Copa del Rey


The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa, is an annual knockout football competition in Spanish football, organized by the Royal Spanish Football Federation.
The competition was founded in 1903, thus making it the oldest Spanish football competition. It is considered one of the most prestigious national cup trophies in the world. Copa del Rey winners qualify for the following season's UEFA Europa League. If they have already qualified for Europe through their league position, then the Europa League spot is given to the highest-place team in the league who has not yet qualified.
Barcelona is the most successful club in the competition, winning their fourth consecutive and 30th overall title against Sevilla in the 2018 final held at the Metropolitano Stadium. Athletic Bilbao have the second-most titles. The current title holders are Valencia. They defeated Barcelona in the 2019 final held at the Estadio Benito Villamarín in Seville.

History

In 1902, a competition under the name Copa de la Coronación was played after Juan de Astorquia, President of, and Carlos Padrós, later president of Real Madrid, suggested a football tournament to celebrate the coronation of Spanish King Alfonso XIII. Four other teams joined Madrid FC for the competition: FC Barcelona, Club Español de Foot-Ball, New Foot-Ball de Madrid and Club Bizcaya, which eventually defeated Barcelona in the final. That cup is on display in the Athletic Bilbao museum and the club includes the victory in its honours list. Nevertheless, it is considered only the forerunner of the Copa del Rey. The Royal Spanish Football Federation officially does not recognize it.
The Copa del Rey was Spain's football national championship from 1903 until the foundation of the Campeonato de Liga—League Championship—in 1928. It was initially known as the Copa del Ayuntamiento de Madrid. Between 1905 and 1932, it was known as the Copa de Su Majestad El Rey Alfonso XIII. During the Second Spanish Republic, it was known as the Copa del Presidente de la República or Copa de España and during the years of Francisco Franco's Spanish State, it was known as the Copa de Su Excelencia El Generalísimo or Copa del Generalísimo.
Athletic Bilbao were declared winners in 1904 after their opponents Español de Madrid failed to show up. In both 1910 and 1913, there was a split among the clubs and two rival associations, the Unión Española de Clubs de Fútbol and the Federación Española de Fútbol, organised rival competitions, the Copa UECF and the Copa FEF. In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, clubs in the Republican area of Spain entered the Copa de la España Libre, with Levante beating their city rivals Valencia 1–0 in the final. Although in 2007 the Congress of Deputies urged the Royal Spanish Football Federation to recognise it as a Copa del Rey win for Levante, the governing body of Spanish football has not made a decision yet.
Because of the dispute regarding the 1902 competition, the statistics regarding the leading winners are also disputed. Barcelona have won the Copa 30 times; Athletic Bilbao are in second place, with either 23 or 24 titles, depending on the source.
Before the formation of La Liga in 1929, the competition was effectively a national championship. Teams qualified to enter via their regional leagues. Over the years, various formats, including group stages have been used. Reserve teams of the professional clubs, who compete in lower divisions of the league pyramid, were permitted to take part until 1990. For a number of years, only teams from the Primera División, Segunda A, about 23 teams from the Segunda B and the 17 Tercera División champions were invited to enter, giving a total of 83. Amended rules for the 2019–20 edition led to the number of entrants increasing to 125, including winners of the regional divisions at the fifth level.
All rounds are single-leg ties with lower division teams hosting the match and the majority of the top-level clubs entering at the First Round, other than the semi-final stage which is played over two legs. This is another change in the 2019–20 edition, with prior editions involving two legs from the point at which the top tier clubs entered in the Fourth round. The final is a one-off game played at a neutral venue.
The winners qualify for both the Supercopa de España and the UEFA Europa League the following season; in the past, the runners-up often played in the Supercopa if the winners had also finished as league champions, and from the 2019–20 Supercopa de España edition onwards, the previous Copa del Rey runners-up automatically qualify in addition to the winners with four teams taking part in the event.

Trophy

Throughout the history of the competition, there have been 12 actual trophies, which were permanently awarded to clubs for winning the competition either three times in a row or on five separate occasions, and for other special reasons. Thus, five trophies have been permanently awarded to Barcelona, three to Athletic Bilbao and one to Real Madrid. Athletic kept the first trophy as inaugural winners, Sevilla were awarded the Trofeo del Generalísimo after its first edition in 1939 and Atlético Madrid, winners the previous year, were awarded the 11th trophy following the death of Francisco Franco in 1976.
On 22 December 2010, at an extraordinary general meeting of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, Sevilla requested permission from the Federation to keep the trophy they had won in the 2010 final to commemorate the victory of the Spanish national team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
A new trophy was made by Madrid jeweller Federico Alegre. The trophy, made of silver, weighs and is tall. On 21 April 2011, Real Madrid became the first recipients of the trophy. During the post-game celebrations, the trophy was accidentally dropped by Real Madrid player Sergio Ramos from the top of a double-decker bus, which then ran over it. Ten pieces were found by civil servicemen when they recovered it from the ground at Plaza de Cibeles. The club received a copy which is displayed at Santiago Bernabéu.

List of finals

‡‡ Real Madrid's reserve team. Reserve teams were banned from this competition for the first time in the 1990–91 competition.

Performances

‡ Counting the 1913 win by Racing de Irún, which merged with Irún Sporting Club in 1915 to form Real Unión.

‡‡ Real Madrid's reserve team. Reserve teams were banned from this competition for first time in the 1990–91 competition.

‡‡‡ The number of wins Athletic Bilbao have been credited with is disputed. The 1902 version was won by Bizcaya, a team made up of players from Athletic Bilbao and Bilbao FC. In 1903 these two clubs merged as the current Athletic Bilbao. The 1902 cup is on display in the Athletic museum and the club includes it in its own honors list.
Seasons in bold are seasons won and seasons in italic are runner-up finalists.

Top goalscorers

Bold indicates an active player.
RankNatNamePosYearsClubTotal
1FWAthletic Bilbao 81
2MF1919–1934Barcelona, Real Madrid 69
3FW1928–1946Racing de Ferrol, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia 64
4FW1939–1950Valencia 55
5FW2004–Barcelona 53
6QuiniFW1968–1987Sporting Gijón, Barcelona 50
7 FW1958–1966Real Madrid 49
7 FW1951–1965Barcelona 49
9SantillanaFW1970–1988Real Madrid 48
10FW1939–1960Granada, Barcelona, Elche 47

Broadcasters

From the 2019–20 season, the final match is already included in La Copa broadcasting rights package. Previously, the final match is excluded in selected countries due to laws and regulations of the tournament broadcasting rights by CNMC in Spain.

2019–2022

Spain

International

- from 2020–21 season, exclude 2019–20 Supercopa which previously only aired on Canal+ Sport and include 2020 Copa final
- exclude Supercopa for Hungary viewers
- Supercopa live on Nove