The final was played over two legs at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, Brussels, Belgium, and at White Hart Lane, London, England.

Tottenham Hotspur of England defeated title holders Anderlecht of Belgium, on penalties, after the final finished 2–2 on aggregate, to win the competition for the second time.

A total of 64 teams from 31 UEFA member associations participated in the 1982–83 UEFA Cup, all entering from the first round over six knock-out rounds.

The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association: For the 1983–84 UEFA Cup, the associations are allocated places according to their 1982 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 1977–78 to 1981–82.

1–1 on aggregate; Hajduk Split won 3–1 on penalties.

2–2 on aggregate; Widzew Łódź won on away goals.

Carl Zeiss Jena won 3–0 on aggregate.

2–2 on aggregate; Sturm Graz won on away goals.

In 1997, it was revealed that the Anderlecht chairman Constant Vanden Stock had paid a £27,000 bribe to the referee Emilio Guruceta Muro in exchange for help fixing their semi-final second leg match versus Nottingham Forest.

[1] During the match, Anderlecht were awarded a dubious penalty, and a last minute Nottingham Forest goal – that would have won them the tie on the away goals rule – was disallowed.

[2] In 2016, it emerged that UEFA had known about the bribe since 1993 but had taken no action until the information was made public in 1997,[3] when UEFA suspended Anderlecht from the next European tournament for which they qualified.

[1] On qualifying for the 1998–99 UEFA Cup, Anderlecht appealed the suspension in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which overturned the ban on the grounds that it was made by UEFA's executive committee, which did not have the authority to issue the ban.

[4] The match featured an infamous incident that saw a Hajduk fan (later identified as Ante Baraba, a resident of Paljuv settlement within the Novigrad village) run onto the pitch before the start of the second half with a live rooster – in reference to Tottenham's club symbol, the cockerel – and, while standing at the centre circle, kill the animal by snapping its neck.

[5][6] The contest took place as scheduled, however, as a result of the incident, Hajduk were fined CHF3,000 and ordered to play their next European tie at least 300 km away from their home stadium.

2–2 on aggregate; Tottenham Hotspur won 4–3 on penalties.