The 1994 European Cup Winners' Cup Final was a football match on 4 May 1994 contested between Arsenal of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. It was the final match of the

1993–94 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1993–94 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup was won by English club Arsenal, who beat defending champions Parma in the final. The tournament would be renamed to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup the following season. Teams Lithuania, Latvia, Es ...

and the 34th

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

final. The final was held at the

Parken Stadium Parken Stadium, also known simply as Parken and as Telia Parken (2014–2020), is a football stadium in the Indre Østerbro (''Inner Østerbro'') district of Copenhagen, Denmark, built from 1990 to 1992. The stadium, which features a retractable ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, and Arsenal won 1–0 with the goal coming from Alan Smith. It is widely considered as the peak of Arsenal's famous defence. Arsenal became the fourth London club to win the trophy after

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

Background

Having beaten Antwerp in the same competition in the previous year,

were aiming to become the first side to win consecutive finals; five sides had previously failed to do so after reaching the final for a consecutive year. The final was the first time that Parma had come up against English opposition. On the other hand, Arsenal had three times played out two-legged affairs with Italian clubs. The first meeting was in the

1970–71 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The thirteenth and final Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was played over the 1970–71 season. The competition was won by Leeds United for the second time, over two legs, in the final against Juventus. It was the first time the competition final had been wo ...

, when they overcame

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4–2 on aggregate, drawing the first leg in

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and winning the second leg 2–0 at

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...

. Arsenal had also faced Italians in the

1979–80 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1979–80 season was the 20th season of the European Cup Winners' Cup, a football tournament organised by UEFA for the cup winners from each of its member associations. The competition was won by Spanish club Valencia, who beat Arsenal of Engla ...

at the semi-final stage; Arsenal won 2–1 on aggregate. The most recent meeting was in the quarter-finals of this year's competition, where they overcame

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

1–0 over two legs. It was the first time

had hosted the major European competition's final and the first time any European competition's final had been held in

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. The stadium had opened only recently – in 1992 – and was the home of

and the

Danish national football team The Denmark men's national football team ( da, Danmarks herre-fodboldlandshold or ''herrelandsholdet'') represents Denmark in men's international football competitions. It is controlled by the Danish Football Association (DBU), the governing bo ...

, taking two years to construct at the cost of 640 million Danish kroner. It was built on the site of the national team's previous home, Idrætsparken.

Route to the final

Match

Summary

A crowd of 33,765 witnessed a tactical match. Parma's

Tomas Brolin Per Tomas Brolin (born 29 November 1969) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a forward or as a midfielder. At club level, he had a successful period with A.C. Parma during the early 1990s, winning the 1992 Coppa Italia, ...

hit the post early on but, in the 20th minute,

Lorenzo Minotti Lorenzo Minotti (; born 8 February 1967) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Throughout his club career, he played for Italian sides Cesena, Parma, Cagliari, Torino, and Treviso; he is mostly remembered for hi ...

miss-hit an overhead clearance and Alan Smith capitalized, beating Luca Bucci with a left-footed volley. Arsenal then invited pressure from Parma but, by controlling

Gianfranco Zola Gianfranco Zola (; born 5 July 1966) is an Italian football manager and former footballer who played predominantly as a forward. He was most recently the assistant manager of Chelsea. He spent the first decade of his playing career playing i ...

and Faustino Asprilla, defended their lead and became the fourth London club to win the trophy. The final was noted for Arsenal fans singing "one nil to the Arsenal" throughout the match. Arsenal were without their leading goalscorer

Ian Wright Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English television and radio personality and former professional footballer. He works as a pundit for BBC Sport and ITV Sport. Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal ...

, who missed the final through suspension as well as the injured

John Jensen John Jensen (born 3 May 1965), nicknamed Faxe (), is a Danish football manager and former player. A former midfielder, his playing career lasted almost two entire decades, including a stint with Arsenal in England and three stints with Brøndb ...

Martin Keown Martin Raymond Keown (; born 24 July 1966) is an English football pundit and former professional footballer who played as a defender from 1984 to 2005, notably in the Premier League for Arsenal, where he made over 400 appearances for the club a ...

, and David Hillier. Arsenal were fielding a starting midfield of

Ian Selley Ian Selley (born 14 June 1974) is an English people, English former professional footballer, and manager at Hartley Wintney F.C., Hartley Wintney. He notably played in the Premier League for Arsenal F.C., Arsenal, winning the 1994 UEFA Cup Winn ...

, Steve Morrow and Paul Davis. The famous back five of Seaman, Dixon, Adams, Bould and Winterburn was safely in place but with Wright suspended, Alan Smith was given a lone role up front with Merson and Kevin Campbell instructed to play wide in a 4-5-1.

Details

References

External links

1994 European Cup Winners' Cup Final
at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation {{Parma Calcio 1913 matches 3 Cup Winners' Cup Final 1994 Cup Winners' Cup Final 1994 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Finals Cup Winners' Cup Final International club association football competitions hosted by Denmark 1990s in Copenhagen May 1994 sports events in Europe International sports competitions in Copenhagen