The 1978–79 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won by English champions Nottingham Forest in the final against Swedish side Malmö FF. Forest, enjoying a great run of success under Brian Clough, had defeated defending two-time champions Liverpool in the first round.

Teams

Preliminary round

First leg

Second leg

Monaco won 3–2 on aggregate.

Bracket

First round

First leg

Second leg

AEK Athens won 7–5 on aggregate. Nottingham Forest won 2–0 on aggregate. Real Madrid won 12–0 on aggregate. Grasshopper won 13–3 on aggregate. Lokomotiv Sofia won 4–3 on aggregate. Köln won 5–2 on aggregate. Rangers won 2–1 on aggregate. PSV Eindhoven won 7–3 on aggregate. Austria Wien won 4–3 on aggregate. Lillestrøm won 1–0 on aggregate. 2–2 on aggregate; Bohemians won on away goals. 2–2 on aggregate; Dynamo Dresden won on penalties. Zbrojovka Brno won 4–2 on aggregate. Wisła Kraków won 4–3 on aggregate. Dynamo Kyiv won 4–1 on aggregate. Malmö FF won 1–0 on aggregate.

Second round

First leg

Second leg

Nottingham Forest won 7–2 on aggregate. 3–3 on aggregate; Grasshopper won on away goals. Köln won 5–0 on aggregate. Rangers won 3–2 on aggregate. Austria Wien won 4–1 on aggregate. Dynamo Dresden won 6–0 on aggregate. 3–3 on aggregate; Wisła Kraków won on away goals. Malmö FF won 2–0 on aggregate.

Quarter-finals

First leg

Second leg

Nottingham Forest won 5–2 on aggregate. Köln won 2–1 on aggregate. Austria Wien won 3–2 on aggregate. Malmö FF won 5–3 on aggregate.

Semi-finals

First leg

Second leg

Nottingham Forest won 4–3 on aggregate. Malmö FF won 1–0 on aggregate.

Final

Top scorers

The top scorers from the 1978–79 European Cup (excluding preliminary round) are as follows: