Belgian Cup

Belgian Cup
Founded	1911
Region	Belgium
Number of teams	294
Current champions	Zulte Waregem (2nd title)
Most successful club(s)	Club Brugge (11 titles)
Website	Cofidis Cup
2017–18 Belgian Cup

The Belgian Cup (French: Coupe de Belgique; Dutch: Beker van België [Dutch pronunciation: [ˈbeːkər vɑn ˈbɛlɣijə]]; German: Belgischer Fußballpokal) 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 11 titles followed by RSC Anderlecht (9) and R Standard de Liège (7). Since the 2015-2016 edition, the Belgian Cup is sponsored by crisp brand Croky and the cup is now called Croky 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 five matchdays (in one leg each), played in the five last Sundays before September 1. Matches are typically played at 4:00pm on the ground of the first drawn team. The first round is played between clubs from levels 4 to 8 in football league pyramid. The second round is played between the clubs who qualified from the first round.

The Belgian Third Division teams (36 clubs) enter the competition in the third round, whereas the 18 Belgian Second Division teams join the competition in the fourth round, together with 38 teams who qualified from the third round. The 16 teams that remain after the fifth round are joined by the 16 Belgian Pro League teams in the sixth round. In this round, all the Belgian Pro League teams are seeded, meaning they cannot meet each other. However the order of the draw still determines the ground. The winners move to round 7, also known as the round of 16.

The rounds of 32 and 16 (Rounds six and seven) are single legged games (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 in Brussels.

Belgian Cup winners and finalists

Performance by club

Club	Wins	Last final won	Runners-up	Last final lost
Club Brugge KV	11	2015	7	2016
RSC Anderlecht	9	2008	4	2015
R Standard Liège	7	2016	9	2007
KRC Genk	4	2013	0
KAA Gent	3	2010	1	2008
Cercle Brugge KSV	2	1985	5	2013
KSK Beveren	2	1983	3	2004
Germinal Beerschot	2	2005	2	1995
Zulte Waregem	2	2017	1	2014
KSC Lokeren	2	2014	1	1981
K Lierse SK	2	1999	1	1976
Antwerp FC	2	1992	1	1975
SV Thor Waterschei	2	1982	1	1955
Beerschot VAC	2	1979	1	1968
Union	2	1914	0
KV Mechelen	1	1987	4	2009
Westerlo	1	2001	1	2011
FC Liégeois	1	1990	1	1987
KSV Waregem	1	1974	1	1982
Daring Bruxelles	1	1935	1	1970
La Louvière	1	2003	0
Racing Tournai	1	1956	0
Racing Bruxelles	1	1912	0
Excelsior Mouscron	0		2	2006
Sint-Truiden VV	0		2	2003
Charleroi	0		2	1993
Oostende	0		1	2017
Lommel SK	0		1	2001
KSK Tongeren	0		1	1974
Racing White	0		1	1969
Diest	0		1	1964
Verviers	0		1	1956
Racing Mechelen	0		1	1954
Lyra	0		1	1935
Tubantia Borgerhout	0		1	1927
Racing Gand	0		1	1912
K.V. Kortrijk	0		1	2012

italic clubs dissolved or merged

Media coverage

Between the 2006-07 season and the 2011-12 season, the tournament has been screened in Belgium by VRT.

References

Belgian football history
The Belgian Football Association Official Site
A Belgian football site
League321.com - Belgian Football League Tables, Records & Statistics Database.

Belgian Cup
Seasons	1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 Not held 1926–27 Not held 1934–35 Not held 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 Not held 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18
Finals	1912 1913 1914 Not held 1927 Not held 1935 Not held 1954 1955 1956 Not held 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Winners	Club Brugge (11) Anderlecht (9) Standard Liège (7) Genk (4) Gent (3) Antwerp (2) Beerschot (2) Beveren (2) Cercle Brugge (2) Germinal Beerschot (2) Lierse (2) Lokeren (2) Union SG (2) Waterschei (2) Zulte Waregem (2) Daring Bruxelles (1) RC Bruxelles (1) La Louvière (1) RFC Liège (1) KV Mechelen (1) Tournai (1) Waregem (1) Westerlo (1)
List of finals Winning managers

UEFA members national football cups
Current	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands Finland France Georgia Germany Gibraltar Greece Hungary Iceland Israel Italy Kazakhstan Kosovo Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
Defunct	Czechoslovakia East Germany Serbia and Montenegro USSR Yugoslavia
Non-UEFA	Vatican City

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