France - Coupe de la Ligue

The Coupe de la Ligue is a competition organized by the Ligue de Football Professionel. Only professional clubs are allowed in the competition. It was first held in 1994, and up to 46 teams can fight for this tournament year in and year out.

The format of this tournament is quite simple: all teams are paired up on one-legged ties for the entire tournament. Ligue 1 teams enter the competition in the Round of 32, as long as they are not involved in European tournaments, or else they are given the chance to enter the tournament later. There are no replays in this tournament, which forces all clubs to play extra time and penalties to determine the winner.

The team with the most titles in this competition is none other than PSG. They also hold the record for most consecutive Coupe de la Ligue wins, having won five in a row from 2014 to 2018. Strasbourg, with four titles, ranks second in the all-time winners' list.

The 2018-19 campaign saw Strasbourg winning the title by ending Guingamp’s massive run in the competition. Guingamp had eliminated PSG and Monaco in the rounds that led to the final, but Strasbourg managed to prevail after an excruciating penalty shootout. This was Strasbourg’s first Coupe de la Ligue title since 2005 and fourth overall.

Did you know? The 2019-20 Coupe de la Ligue was the last ever since the Ligue de Football Professionel voted to suspend the competition “indefinitely” in order to reduce the number of games played by each team in a calendar year.