The Belgian Cup ( ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgian Football Association. The first cup was held in 1911-12. The most successful cup club is Club Brugge KV with 10 titles followed by RSC Anderlecht (9) and R Standard de Liège (5). Since January 15, 2008, the Belgian Cup is sponsored by Cofidis and the cup is now called Cofidis Cup.

History

The first cup competition ever in Belgium was held in 1907-08 but the teams were not actual teams but were provincial selections. The province of West-Vlaanderen won to that of Antwerp by 6-2. The next year, the province of Antwerp beat that of Brabant by 5-2. The cup was then suspended for two years.

The competition began with actual clubs in 1911 but was soon stopped due to the First World War. The interruption lasted until the season 1926-27 but again, the cup fell into disgrace among the leading clubs at the time. In 1953 the competition was finally back in the football calendar. Three years later, a poll was organized after which the Belgian cup was stopped once again. In 1964, with the birth of the European Cup Winners Cup, the competition was organized once again, in order for Belgian football to be represented at that level.

Another cup competition called Belgian League Cup was held between 1997 and 2000. The winning team was qualified for the UEFA Intertoto Cup but the biggest clubs were denying this competition and were playing it with B teams. This, and the poor attendance during the matches were among the major arguments to stop the competition after three seasons. The winners were successively Lommel, Sint-Truiden and RSC Anderlecht.

Format

The first stage comprises 5 matchdays (in one leg each), played in the 5 last Sundays before September 1. Matches are played at 16.00 on the ground of the first drawn team. The first round is played between 176 clubs from Belgian Provincial leagues. The best 4 provinces select 13 teams and the other 5 provinces select 12 teams each to play in the first round. The second round is played between the 88 clubs who qualified from the first round.

The third division teams (32 clubs) enter the competition on the third round (76 teams). The 18 second division teams join the competition in the fourth round, together with 38 teams who qualified from the third round. The 28 winners all enter the last round.

The second stage reunites the 14 lower level teams qualified from the first stage with the 18 first division teams. The rounds of 32 and 16 are played in one game (as well as the final game) while the quarter finals and semi finals are played in two legs. The final game takes place at the Stade Roi Baudouin, Brussels.

Belgian Cup winners and finalists

References

• Belgian football history
• The Belgian Football Association Official Site
• A Belgian football site