Winning the league title in the 1978–79 season, BFC Dynamo qualified for its first appearance in the European Cup. BFC Dynamo eliminated Ruch Chorzów and Servette FC in the first two rounds of the 1979-80 European Cup. The team reached the quarter finals, where it faced Nottingham Forest led by Brian Clough. BFC won the first leg 1–0 away, with a single goal scored by Hans-Jürgen Riediger, but was eliminated on aggregate goals, after a 1–3 loss in front ot 30,000 spectators at the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn Sportpark. Nottingham Forest would later go on and become champions. The win against Nottingham Forest away, made BFC Dynamo the first German team to defeat an English team in England in the European Cup.