AFC Ajax in the context of "PSV Eindhoven"

Panathinaikos Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Παναθηναϊκός Α.Ο. [panaθinaiˈkos] ), known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO (Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος; Panathinaïkós Athlitikós Ómilos, lit. 'Pan-Athenian Athletic Club'), is a Greek professional football club based in Athens, Greece.

Panathinaikos was founded in 1908 as "Podosfairikos Omilos Athinon" (Football Club of Athens) by Giorgos Kalafatis. They play in Super League Greece, being one of the most successful clubs in Greek football and one of the three clubs which have never been relegated from the top division. Among their major titles are 20 Greek Championships, 20 Greek Cups, achieving eight times the Double and 3 Greek Super Cups. They are also one of three clubs to win a Greek championship undefeated, going without a loss in a top-flight campaign in the 1963–64 season. Panathinaikos is the only Greek team that has reached the UEFA Champions League final in 1971 (which they lost to Ajax 2–0), and also the semi-finals twice, in 1985 and 1996. It is also the only Greek team that has played for the Intercontinental Cup (1971). Furthermore, they have reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League on another two occasions (in 1992 and 2002), as well as the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup twice (1988 and 2003). They have also won the Balkans Cup in 1977. According to research and polls, Panathinaikos is the second most popular football team in Greece. Panathinaikos is also a member of the European Club Association.

The UEFA Champions League is a seasonal football competition established in 1955. Prior to the 1992–93 season, the tournament was named the European Cup. The UEFA Champions League is open to the league champions of all UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) member associations (except Liechtenstein, which has no league competition), as well as to the clubs finishing from second to fourth position in the strongest leagues. Originally, only the champions of their respective national league and the defending champions of the competition were allowed to participate. However, this was changed in 1997 to allow the runners-up of the stronger leagues to compete as well, and again in 1999 when third and fourth-placed teams of the said leagues also became eligible. In the Champions League era, the defending champions of the competition did not automatically qualify until the rules were changed in 2005 to allow title holders Liverpool to enter the competition.

Teams that have won the UEFA Champions League three consecutive times, or five times overall, receive a multiple-winner badge. Six teams have earned this privilege: Real Madrid, Ajax, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Liverpool, and Barcelona. Until 2009, clubs that had earned that badge were allowed to keep the European Champion Clubs' Cup and a new one was commissioned; since 2009, the winning team each year has received a full-size replica of the trophy, while the original is retained by UEFA.

Feyenoord Rotterdam ([ˈfɛiənoːrt]) is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its neighbourhood in 1912 as SC Feijenoord, updated in 1974 to SC Feyenoord, and then to Feyenoord in 1978, when it split from the amateur club under its wing, SC Feyenoord. Since 1937, Feyenoord's home ground has been the Stadion Feijenoord, nicknamed De Kuip (The Tub), the second largest stadium in Netherlands.

Feyenoord is one of the most successful clubs in Dutch football, winning 16 Dutch football championships, 14 KNVB Cups, and 5 Johan Cruyff Shields. Internationally, the club has won one European Cup, two UEFA Cups, and one Intercontinental Cup. The club has played continuously in the top ten of the Dutch football system since gaining promotion to Eerste Klasse (the Eredivisie's forerunner competition) in 1921, more times than any other club in the country, including the likes of Ajax and PSV Eindhoven.

In Dutch sports, The Big Three (Dutch: De Grote Drie) (or The (Traditional) Top Three (Dutch: De (Traditionele) Topdrie)) or The Three Top Clubs (Dutch: De drie Topclubs)) are the nicknames for the three most successful rivalling football clubs in the Netherlands: Ajax from Amsterdam, Feyenoord from Rotterdam and PSV from Eindhoven. Collectively they amounted to 78 of the 135 Dutch Football Championships ever played (as of 2025), and 63 of a possible 71 championships since the introduction of professional football in 1954 (as of 2025). The three clubs generally end up sharing the top three positions and contending for the title. None of them have been relegated from the Eredivisie either, having been participants in all editions since Dutch football was merged into a single top-level competition in the 1956–57 season.

Several other clubs outside the big three have won the Dutch league, with HVV Den Haag having the fourth most national titles behind the Big Three in the Netherlands with 10 in total; however, the last time they won was in 1914.

The Dutch Eredivisie in the 1971–72 season was contested by 18 teams. Ajax won the championship. FC Twente, finishing in third place, set an Eredivisie record-low for goals conceded with just 13 goals against.

The 1971-72 KNVB Cup was the 54th edition of the Dutch national football annual knockout tournament for the KNVB Cup. 32 teams contested, beginning on 9 January 1972 and ending at the final on 11 May 1972.

Ajax successfully defended its 1971 title achieving its 7th KNVB Cup defeating FC Den Haag, 3–2. Ajax being the champions of the Eredivisie achieved a double. They contested in the European Cup, so finalists FC Den Haag would participate in the Cup Winners' Cup.

The 1971–72 European Cup was the 17th season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by Ajax, who beat Inter Milan in the final at De Kuip in Rotterdam, on 31 May 1972. It was the second consecutive win for Ajax, as well as third for Netherlands. It was also the first European Cup final where both finalists had previously won and lost competition finals.