It was won by Real Madrid, who defeated Reims 4–3 in the final at Parc des Princes, Paris, on 13 June 1956.

[1] 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.

[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.

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.