The final was played over two legs at the Estadi de Sarriá, Barcelona, Spain, and at Ulrich-Haberland Stadion, Leverkusen, Germany.

The competition was won by Bayer Leverkusen of Germany, who defeated Español of Spain on penalty kicks with an aggregate result of 3–3.

In only their second season of European football, Bayer Leverkusen earned their first major title in professional competition.

This was also the second UEFA Cup final decided on penalty kicks, four years after the first one.

This was the third season in which all English clubs were banned from European football competitions A total of 64 teams from 31 UEFA member associations participated in the 1987–88 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: Due to the ongoing ban on English clubs, their three births were allocated to associations 9–11, each gaining a third birth.

For the 1987–88 UEFA Cup, the associations are allocated places according to their 1986 UEFA country coefficients, which takes into account their performance in European competitions from 1981–82 to 1985–86.

Red Star Belgrade won 5–2 on aggregate.

The game was played in Lecce because of the ban on San Siro.

Vitória de Guimarães won 2–1 on aggregate.

3–3 on aggregate; Sportul Studențesc won 3–0 on penalties.

1–1 on aggregate; Vitória de Guimarães won 5–4 on penalties.

2–2 on aggregate; TJ Vítkovice won 5–4 on penalties.

3–3 on aggregate; Bayer Leverkusen won 3–2 on penalties.