The season 1986-87 of the European Cup Winners' Cup was won by Ajax Amsterdam in the final against 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig. It was their only title in the competition, and was added to a hat-trick of European Cup wins from 1971 to 1973. They also went on to win another European Cup and a UEFA Cup in the 1990s.

In 43rd minute, Juan Antonio Señor scored from the penalty spot, but the referee ordered the shot to be re-taken. Señor scored on the second attempt as well, shooting the ball in the same place, to the left of Roma's goalkeeper. Counting the shootout, Señor scored 4 times from the penalty spot in this game.

Real Zaragoza 2–2 Roma on aggregate. Real Zaragoza won 4–3 on penalties.

Wrexham won 0–7 on aggregate.

Vitosha Sofia won 1–2 on aggregate.

Velež Mostar won 4–5 on aggregate.

17 Nëntori Tirana won 3–1 on aggregate.

Malmö won 7–1 on aggregate.

Ajax won 0–7 on aggregate.

Olympiacos won 6–0 on aggregate.

Benfica won 4–1 on aggregate.

Bordeaux won 1–6 on aggregate.

Torpedo Moscow won 3–5 on aggregate.

The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a football club competition contested annually by the most recent winners of all European domestic cup competitions. The cup is one of the many inter-European club competitions that have been organised by UEFA. The first competition was held in the 1960–61 season—but not recognised by the governing body of European football until two years later. The final tournament was held in 1998–99, after which it was absorbed by the UEFA Cup.

Prior to its abolition, the Cup Winners' Cup was regarded as the second most prestigious European club competition out of the three major tournaments, behind the UEFA Champions League and ahead of the UEFA Cup, although many commentators felt the Cup Winners' Cup was the easiest of the three competitions to win. However, no club successfully defended the Cup Winners' Cup throughout its history, with such major names in European football as FC Barcelona, Arsenal, AC Milan, and Manchester United failing to defend the trophy. The idea of the Cup Winners' Cup "jinx" against the defending side therefore came to prominence, particularly due to the unlikely manner of Arsenal's defeat in the 1995 final and the defeat of Paris Saint-Germain in 1997.

The season 1986–87 of the European Cup football club tournament was won by Porto, coming from behind in the final against Bayern Munich, giving Portugal its first title since 1962.

Steaua Bucharest, the defending champions, were eliminated by Anderlecht in the second round—having received a bye to reach that stage of the tournament due to the absence of the English champions (Liverpool), as the ban on English clubs in European competitions was now in its second season.

¹ APOEL progressed to the Second round on away goals.

Vítkovice beat Paris Saint-Germain 3–2 on aggregate.

Porto beat Rabat Ajax 10–0 on aggregate.

Brøndby beat Budapest Honvéd 6–3 on aggregate.

Dynamo Berlin beat Örgryte 7–3 on aggregate.

Beşiktaş beat Dinamo Tirana 3–0 on aggregate.

APOEL beat HJK 3–3 on away goals.

Celtic beat Shamrock Rovers 3–0 on aggregate.

Dynamo Kiev beat Beroe 3–1 on aggregate.

Bayern Munich beat PSV 2–0 on aggregate.

Austria Vienna beat Avenir Beggen 6–0 on aggregate.

Anderlecht beat Górnik Zabrze 3–1 on aggregate.