Copa Catalunya

About Copa Catalunya

Copa Catalunya History, Format, Organization, Media Coverage

The Copa Catalunya is a knockout stage tournament operated by the Catalan Football Federation. The competition is held annually and is directed to all football teams from that region playing in the Segunda División or further below. The Copa Catalunya originated in 1903 when it was known as the Championship of Catalunya, but the tournament was sent into a 44-year hiatus due to the Spanish government of that era. The first Copa Catalunya as we know it came in 1984 under the name Copa Generalitat, and in the early 1990s, just when Primera División teams were included in the championship, the tournament became known as Copa Catalunya.

During the tournament’s early years, the Copa Catalunya was dominated by top-tier football teams, which forced the Catalan Football Federation to exclude them from the competition for fair play purposes. The local football authorities invited the top-tier teams to play the Supercopa de Catalunya instead, making this mostly an amateur competition.

The format did not suffer major changes without top-tier teams, as all stages include knockout matches. The number of teams signing in to play has changed over the years, but never above 25 each season.

Despite being banned from playing the Copa Catalunya in over a decade, FC Barcelona remains the most winning club in competition history, having won seven titles. Some regional clubs that have joined as champions include Nástic de Tarragona, Andorra, and Terrassa F.C.

Barcelona’s last Copa Catalunya title came in 2013, with players such as Césc Fábregas, Gerard Piqué, and Alexis Sánchez playing that game for the Catalan giants. That game had to be sorted out via penalties, with David Villa having the honour of scoring the game-winning spot kick.