f9013b98-1000--1997-98-seventh-heaven-for-madrid/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Champion | Real Madrid CF, seventh European Cup, first since 1966[1](https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0155-0e6a20959a54-7745f9013b98-1000--1997-98-seventh-heaven-for-madrid/) |
| Final | Juventus 0-1 Real Madrid, Amsterdam ArenA, 20 May 1998, Mijatović 66', attendance 50,000[2](https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec199798.html) |
| Format change | Runners-up of the top eight European leagues entered for the first time; two qualifying rounds filtered 16 from 48 clubs into six groups of four[1](https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0155-0e6a20959a54-7745f9013b98-1000--1997-98-seventh-heaven-for-madrid/) |
| Top scorer | Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus), 10 goals in 10 appearances[3](https://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/competitions/Statistics/01/85/99/80/1859980_DOWNLOAD.pdf) |
| Semi-finals | Real Madrid beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 on aggregate; Juventus beat AS Monaco 6-4 on aggregate[2](https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec199798.html) |
| Runner-up performance | Only one of the admitted runners-up, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, reached the quarter-finals[1](https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0155-0e6a20959a54-7745f9013b98-1000--1997-98-seventh-heaven-for-madrid/) |
## The new access list
The 1997/98 season was a turning point in the competition's structure. UEFA allowed the top eight European associations to enter a second club, the league runners-up, who had to come through qualifying.[1](https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0155-0e6a20959a54-7745f9013b98-1000--1997-98-seventh-heaven-for-madrid/) • [4](https://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/40389.pdf) The eight associations concerned were England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey.[5](https://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/461370.pdf) Under the access list, the national champions of the associations ranked 1–7 plus the title holders received a bye to the group stage, while the champions of the associations ranked 8–16 and the runners-up of the top eight entered in the second qualifying round.[6](https://kassiesa.net/uefa/history/format98.html)
The group stage itself consisted of six groups of four clubs playing home and away, with three points for a win and one for a draw. The six group winners and the two best runners-up advanced to the quarter-finals.[2](https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec199798.html) The eight clubs that qualified directly for the league stage were [Borussia Dortmund](https://www.edgepedia.org/borussia-dortmund), Juventus, Real Madrid, AS Monaco, Bayern München, PSV Eindhoven, FC Porto, and Manchester United.[2](https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec199798.html)
## Group stage
The six groups produced a mix of dominant winners and tight finishes. Borussia Dortmund topped [Group A](https://www.edgepedia.org/group-a) with 15 points from five wins, ahead of Parma. Manchester United won [Group B](https://www.edgepedia.org/group-b) with 15 points, with Juventus qualifying as runners-up on 12. Group C went to Dynamo Kyiv on 11 points, with [PSV Eindhoven](https://www.edgepedia.org/psv-eindhoven) second on 9; Barcelona, with 5 points, finished last in the group despite beating Newcastle United 2-3 at St James' Park on the opening matchday.[2](https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec199798.html)
Real Madrid won Group D with 13 points, ahead of [Rosenborg BK](https://www.edgepedia.org/rosenborg-bk) on 11, and Bayern München and Paris Saint-Germain both finished on 12 points at the top of Group E. In Group F, AS Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen tied on 13 points, with Monaco taking first place.[2](https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec199798.html)
## Knockout rounds
**Quarter-finals.** Bayer Leverkusen was the only one of the newly admitted runners-up to survive the group phase, and its run ended in Madrid: after a 1-1 first leg at home, Real Madrid won the return 3-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu.[1](https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0155-0e6a20959a54-7745f9013b98-1000--1997-98-seventh-heaven-for-madrid/) • [2](https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec199798.html) Juventus eliminated Dynamo Kyiv 5-2 on aggregate, Borussia Dortmund knocked out fellow Germans Bayern München 1-0 on aggregate after extra time, and Manchester United drew 1-1 on aggregate with AS Monaco, who advanced.[2](https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec199798.html)
**Semi-finals.** Juventus beat AS Monaco 6-4 on aggregate, while Real Madrid overcame holders Borussia Dortmund 2-0 on aggregate, winning the first leg 2-0 at home and drawing 0-0 in Dortmund. The first leg in Madrid had been delayed by 45 minutes after home fans brought down fencing behind one of the goals.[1](https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0155-0e6a20959a54-7745f9013b98-1000--1997-98-seventh-heaven-for-madrid/) • [2](https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec199798.html)
## The final
The final at the Amsterdam ArenA on 20 May 1998 was settled by a single goal, [Predrag Mijatović](https://www.edgepedia.org/predrag-mijatovic)'s strike in the 66th minute giving Real Madrid a 1-0 win over Juventus in front of 50,000 spectators.[1](https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0155-0e6a20959a54-7745f9013b98-1000--1997-98-seventh-heaven-for-madrid/) • [2](https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec199798.html) Madrid's coach [Jupp Heynckes](https://www.edgepedia.org/jupp-heynckes) had prioritized the Champions League over [La Liga](https://www.edgepedia.org/la-liga), and his team, featuring Fernando Hierro in defense, Clarence Seedorf and Christian Karembeu in midfield, and the young Raúl in attack, ended a 32-year wait for the club's seventh European crown.[7](https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/best-teams-win-champions-league) Despite the trophy, Heynckes lost his job, as Madrid finished only fourth in La Liga that season.[7](https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/best-teams-win-champions-league)
## Scoring and significance
Alessandro Del Piero of Juventus was the season's top scorer with 10 goals in 10 appearances, a tally that led the competition outright.[3](https://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/competitions/Statistics/01/85/99/80/1859980_DOWNLOAD.pdf) The season also marked the start of a broader trend: from 1997/98 the Champions League was no longer reserved for champions, and the following season the format expanded further. The 1997/98 and 1998/99 seasons were the last before the 32-club format introduced in 1999/2000, which replaced the second group stage structure with a single 32-team group phase and added a round-of-16 knockout stage.[4](https://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/40389.pdf) • [6](https://kassiesa.net/uefa/history/format98.html)
## References
1. [1997/98: Seventh heaven for Madrid, UEFA.com](https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0155-0e6a20959a54-7745f9013b98-1000--1997-98-seventh-heaven-for-madrid/)
2. [European Competitions 1997-98, RSSSF](https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec199798.html)
3. [Goalscoring Records, UEFA Champions League Statistics Handbook 2012/13, UEFA.com](https://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/competitions/Statistics/01/85/99/80/1859980_DOWNLOAD.pdf)
4. [UEFAdirect No. 7, UEFA.com](https://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/40389.pdf)
5. [UEFA Champions League 1997/98 Introduction, UEFA.com](https://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/461370.pdf)
6. [UEFA European Cup Football 1998, kassiesa.net](https://kassiesa.net/uefa/history/format98.html)
7. [Ranked! Every team to have won the Champions League, FourFourTwo](https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/best-teams-win-champions-league)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Association football › Football competitions and records › Competitions and recurring events › UEFA competitions › UEFA club competitions › European Cup and UEFA Champions League*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license