eintracht frankfurt 1979

Broadly speaking, football clubs have very few mementos of their rivals or opponents. This is especially true on the domestic front, where the likeliest souvenir of meeting another Scottish club would be a pennant, unless there has been a testimonial game involved, but that would more likely be something from a particular player rather than the club. The exception is the gifts exchanged between club who face each other in the European competitions.

Eintracht Frankfurt presented this pewter tray to the Dons in 1979 in recognition of their 1st Round UEFA Cup meeting. It is traditional for clubs to exchange items in recognition of European encounters in the various competitions and Aberdeen has its fair share of these mementos as you will discover as we delve deeper into the trophy room.

The plate is quite large and heavy, and at its centre bears the Eintracht Club Badge, along with details of the UEFA Cup tie played on the 3rd of October 1979.

Aberdeen had qualified for Europe courtesy of their fourth place finish in the league the previous season. After crashing out of the Cup Winners Cup in 1978 at the hands of German opposition (Fortuna Dusseldorf), a first round pairing with Frankfurt was always going to be difficult for Alex Ferguson's men. The first tie at Pittodrie produced a 1-1 draw with Joe Harper scoring the Dons goal. Despite a brave performance in the second leg the Dons were eliminated after a narrow 1-0 reverse. That season, Eintracht made it all the way to the final where over two legs they won the tournament by overcoming Borussia Monchengladbach.

In more recent times Frankfurt's fate has parallels with the Dons as they have gone from being a mighty force in Europe to fluctuating fortunes ? mainly in their domestic competitions and at one stage even dropping out of the Bundesliga.