- Belgian Cup
The Belgian Cup ( _fr. Coupe de Belgique; _nl. Beker van België) is the main "knockout" football competition in
Belgium . It was founded in 1911. The most successful cup club is Club Brugge K.V. with 10 titles followed by R.S.C. Anderlecht (9) and R. Standard de Liège (5).The competition
The first stage comprises 5 matchdays (in one leg each). The third division teams enter the competition on the third matchday (76 teams). The 18 second division teams enter it on the fourth one along with the 38 winners of the previous matchday, which makes 56 teams. The 28 winners all enter the last matchday.
The second stage reunites the 14 lower level teams qualified from the first stage with the 18
Jupiler League teams. The rounds of 32 and 16 are played in one match (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 .History
The first cup competition 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. Then the cup was suspended for two years. The competition began with clubs in 1911 but was soon stopped due toWorld War I . 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 on the football calendar. Three years later, a poll was organized after which the Belgian cup was stopped. In 1964, with the birth of theEuropean 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 Anderlecht.Past finals
Performance by club
References
* [http://www.users.skynet.be/pluto/Textfifa/soccer.html Belgian football history]
* [http://www.footbel.be/content/index.asp The Belgian Football Association Official Site]
* [http://www.sport.be/fr/jupilerleague/0405/index2.html?comp=2041 A Belgian football site]
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