In the game, the Cup Winners' Cup is the competition for the winners of Europe's domestic cups: 39 editions, from 1960-61 to 1998-99, until it was merged into the UEFA Cup in 1999. The format is that of the whole competition rather than each year's rules: 32 teams, no group stage, four two-legged rounds — first round, round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals — and a single-match final on neutral ground. Winning it all takes nine games, and there is no perfect-campaign badge: with no group stage, a title in nine games is not the feat the game measures in the other competitions. Reality was messier, and the database keeps the marks of it: the 1960-61 final was played over two legs (Fiorentina beat Rangers 4-1 on aggregate), and three finals ended level and were replayed — Atlético Madrid drew 1-1 with Fiorentina in 1962 and won the replay 3-0 in September, Sporting drew 3-3 with MTK in 1964 and won 1-0 two days later, Chelsea drew 1-1 with Real Madrid in 1971 and won 2-1. In each of them the eleven on a card is the one from the match in which the cup was lifted.
The database for this competition is narrow: it only holds winners and runners-up, 78 squads, and the elevens UEFA publishes for those finals. Anyone who was huge in the competition without ever starting a final has no card and cannot be an icon. It is the European cup of the Portuguese that belongs to neither Benfica nor Porto: Sporting won it in 1963-64, in the replayed final against MTK, and FC Porto were runners-up in 1983-84, beaten by Juventus 2-1. And in the 1960s UEFA called a "preliminary round" what was the first knockout round for many teams — Dortmund in 1965-66 opened against Floriana, 13-1 on aggregate — so the game counts it, with the lowest weight on the ladder.
As in every competition in the game, the 100 does not go to whoever had the best single campaign — it goes to whoever dominates the history of the competition, and the season on the card is only the one that shows it best. In the Cup Winners' Cup that player is Rob Rensenbrink, the all-time top scorer with 25 goals. The pantheon spreads over the four decades of the competition, from the Atlético Madrid of 1961-62 to the Paris Saint-Germain of 1995-96, and it is weakest among the defenders: the source has no tackles or saves, only games without conceding, which belong to the club as much as to the player, so in those positions goals in the knockout rounds and in finals decide when there are any. Two places share club and season — Jones and Peiró at Atlético in 1961-62, Lama and Le Guen at Paris in 1995-96 — and neither was undone, because the alternative for each was a lost final and changing season would be cosmetic.
The competition's all-time great
Rob Rensenbrink — 1975-76
Rob Rensenbrink has 25 goals in 35 games in the Cup Winners' Cup — the all-time top scorer of the competition — and played in Anderlecht's three consecutive finals, from 1976 to 1978: he won two and scored four goals in them. The closest rival, Kurt Hamrin, has the same three finals, the same two titles as a starter and the same four goals in finals, but 15 goals in the whole competition; Gerd Müller has a better rate, 0.80 goals per game against 0.71, and 20 goals, but none in finals. Counting against Rensenbrink is Anderlecht's attack, 1.39 times the average of the edition, the discount for the strength of the team. The card is the 1975-76 one: title, two goals in the final and eight goals in nine games, the best of his three seasons.
GK
Bernard Lama — 1995-96
Bernard Lama started both of Paris Saint-Germain's finals, winning in 1996 and losing in 1997, and has the best clean-sheet rate of the three goalkeepers the competition put in two finals with one title: 10 in 14 measured, 0.71 per game, against 0.65 for Stanley Menzo and 0.61 for Michel Preud'homme. The card is the 1995-96 one: title, a final without conceding and 2 goals conceded in 7 games. It is the weakest choice in the pantheon, and it is said plainly: the club's defence counts as much as the goalkeeper.
RB
Angelo Anquilletti — 1967-68
Angelo Anquilletti reached three finals for Milan (1968, 1973 and 1974) and won two as a starter, and scored 2 goals in the 1967-68 knockout rounds, both in the first round — the closest rival, Laurent Fournier, scored none, though he has a better clean-sheet rate (0.76 against 0.59), which does not decide here. Milan attacked at 1.10 times the average, less than the rival's Paris. The card is the 1967-68 one: title and 10 games out of 10.
CB
Gilbert Van Binst — 1977-78
Gilbert Van Binst scored 2 goals in the 1978 final, won 4-0 against Austria Vienna — the heaviest act on the house's yardstick, and the only one by a centre-back among the candidates — and played in Anderlecht's three consecutive finals, winning two as a starter. He has 12 clean sheets in 22 measured games. The card is the 1977-78 one: 9 games out of 9, 3 goals conceded in 8 measured. It is the soundest defensive place in the pantheon, because it has a goal in a final.
CB
Paul Le Guen — 1995-96
Paul Le Guen started both of Paris Saint-Germain's finals and scored 3 goals in the knockout rounds, against none for Hugo Broos and José Ramón Alexanco, and has 12 clean sheets in 18 measured games — 0.67 per game against Broos's 0.45. The card is the 1995-96 one: title, 9 games out of 9 and a final without conceding. Broos has one more final and one more title as a starter, and honours are the third criterion of the yardstick; the source lists Le Guen as a centre-back in both seasons, and he wins without counting the goals.
LB
Alberto Di Chiara — 1992-93
Alberto Di Chiara played both of Parma's finals, winning in 1993 and losing in 1994, and has the best defensive record in the position: 8 clean sheets in 13 measured games (0.62 per game) and 0.45 goals conceded per 90 minutes, at a club attacking at 0.81 times the edition's average, the lowest of the three candidates. Marco Bode has more knockout goals, 3 against 1, but he is a forward fielded at left-back. A place with very weak evidence: nobody has more than 9 clean sheets. The card is the 1992-93 one: title and 2 goals conceded in 7 games.
CDM
Ronald Koeman — 1990-91
Ronald Koeman scored 4 goals in the 1990-91 knockout rounds, three in the first round and one in the final against Manchester United, and has 7 goals in 14 games in the competition; Vincent Guérin and José Pirri, the rivals for the place, have 0 and 2 knockout goals. The final was lost, Barcelona's goal record with him on the pitch is not measured, and the club attacked at 1.73 times the edition's average — three points against, stated in full. The card is his only one, the 1990-91 one.
CM
Jones — 1961-62
Miguel Jones has, among the central-midfield cards, the highest K in the competition: 23.07 against 17.10 for Arie Haan, and 7 goals in 16 games, one of them in the 1962 final, which was replayed. He was champion as a starter. The card is the 1961-62 one: title, 8 games out of 10 and 5 goals; the 1962-63 one is the final lost 5-1 and cannot be defended as his best year. François Van der Elst, whom the source lists as a forward on two of his three cards, measures what he did as a forward, not here.
CAM
Joaquín Peiró — 1961-62
Joaquín Peiró scored 2 goals in the 1962 final, which Atlético won after a replay, and 6 goals in the knockout rounds of that edition: 7 goals in the competition, in 10 games. The rival, Josep Maria Fusté, has the same 7 goals but lost his final without scoring, and his Barcelona attacked at 1.58 times the average against Atlético's 1.16. The card is his only one, the 1961-62 one.
RW
Kurt Hamrin — 1960-61
Kurt Hamrin played three finals for two clubs — Fiorentina in 1961 and 1962, Milan in 1968 —, won two, scored 4 goals in them and has 15 goals in 23 games in the competition; his K is 43.85, against 14.77 for the second right winger. The card is the 1960-61 one: title, a goal in the final and 5 goals in 6 games, 4 of them in the quarter-finals. The 1961-62 one is the lost final, and the 1967-68 one would clash with Anquilletti at Milan.
LW
Lothar Emmerich — 1965-66
Lothar Emmerich scored 14 goals in 9 games in the 1965-66 edition, won by Dortmund: 7 against Floriana in the first round (13-1 on aggregate), 1 in the round of 16, 2 in the quarter-finals and 4 in the semi-final. Among left-wing cards his K is 21.82, against 17.70 for Rob Witschge, and volume decides the rest: 14 goals against 6. He did not score in the final, and Dortmund attacked at 1.88 times the edition's average — the Floriana rout included —, the team-strength discount, which counts against him. The card is his only one.
ST
Gianluca Vialli — 1989-90
Gianluca Vialli scored both goals in the 1990 final and reached three finals for two clubs — Sampdoria in 1989 and 1990, Chelsea in 1998 —, winning two: 19 goals in 34 games in the competition, 17 of them in the knockout rounds. The rival, Gerd Müller, has one more goal in total and a better rate (0.80 against 0.56), but none in finals; Oleh Blokhin scored in both finals he played and won both, but has 10 goals. The card is the 1989-90 one: title and 7 goals in 8 games.