The tournament retained the structure and format of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which ran from 1955 to 1971 and had been held independently of UEFA by an organizing committee composed mostly of FIFA executives.

The final was played in England over two legs, at Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, and at White Hart Lane, London.

The first UEFA Cup was won by Tottenham Hotspur, who defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers by an aggregate result of 3–2.

English clubs had won the last four editions of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

This was the first ever European final between two clubs from England, a feat that would not be repeated until the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League.

The 'Fairs Cup', as it came to be known, was intended to provide a competitive background for matches between the representative teams of cities that hosted international trade fairs, which were being held in the previous years.

This included FIFA Executive Committee members Ernst Thommen, who was the president of the Swiss Football Association, as well as Sir Stanley Rous and Ottorino Barassi.

[2] This approach changed at the start of the 60's as UEFA structures consolidated, being tasked by the FIFA statues to bring order to European competitions.

However, this wasn't initially enforced with the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, due to its good reputation and the influence held by its organisers.

[3] An initial proposal by the Scottish Football Association for UEFA to take over the tournament fell through by 15 votes to 5, due to the opposition of Sir Stanley Rous in his new role as FIFA president, and the support of the Football Association.

However, when Scotland submitted a new proposal in 1966, the English association did agree that time, and the motion was narrowly passed by 11 votes to 10 despite the efforts of Rous to prevent it.

[2][3] Owing to the minimal margin between both positions, UEFA agreed to enter a negotiation period with the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup organizers.

The terms were finally approved in 1968, and UEFA was due to take over for the 1969–70 edition.

However, just a few months prior, most of the member association presidents agreed to extend the 'transitional period', which lasted for two further years.

Otherwise, the UEFA Cup retained the same 64-team, five knock-out rounds format for a two-legged final, with multiple teams from Europe's strongest leagues.

As the 'trade fair' requirement was abolished, teams from the Soviet Union, Cyprus and Albania were admitted for the first time, which required further modifications into the allocation scheme previously set up by the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

Due to the newly entered associations, Belgium, Scotland and Yugoslavia lost the fourth birth they had gained the previous season, while England went back from five to four teams as the 'title holders' extra berth was not needed.

1 Vllaznia withdrew after Albanian authorities banned the team from international competition, due to its volleyball team coming back from abroad with gifts and items that were deemed forbidden.

3 Chemie Halle withdrew after the first leg following the Hotel 't Silveren Seepaerd fire.

Vllaznia withdrew after Albanian authorities banned the team from international competition, due to its volleyball team coming back from abroad with gifts and items that were deemed forbidden; Rapid Wien were awarded a walkover.

Chemie Halle withdrew ahead of the return leg due to the Eindhoven hotel fire that claimed the life of Halle's 21-year-old midfielder Wolfgang Hoffmann one day before the match.

1 After the final whistle in the first leg, visiting Panionios fans invaded the pitch and attacked Ferencváros players, match officials, and Hungarian police.

After the final whistle in the first leg, visiting Panionios fans invaded the pitch and attacked Ferencváros players, match officials, and Hungarian police.