Danish Cup

Founded	1955
Region	Denmark
Number of teams	104
Current champions	Copenhagen (4 titles)
Most successful club	AGF (9 titles)
Website	The Danish Cup
2009–10 Danish Cup

The Danish Cup (Danish: Landspokalturneringen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. Ekstra Bladet is the main sponsor of the cup, and the official name of the tournament is Ekstra Bladet Cup.

The winner will qualify for the UEFA Europa League tournament the following year, where they (as of the 2009-10 season) will enter in the third qualifying round.

The latest edition, Danish Cup 2008-09, was won by Superliga-side FC Copenhagen, beating Superliga-side AaB 1-0 on May 21, 2009 at Parken Stadium.

The final traditionally takes place on Kristi Himmelfarts Dag (Ascension) and it is always played in the danish national stadium Parken. However in the 1991 and 1992 seasons the final had been rescheduled to Odense Stadion and Århus Stadion respectively due to the renovation of Parken.

The two clubs with most final appearances are AGF with 11 finals and AaB with 10, but with quite different success; AGF having won 9 of their 11 finals, while AaB have only won 2 finals.

Attention has been brought to the fact that the final on most occasions unpractically is played before the last rounds of the league, which can open up for speculation in the benefit of losing league games at the end of the season especially for the cup runner-up if the winner is heading for the league championship. Recently former AaB player David Nielsen claimed in his autobiography that after losing the cupfinal in 2004 to FC Copenhagen, he deliberately missed opportunities to score against them when AaB and FC Copenhagen met in the final league match because FCK would win the championship (and thereby the double) and land AaB in the UEFA cup as losing cup finalists.

[edit] Format

The 2003/04 season finale between F.C. Copenhagen and AaB in Parken Stadium.

Each club may only have one team in the tournament (their first team). If a match (except one of the two-legged semifinals, except if the 2nd match's result gives an aggregate tie, including the away goals rule) ends in a tie, two fifteen-minute extra time periods will be played, with penalty kicks if the tie remains after the extra time.

[edit] The participants

The teams are not seeded, but the lowest placed team from the previous season will always get the home pitch advantage.

[edit] Until 2005/06

• 1st round, 64 teams
  • 48 teams qualified through preliminary cups held by the regional associations.
  • 16 teams from the 2nd division (all teams)
• 2nd round, 32+8 teams
  • 32 teams from the 1st round (winners)
  • 8 teams from the 1st division (9th-16th placed)
• 3rd round, 20+8 teams
  • 20 teams from the 2nd round
  • 6 teams from the 1st division (3rd-8th placed)
  • 2 teams from the Superliga (11th-12th, the relegated teams which are now in the 1st division)
• 4th round, 14+6 teams
  • 14 teams from the 3rd round
  • 4 teams from the Superliga (7th-10th)
  • 2 teams from the 1st division (1st-2nd, the promoted teams which are now in the Superliga)
• 5th round, 10+6 teams
  • 10 teams from the 4th round
  • 6 teams from the Superliga (1st-6th)
• Quarterfinals, 8 teams
  • 8 teams from the 5th round

– and so on until the finals.

[edit] From 2006/07

• 1st round, 88 teams
  • 48 teams qualified through preliminary cups held by the regional associations.
  • 28 teams from the 2nd divisions (all teams)
  • 12 teams from the 1st division (5th-16th placed)
• 2nd round, 44+12 teams
  • 44 teams from the 1st round (winners)
  • 4 teams from the 1st division (1st-4th placed)
  • 8 teams from the Superliga (5th-12th placed).
• 3rd round, 28+4 teams
  • 28 teams from the 2nd round
  • 4 teams from the Superliga (1st-4th placed)
• 4th round, 16 teams
  • 16 teams from the 3rd round
• Quarterfinals, 8 teams
  • 8 teams from the 4th round

– and so on until the finals.

[edit] Earlier names

• 1990-1996 Giro Cup
• 1997-1999 Compaq Cup
• 2000-2004 DONG Cup

[edit] Winners

[edit] Year by year

[edit] Total titles

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Official list of winners
• Ekstra Bladet Cup official site