The Champions League final is the pinnacle of any football season. With the showpiece finale set to bring the curtain down on another dazzling European campaign, it brings around a chance to look back at some of the best finals from years gone by.
While finals can often be drab affairs – the last four editions have all been decided by a single goal – the Champions League final has been no stranger to some of the most dramatic affairs over the years. Here is Football FanCast’s attempt at ranking the very best finals since the first one in 1956, based on the drama and significance of each match.
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ByRobin MumfordMay 14, 2025 6 Real Madrid 7-3 Eintracht Frankfurt (1960) Ten-goal final hands Madrid fifth European crown on the spin
We’ll level with you: we didn’t watch the 1960 European Cup final. But its significance remains, as does its status as one of the greatest football matches of all time.
High-scoring games weren’t as rare back in the day, with both Real Madrid and Frankfurt reaching the final having put 12 goals past the likes of Jeunesse Esch and Rangers respectively – the latter coming in two brutal semi-final demolitions.
That theme continued into the final, with four-time winners Madrid – who had won every edition of the competition to this point – responding to Frankfurt’s opener by striking six times, while there was still time for Erwin Stein to bag a consolation double either side of Ferenc Puskas’ fourth goal of the final.
Alfredo Di Stefano also netted a hat-trick for Los Blancos as they stretched their historic run in front of well over 100,000 fans at Hampden Park. As the highest-scoring final, it just had to be on this list.
Date
18th May 1960
Venue
Hampden Park, Glasgow
Attendance
127,621
Goalscorers
Di Stefano 27′, 30′, 73′, Puskas 45′, 56′ (p), 60′, 71′ / Kress 18′, Stein 72′, 75′