The final was played over two legs at Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden, and at the Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, Germany.

The final was won by IFK Göteborg of Sweden, who defeated Hamburger SV of Germany by an aggregate result of 4–0 to claim their first UEFA Cup title.

This was the first of two UEFA Cup conquests for Göteborg, which were the only major European titles achieved by Swedish teams.

It was also the first Swedish team to play and win in a UEFA Cup final, while Hamburg went on to win the European Cup a year later.

For the second and last time in UEFA Cup or UEFA Europa League history, both finalists won their national championship in the same season.

The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association: For the 1981–82 UEFA Cup, the associations are allocated places according to their 1980 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 1975–76 to 1979–80.

2–2 on aggregate; Real Madrid won on away goals.

Carl Zeiss Jena won 4–1 on aggregate.

Hamburger SV won 6–4 on aggregate.

3–3 on aggregate; Borussia Mönchengladbach won on away goals.

2–2 on aggregate; Radnički Niš won on away goals.

2–2 on aggregate; Radnički Niš won 3–0 on penalties.

4–4 on aggregate; Hajduk Split won on away goals.

2–2 on aggregate; Rapid Wien won on away goals.

Hamburger SV won 6–3 on aggregate.