This was the sixth consecutive title won by an English team between the UEFA Cup and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, as well as the first time Liverpool won a European competition.
Association team allocation
A total of 63 teams from 29 UEFA member associations participate in the 1972–73 UEFA Cup. A new allocation scheme was devised by UEFA, which featured fixed slots for all but two competing associations, and lasted for eight seasons:
3 associations have four teams qualify.
3 associations have three teams qualify.
18 associations have two teams qualify.
7 associations have one team qualify.
Spain was the only association with a fixed allocation of three teams; the other two associations would rotate on a yearly basis among all countries that were allocated two teams.
Albania was not included in this scheme, as it had only entered the competition once without playing and would not have a UEFA Cup competitor until 1981. Northern Ireland withdrew from the competition, so another association was granted an extra third birth for this season. The three chosen associations were France, Yugoslavia and Portugal.
Wales: There was no national league in Wales before 1992 and the only competition organised by the Football Association of Wales was the Welsh Cup so Wales had just a single participant in European competitions, the winner (or best placed Welsh team as several English teams also competed) of the Welsh Cup which competed in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
Northern Ireland: Due to the Troubles and the aftermath of the Bloody Sunday, Northern Ireland withdrew from all European competitions on safety grounds. Portadown would have qualified for the UEFA Cup by league position.
Albania: After withdrawing its team from the previous edition, Albania was punished with a one-year ban for the UEFA Cup. 17 Nëntori would have qualified by league position.
Teams
The labels in the parentheses show how each team qualified for competition:
TH: Title holders
CW: Cup winners
CR: Cup runners-up
LC: League Cup winners
2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.: League position
P-W: End-of-season European competition play-offs winners