The 1981–82 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won for the only time by Aston Villa in the final against Bayern Munich.

It was the sixth consecutive year that an English club won the competition.

Liverpool, the defending champions, were eliminated by CSKA Sofia in the quarter-finals.

The final is remembered mainly for the performance of young stand-in goalkeeper Nigel Spink who made a host of saves from the experienced Bayern players.

[1] Villa's winning goal came from Peter Withe who converted Tony Morley's cross in off the post.

2–2 on aggregate; Aston Villa won on away goals.

The top scorers from the 1981–82 European Cup (excluding preliminary round) are as follows: