Which team lays claim to the longest ongoing undefeated home streak in European football?
When you think of supremacy in European football, the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United and Liverpool spring to mind. However, there is one surprise team that has managed to maintain a long and proud record in European competition, ensuring an unbeaten home run that stretches back from the 1962/63 season through to the 2002/03 campaign.
Suffolk side Ipswich Town have a rich history in the English game, having developed two former England managers in the shape of World Cup-winning Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson. Not only that, the 'Tractor Boys' remain undefeated at their Portman Road home in all 31 of their UEFA ties - winning 25 and drawing just six. It remains the longest ongoing unbeaten run across all UEFA competitions i.e. Champions League and Europa League.
It's a far cry from Town's current sorry state. The Blues find themselves stuck in the third tier of English football, having suffered relegation to League One for the first time since 1957. The club has almost gone full circle given that it won the top tier of English football in 1962. A club with that heritage and stature in the game shouldn't be in League One, but that's the reality of the situation. With the 2020/21 campaign looming, it's highly likely that Ipswich will be one of the main teams covered by the leading football tipsters for weekly League One accas. That's because they remain one of the top contenders to return to the Championship despite uncertainty surrounding the future of boss Paul Lambert.
1962/63: Where the unbeaten European record at Portman Road began
Ipswich set another proud record in 1962, becoming the last team to win the top tier of English football in their first season, having won Division Two in 1961. As champions of England, Town were entered into the 1962/63 European Cup and began their journey in Europe against the Maltese champions Floriana FC. Town promptly dispatched them 14-1 on aggregate, including a 10-0 second leg home win which was a record at the time.
They would then go on to face Italian champions AC Milan in the first round proper. The Blues lost the first leg 3-0 at the San Siro, but a 2-1 home win ensured the 4-2 aggregate scoreline had an air of respectability about it. Interestingly, AC Milan would go on to win the European Cup that season, with major names such as Maldini, Rivera, Trapattoni and Altafini all playing starring roles.
The Sir Bobby Robson era
It was more than a decade before Ipswich would make a reappearance in European competition. This time under the stewardship of a young Sir Bobby Robson. A fourth-placed finish in the First Division in 1972/73 secured a berth in the UEFA Cup for 1973/74. Amazingly, Ipswich were pitted against Spanish giants Real Madrid in the first round, with the Suffolk side defeating Real 1-0 in the first leg at Portman Road thanks to a deflected effort from skipper Mick Mills. Town's defensive rearguard action at the Bernabeu in the second leg is still heralded today, as they kept the second leg goalless to edge through.
Town would go on to reach the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup that year but were eventually dumped out by Lokomotive Leipzig in sudden-death penalties. After winning the FA Cup for the first time in 1978, Ipswich qualified for the 1978/79 European Cup Winners' Cup, also for the first time. They would face Spanish giants Barcelona in the third-round stage. Despite the absence of top-line striker Paul Mariner due to suspension, Town would stun their Catalan opponents to win 2-1 at Portman Road thanks to a brace of goals from Eric Gates. In front of a crowd of 110,000 at the Nou Camp, Town would narrowly lose 1-0 and face the heartbreak of going out on the away goals rule.
There was rather less heartbreak in the 1980/81 campaign, as Ipswich would go on to win the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history. A run which started against Greek outfit Aris Salonika, also included aggregate wins over Bohemians, Widzew Lodz, Saint-Etienne, FC Koln and AZ Alkmaar. At the time, Saint-Etienne were one of the most talented sides in Europe, with a squad containing the likes of Platini and Rocheteau. FC Koln and AZ Alkmaar were no mugs either, but the Suffolk side dispatched all three with relative ease to hold aloft the UEFA Cup trophy at Amsterdam's Olympic Stadium on May 6th 1981.
It could have been a treble-winning season for Ipswich in 1981, missing out on the title to Aston Villa, while an FA Cup semi-final defeat in extra-time also left a bitter taste in the mouths of Ipswich fans. The departure of Sir Bobby Robson to take up the helm of the England national team in 1982 was the beginning of the end of Ipswich's spell of dominance in English and European football.
Ipswich's surprise return to European action in the 2000s
It would be another 18 years before European football returned to Portman Road and Ipswich, in the most unlikely of circumstances. Ipswich were promoted to the Premier League in 2000 via the playoffs and their 2000/01 Premier League campaign was dubbed a survival bid by most newspapers and pundits. However, George Burley's men ripped up the odds to finish fifth and qualify for a 2001/02 UEFA Cup place. They still could have snatched the fourth and final Champions League place from Liverpool on the final day of the season. It was an achievement that would earn Burley the LMA and Carling Premiership Manager of the Year awards.
They would go on to reach the third round of the UEFA Cup in 01/02, including another famous night at Portman Road, defeating Inter Milan 1-0 in the first leg thanks to Alun Armstrong's towering header. The fact that Town were comprehensively beaten 4-1 in the second leg is by the by.
Unfortunately for Burley and Ipswich, their squad couldn't cope with battling on both fronts in the Premier League and Europe. They would plummet down the league in the second half of the season and suffer a shock relegation back to the Championship. Despite this, Town would qualify for the UEFA Cup again in 2002/03 via the Fair Play League. They would reach the second-round stage before losing to Czech outfit Slovan Liberec on penalties - but with their unbeaten home record still proudly intact over 31 competitive games. How the Ipswich faithful must long for those heady days now.