1999 FA Cup Final three league games all season. They had also qualified for the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final against Bayern Munich, due to be played four days later on 26 May, and were unbeaten in their previous 31 matches in all competitions. By contrast, Newcastle United had finished 13th out of the 20 teams in the Premier League, and had been knocked out of the Cup Winners' Cup in the first round and the League Cup in the fourth round. It was Newcastle's second consecutive appearance in the FA Cup Final – having lost 2–0 to Arsenal in 1998 – and their
1998 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final while Stuttgart oversaw a 1–0 win over Werder Bremen. Both sides also progressed in their cup competitions – Chelsea lost against Manchester United with three to five in the 1997–98 FA Cup third round, but found success with a 2–0 victory over Middlesbrough in the 1998 Football League Cup Final. Stuttgart saw themselves overrun 0–2 by Bayern Munich in the 1997 German League Cup Final, only to succumb to Bayern again with a 0–3 deficit in the 1997–98 German Cup semi-final. Chelsea and Stuttgart faced each other for the first time in European football. The English side were appearing in