Stoke City F.C. in European football

The Scottish club won the first leg 1–0, with the Glasgow Herald praising goalkeeper Gordon Banks' performance as "incredible".

[4] Stoke City, under manager Tony Waddington, won the Football League Cup in 1971–72, beating Chelsea in the Final.

Geoff Hurst doubled their lead, before Idriz Hošić scored for the visitors; John Ritchie's late goal restored City's two-goal advantage.

This time, their elimination would come at the hands of Birmingham City, who won the penalty shoot-out after both legs finished goalless.

This saw them awarded a place in the UEFA Cup, alongside fellow English clubs Derby County, Ipswich Town and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The home leg finished 1–1: Ruud Krol broke the deadlock in the 27th minute before Denis Smith equalised.

However, the existing "one team per city" rule (a hangover from the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup days) was scrapped in 1975, allowing Everton in fourth to take up their place.

In the first match of Joe Jordan's tenure as manager, Stoke played out a goalless draw with a Fiorentina side featuring internationalists Stefan Effenberg and Gabriel Batistuta on 10 November 1993.

In the 1994–95 tournament, City were put into Group B, with English clubs Derby County, Middlesbrough and Sheffield United, and Italian teams Ancona, Cesena, Piacenza and Udinese.

This resulted in progression to the English final, where Notts County - Group A winners and finalists the previous season - awaited.

[16] In the 1995–96 Anglo-Italian Cup, the Potters were put into Group B, with English clubs Ipswich Town, Southend United, and West Bromwich Albion and Italian teams Brescia, Foggia, Reggiana and Salernitana.

A record of three wins, two draws and one loss led to Stoke finishing second in the group behind the Turkish club, and going through to face Valencia, who eliminated the Potters with two one-nil victories, in each leg.