The Copa del Rey () is an annual football cup competition for Spanish football teams. Its full name is Campeonato de Espa a Copa de Su Majestad el Rey de F tbol (Championship of Spain His Majesty the King's Football Cup).

The competition was founded in 1903, thus making it the oldest Spanish football competition. The current holder is Barcelona. The 2011 12 final was at Estadio Vicente Calderon between Athletic Bilbao 0-3 FC Barcelona. Typically, the winner of Copa del Rey goes to the UEFA Europa League; should one of the finalists have already qualified for European competition then the other finalist goes into the Europa League. FC Barcelona has won the cup on the most occasions, with 26 wins.

History

In 1902, a competition under the name Copa de la Coronaci n, was played after Carlos Padr s, later president of Real Madrid, suggested a football tournament to celebrate the coronation of King Alfonso XIII. Four other teams joined Madrid FC for the competition: FC Barcelona, Club Espa ol de Foot-Ball, New Foot-Ball de Madrid and Club Bizcaya (a team made up of players from Athletic Club and Bilbao FC) 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 and the Royal Spanish Football Federation officially don't recognize it.^[1][2]

Copa del Rey was Spain's football National Championship from 1903^[3] until the foundation of the Campeonato de Liga League Championship in 1928. It was initially known as the Copa del Ayuntamiento de Madrid (Madrid City Council's Cup). Between 1905 and 1932, it was known as the Copa de Su Majestad El Rey Alfonso XIII (His Majesty King Alfonso XIII's Cup). During the Second Spanish Republic, it was known as the Copa del Presidente de la Rep blica (President of the Republic Cup) or Copa de Espa a (Spanish Cup) and during the years of Francisco Franco's dictatorship, it was known as the Copa de Su Excelencia El General simo or Copa del General simo ((His Excellency) The Supreme General's Cup).^[3] Teams from upper and lower divisions play against each other but the number of clubs allowed to participate is restricted.

Athletic Bilbao were declared winners in 1904 after their opponents Espa ol de Madrid failed to show up. In both 1910 and 1913, there was a split among the clubs and two rival associations, the Uni n Espa ola de Clubs de F tbol and the Federaci n Espa ola de F tbol, 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 Espa a Libre, with Levante FC beating their city rivals Valencia CF 1 0 in the final. (Although in 2007 the Congress of Deputies urged Royal Spanish Football Federation to recognise it as a Copa del Rey win for Levante,^[4] the governing body of Spanish football has not made a decision yet.)^[5] The championship trophy won by FC Barcelona in 1978.

Because of the dispute regarding the 1902 competition, the statistics regarding the leading winners are also disputed. Barcelona have won the Copa 26 times; Athletic Bilbao are just behind, with either 24 or 23 titles, depending on the source. Throughout the history of the competition, there have been 12 actual trophies. Trophies have been 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, four trophies have been permanently awarded to Barcelona, three to Bilbao and one to Real Madrid. Athletic Bilbao kept the first trophy as inaugural winners, Sevilla FC were awarded the Trofeo del General simo in 1939 and Atl tico Madrid, winners the previous year, were awarded the 11th trophy following the death of Francisco Franco. In December 2010, the cup was given to Sevilla, the 2010 winners, to keep in honour of Spain's World Cup win.^[6]

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. Unlike the English FA Cup, entry is limited. Only teams from the Primera Divisi n, Segunda A, about 23 teams from the Segunda B and the Tercera Divisi n champions (or runners-up if the champion is a reserve team) are invited to enter. The early rounds are one-off games with teams from the lower divisions given home advantage. The round of 32, the round of 16, the quarter-finals, and semi-finals are played over two legs. The final is a one-off game played at a neutral venue. The winners qualify for both the Supercopa de Espa a and the UEFA Europa League the following season.

The 2011-12 Copa del Rey was scheduled after the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final, as the Royal Spanish Football Federation anticipated the possibility of Spanish clubs meeting in the Champions League Final.^[7]

Trophy

On 22 December 2010, at an extraordinary general meeting of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, Sevilla FC requested permission from the Federation to keep the trophy they had won in the 2009 final to commemorate the victory of the Spanish national team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. There had been a precedent for this; Real Madrid were allowed to keep the first Copa de la Rep blica (1936), Sevilla, the first Copa del General simo (1939) and, Atl tico Madrid, the last Copa del General simo (1976).

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 at Plaza de Cibeles by the 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. The club received a copy which is displayed at Santiago Bernab u.^[8][9]

Winners and runners-up

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

Finals

Club name changes

Real Madrid were originally known as Madrid FC and did not add the Real until 1920. During the Second Spanish Republic, the club dropped Real from their name. In 1941, a decree issued by Francisco Franco banned the use of non-Spanish language names. FC Barcelona and Sevilla FC became CF Barcelona and Sevilla CF and Athletic Bilbao had to change the spelling of their prefix to Atl tico. (These changes were reverted after Franco's death.) RCD Espanyol were known as RCD Espa ol until 1995.

Other Copas del Rey

(Includes Copa de la Reina trophies, for women's tournaments.)

• Women's football - Copa de la Reina de F tbol
• Basketball - Copa del Rey de Baloncesto for men and Copa de la Reina de Baloncesto for women.
• Handball - Copa del Rey de Balonmano for men and Copa de la Reina de Balonmano for women.

References

ar: an:Copa d'o Rei de F tbol az: spaniya Kral Kuboku be-x-old: bg: ( ) ca:Copa del Rei de futbol cs:Copa del Rey da:Copa del Rey de:Copa del Rey et:Copa del Rey el: es:Copa del Rey eo:Copa del Rey eu:Futboleko Espainiako Errege Kopa fa: fr:Coupe du Roi de football gl:Copa do Rei de f tbol ko: hy: hr:Kup kralja id:Piala Raja Spanyol it:Copa del Rey he: ka: lv:Sp nijas Kara a kauss lt:Ispanijos futbolo taur hu:Spanyol labdar g kupa ml: nl:Copa del Rey ja: no:Copa del Rey uz:Copa del Rey pl:Puchar Kr la pt:Copa do Rei da Espanha ro:Copa del Rey ru: sq:Copa del Rey simple:Copa del Rey sk:Copa del Rey sr: fi:Copa del Rey sv:Copa del Rey th: tr: spanya Kral Kupas uk: vi:C p Nh vua T y Ban Nha zh: