Chelsea 1-0 VfB Stuttgart: Zola's Stockholm Strike and Our Second European Cup Winners' Cup

Some nights stay with you. The final in Stockholm on 13 May 1998 is one of ours. A player-manager in charge, a substitute who changed the game almost as soon as he came on, and a European trophy heading back to Stamford Bridge. It still matters, and it is worth telling again in order.

The road to Stockholm

Chelsea’s route to the 1998 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup final went through Slovan Bratislava (4-0), Tromsø (9-4), Real Betis (5-2) and Vicenza (3-2 on aggregate). Those are the aggregate scores for each tie. Nine goals against Tromsø tells you we were not here to take part. Vicenza was the closest of the lot, and we got through it.

That earned us a final at the Råsunda Stadium in Stockholm (Solna), Sweden. A crowd of 30,216 was there to watch it.

The final

Our opponents were VfB Stuttgart, managed by Joachim Löw. We were led by Gianluca Vialli, who was our player-manager. I love that title. The man in charge of the team was also one of its players.

The game stayed goalless until the second half. Gianfranco Zola came on as a substitute for Tore André Flo and scored very soon afterwards. It was the only goal of the night. Sources differ on the exact minute and the exact number of seconds, so I will leave those out. What matters is that a substitute arrived and the game was won almost immediately.

After that, Chelsea had to see the game out, and we did. Zola was named Man of the Match, and nobody could argue with it.

What it meant

The 1-0 win in Stockholm was our second Cup Winners’ Cup, after 1971. It also completed a cup double with the League Cup we had won earlier that season.

The Cup Winners’ Cup also put us into the 1998 UEFA Super Cup, and we went on to win that too.

Why it still matters

Nights like this are why we love the club. A substitute, a single goal and a trophy to show for it. I will always be glad that Stockholm is part of our story.

If you enjoy looking back, there is plenty more in our Club section. You can also revisit more recent games in the match reports archive or browse the wider Blog for more stories from the Chelsea we love.

Gianfranco Zola, Gianluca Vialli and the rest of that Stockholm night are part of our history. Up the Chels.