The 2018–19 Copa del Rey was the 117th staging of the Copa del Rey (including two seasons where two rival editions were played). The winners were assured a place in the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League group stage, and both they and the runners-up automatically qualified for the four-team 2020 Supercopa de España.
Barcelona entered the competition as four-time defending champions in an attempt to conquer an unprecedented fifth consecutive title. The Catalans reached the final for the sixth time in a row, but were beaten by Valencia 2–1 who achieved their eighth title overall and the first since 2008.
Schedule and format RoundDraw dateDateFixturesClubsFormat detailsFirst round1883 → 65New entries: Clubs participating in Tercera and Segunda División B gained entry.Byes: Five teams from Segunda División B/Tercera received a bye.Opponents seeding: Teams faced each other according to proximity criteria.Local team seeding: Draw of lots.Knock-out tournament type: Single matchCopa Federación qualification: losers qualified for Copa Federación, National phase.2265 → 43New entries: Clubs participating in Segunda División gained entry.Byes: One team from Segunda División B or Tercera received a bye.Opponents seeding: 22 Segunda División teams faced each other.Local team seeding: Draw of lots.Knock-out tournament type: Single matchThird round1143 → 32Byes: One Segunda División team received a bye.Opponents seeding: Ten Segunda División teams faced each other.Local team seeding: Draw of lots.Knock-out tournament type: Single matchRound of 321632 → 16New entries: Clubs participating in La Liga gained entry.Opponents seeding: The seven teams from La Liga which qualified for 2018–19 UEFA competitions, faced the remaining six teams from Segunda División B and Tercera División and one Segunda División Team.The other five Segunda División teams played against La Liga teams.The eight remaining La Liga teams faced each other.Local team seeding: First leg at home of team in lower division.Knock-out tournament type: Double matchRound of 16816 → 8Opponents seeding: Draw of lots.Local team seeding: First leg at home of the team in the lower division.Knock-out tournament type: Double matchQuarter-finals48 → 4Opponents seeding: Draw of lots.Local team seeding: Luck of the draw.Knock-out tournament type: Double matchSemi-finals1 February 201924 → 2Final12 → 1Single match at the Estadio Benito Villamarín in Seville. Both teams qualified for the 2020 Supercopa de España.UEFA Europa League qualification: winners qualified for the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League group stage. Notes Double-match rounds enforced the away goals rule, single-match rounds did not. Single-match rounds ending in a tie were decided in extra time, and if still level, by a penalty shoot-out.
Qualified teams The following teams qualified for the competition. Reserve teams were excluded. La Ligathe 20 teams of the 2017–18 season Segunda Divisiónthe 20 non-reserve teams of the 2017–18 season Segunda División Bthe top five non-reserve teams of each group and the five with the highest number of points 2017–18 season excluding reserve teams Tercera Divisiónthe best non-reserve team of each one of the 18 groups of the 2017–18 season Alavés Athletic Bilbao Atlético Madrid Barcelona Celta Vigo Deportivo La Coruña Eibar Espanyol Getafe Girona Las Palmas Leganés Levante Málaga Real Betis Real Madrid Real Sociedad Sevilla Valencia Villarreal Albacete Alcorcón Almería Cádiz Córdoba Cultural Leonesa Gimnàstic Granada Huesca Lorca FC Lugo Numancia Osasuna Oviedo Rayo Vallecano Reus Sporting Gijón Tenerife Valladolid Zaragoza Badalona Barakaldo Cartagena Cornellà Ebro Elche Extremadura Fuenlabrada Gernika Lleida Esportiu Mallorca Marbella Melilla Mirandés Murcia Navalcarnero Ontinyent Racing Santander Rápido de Bouzas Rayo Majadahonda Talavera de la Reina Tudelano UCAM Murcia UD Logroñés Villanovense Calahorra Castellón Ceuta Compostela Conquense Cultural Durango Don Benito Gimnástica Torrelavega Internacional Jaén Langreo Mensajero Mutilvera Poblense Sant Andreu Teruel Unionistas Yeclano
First round 41 teams entered the competition at this round. Five Segunda B or Tercera División teams that in the previous season did not play in Tercera División received a bye. The rest were paired according to proximity criteria.
Due to the breach of the competition rules, giving byes to unauthorised teams, the draw of the first and second round had to be partially repeated.
Group I Group II Group III Group IVFuenlabrada Navalcarnero Internacional Rápido de Bouzas Unionistas Cultural Leonesa Compostela MensajeroMirandés Langreo Racing Santander Gimnástica Torrelavega Barakaldo Cultural Durango Gernika Calahorra Tudelano UD Logroñés MutilveraLleida Esportiu Badalona Cornellà Castellón Ontinyent Teruel Ebro Conquense Sant Andreu PoblenseTalavera de la Reina Melilla Marbella Cartagena Murcia Lorca FC UCAM Murcia Don Benito Villanovense Jaén Ceuta Yeclano During the draw, Villanovense, Murcia, Badalona, Tudelano and Lorca FC received a bye to the second round.
Second round The 22 Segunda División teams entered the competition in this round and were joined by the winners of the previous stage, except for Mutilvera, who received a bye to the third round. Segunda División teams were drawn against each other.
Third round The Segunda División teams faced each other, except for Mallorca, who received a bye to the round of 32.
Final phase The draw for the Round of 32 was held on 19 October 2018 at La Ciudad del Fútbol, Las Rozas de Madrid. In this round, all La Liga teams entered the competition.
Round of 32 pairings were as follows: the six remaining teams participating in the 2018–19 Segunda División B and Tercera División faced the four 2018–19 La Liga teams which qualified for the UEFA Champions League and two of the three teams which qualified for the Europa League. The six remaining teams participating in Segunda División faced the last Europa League team not drawn previously and other La Liga teams. The remaining teams faced each other. In matches involving teams from different league tiers, the team in the lower tier played the first leg at home. This rule was also applied in the Round of 16, but not for the quarter-finals and semi-finals, in which the order of legs was based on the luck of the draw.
Pot 1Segunda B and Tercera DivisiónPot 2European competitionsPot 3Segunda DivisiónPot 4Rest of Primera DivisiónCultural LeonesaEbroMelillaRacing SantanderSant AndreuVillanovenseChampions League:Atlético MadridBarcelona (TH)Real Madrid ValenciaEuropa League:Real BetisSevillaVillarrealAlmeríaCádizCórdobaLugoMallorcaSporting GijónAlavésAthleticCelta VigoEibarEspanyolGetafeGironaHuescaLeganésLevanteRayo VallecanoReal SociedadValladolid
Bracket
Round of 32 The draw for the round of 32 took place on 19 October at La Ciudad del Fútbol, in Las Rozas de Madrid. On 23 October, the RFEF designated the referees for first leg matches. All first leg matches were scheduled to be played between 30 October and 1 November; however, the match between Athletic Bilbao and Huesca had to be postponed because of the preparations for an MTV concert in San Mamés. On 8 November, the RFEF made public the schedules for the second leg, scheduled to be played between 4 and 6 December.
Sant Andreu, from Tercera División (fourth tier), was the lowest-ranked team still in the competition.
First leg
Second leg
Round of 16 The Round of 16 draw took place on December 13, 2018, at Ciudad del Fútbol in Las Rozas, Madrid. The first leg took place in the second week of January and the return leg the following week.
Sporting Gijón, from Segunda División, was the only remaining team that did not play in the top tier.
In this round, the video assistant referee was applied for the first time ever in the Copa del Rey.
First leg
Second leg
Quarter-finals The draw for the quarter-finals took place on 18 January 2019 at Ciudad del Fútbol in Las Rozas, Madrid.
All remaining teams are from the top tier.
First leg
Second leg
Semi-finals The draw for the semi-finals took place on 1 February 2019 at the venue for the final of the competition, the Benito Villamarín Stadium.
All four teams remaining came from pot 2, which included teams involved in European competitions.
The winners of the semi-finals advanced to the final and qualified for the 2020 Supercopa de España.
First leg
Second leg
Final
The final took place on 25 May 2019 at the Benito Villamarín Stadium in Seville.
Top goalscorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 ÁngelGetafe5 Karl Toko EkambiVillarreal RodrigoValencia4 Aritz AdurizAthletic Bilbao4 Karim BenzemaReal Madrid Santi MinaValencia Daniele VerdeValladolid8 Aridane SantanaCultural Leonesa3 Marco AsensioReal Madrid Carlos BaccaVillarreal Philippe CoutinhoBarcelona Borja IglesiasEspanyol Sergio LeónReal Betis Sergio RamosReal Madrid Luis SuárezBarcelona David TorresOntinyent Lucas VázquezReal Madrid Lionel MessiBarcelona
Notes
References
External links
Royal Spanish Football Federation official website Copa del Rey at LFP website