Under the floodlights of Ibrox Park, Rangers etched their name into football history by contesting the very first fixture of the European Cup Winners' Cup on September 24, 1960. The Scottish champions welcomed Hungary's Ferencváros for the first leg of their preliminary round tie, marking the birth of UEFA's third major club competition after the European Cup and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. A crowd of 45,000 witnessed the ceremonial kick-off that would launch a tournament destined to run for 39 seasons.
The match delivered immediate drama as Ralph Brand opened the scoring for the home side before Ferencváros legend Flórián Albert, just 18 years old and already a World Cup star, equalised with a composed finish. Rangers surged ahead through Jimmy Millar and a second from Brand, only for Albert to strike again, silencing the Glasgow faithful with a clinical low drive that made it 3-2 at the interval.
Second-half tension gripped the stadium as the Hungarian visitors pressed for a vital away goal, but Rangers' defence, marshalled by captain Eric Caldow, held firm. The decisive moment arrived in the 75th minute when winger Max Murray cut inside and fired past goalkeeper László Sárosi to restore the two-goal cushion. The 4-2 final scoreline gave manager Scot Symon's side a crucial advantage ahead of the return leg in Budapest.
Though the competition lacked official UEFA sanctioning in its debut season — formal recognition would not arrive until 1961 — the fixture established the template for a tournament that would crown legends like Johan Cruyff, Diego Maradona, and Gianluca Vialli. Ferencváros would overturn the deficit in Hungary with a 2-1 win, but Rangers progressed 5-4 on aggregate, eventually reaching the final where they fell to Fiorentina over two legs.
Sixty-four years later, that September evening at Ibrox remains the founding moment of a competition that gave domestic cup winners their own European stage. The Cup Winners' Cup may have been absorbed into the Europa League in 1999, but its inaugural clash — a breathless, goal-laden affair illuminated by the teenage brilliance of Albert — endures as a testament to the romance of knockout football on the continent.