Belgian Cup

About Belgian Cup

Belgian Cup History, Format, Organization, Media Coverage

The Belgian Cup is an annual knockout football competition organized by the Royal Belgian Football Association. It was created in 1911, but only became an annual competition in 1964. The competition tends to start in July or August, and features a series of knockout games that span eight rounds, followed by a semi-final and then a final.

All teams on the Belgian football pyramid - both professional and amateur - are eligible to participate in the Belgian Cup each season, and the winner of the Belgian Cup qualify for both the UEFA Europa League (assuming the team has not qualified already for the UEFA Champions League) as well as gain the opportunity to participate in the Belgian Supercup.

Club Brugge, Anderlecht, and Standard Liège are among the most successful teams in Belgian Cup history, while other teams such as Genk and Gent have also enjoyed good results in the competition in recent times.

A variety of broadcasters - both public and paid - have held media rights to the Belgian Cup in Belgium over the decades. From the 1960s up until the early part of the 21st century, RTBF and VRT carried Belgian Cup matches, before the broadcast rights were partly sold to paid-TV provider Play Sports, who held non-exclusive rights in conjunction with VRT until the latter part of the 2010s.

As of the 2020s, Belgian Cup matches are covered by DPG Media as well as Eleven Sports (which now is under the umbrella of DAZN following their acquisition of Eleven Sports’ sports media arm in 2022/23).