2000–01 Leeds United A.F.C. season

Season summary

David O'Leary took Leeds United to their first European Cup semi-final since 1975, where defeat at the hands of Valencia ended their chances of a repeat of the ill-tempered 1975 European Cup clash with Bayern Munich, who beat Real Madrid in the other semi-final. Still, this disappointment was less of a dampener on a season where Leeds had fielded a predominantly young squad. They finished fourth in the final table, which meant that their place in Europe for 2001-02 would be in the UEFA Cup rather than the European Cup.

Failure to qualify for the Champions League was viewed as merely a disappointment by fans of the club, given the success in reaching the semi-final. In fact, the directors of the club had secured tens of millions of pounds of loans on successful Champions League qualification; the failure to qualify was a calamity that would see the club suffer financial disaster and be relegated twice in the coming seasons.

Final league table

Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹Since Liverpool qualified for the Champions League, their place in the UEFA Cup as FA Cup winners went to Ipswich Town, and as Liverpool also won the League Cup that place went to Chelsea.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results Summary

Source: 2000-01 FA Premier League table

Results by round

Source: 11v11.com: 2000-01 Leeds United results
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

First-team squad

Squad at end of season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Reserve squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Youth team

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Appearances, goals and cards

(Starting appearances + substitute appearances)

In

Olivier Dacourt - Lens, 15 May, £7,200,000^†

Mark Viduka - Celtic, 2 July, £6,500,000

Dominic Matteo - Liverpool, 17 August, £4,750,000

Jacob Burns - Parramatta Power, 31 August, £250,000

Rio Ferdinand - West Ham United, 26 November, £18,000,000^{† ‡}

Robbie Keane - Inter Milan, 25 April, £12,000,000

^†Club record transfer fee at the time.
^‡Current club record transfer fee.

Out

Martin Hiden - Salzburg, 25 May, £500,000

Alf-Inge Håland - Manchester City, 13 June, £2,800,000

David Hopkin - Bradford City, 7 July, £2,500,000

Kevin Evans - Cardiff City, 31 August, free

Robert Molenaar - Bradford City, 1 December, £400,000

Matt Jones - Leicester City, 14 December, £3,250,000

Darren Huckerby - Manchester City, 29 December, £3,400,000

Lee Matthews - Bristol City, 19 March, £100,000

Transfers in: £43,700,000Transfers out: £12,950,000Total spending: £30,750,000

Loaned in

Robbie Keane - Inter Milan, 20 December 2000

Loaned out

Alan Maybury - Crewe Alexandra, 8 October 2000

Lee Matthews - Bristol City, 15 March 2001

Warren Feeney - Bournemouth, 22 March 2001