Twice in the three seasons that followed, Ipswich came close to winning the League championship, but finished as runners-up to Liverpool and Aston Villa, respectively. However, Ipswich did win the club's only European trophy when they lifted the 1980–81 UEFA Cup. Wark set a competition record by scoring 14 goals—including two, one in each leg—in the final as Ipswich overcame Dutch side AZ 67 Alkmaar 5–4 on aggregate. Wark's record equalled the long-standing scoring record in a European competition, set by José Altafini of A.C. Milan in the 1962–63 European Cup. Wark's personal triumph that year was to win a European accolade, Young Player of the Year, and gain the acclaim of his fellow professionals in England to earn the PFA Player of the Year award. He ended the 1980–81 season with 36 goals.