The tournament was won by Juventus, who beat defending champions Ajax on penalties in the final for their first European Cup since 1985, and their second overall.

Due to this, as well as Yugoslavia's exclusion, the following changes to the default access list were made: The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for the place of its starting round: The schedule of the competition is as follows (all draws are held in Geneva, Switzerland).

Dynamo Kyiv won their tie against AaB, but, in their first group game against Panathinaikos, they were accused of a failed attempt to bribe the referee, Antonio López Nieto, to get a win.

11 teams of 16 made their debut in the UEFA Champions League group stage: AaB, Blackburn Rovers, Borussia Dortmund, Ferencváros, Grasshopper, Juventus, Legia Warsaw, Nantes, Panathinaikos, Real Madrid and Rosenborg.

AaB, Ferencvaros, Grasshopper, Legia and Rosenborg were the first teams to play in group stage from Denmark, Hungary, Switzerland, Poland and Norway respectively.