The 2018–19 Polish Cup was the 65th season of the annual Polish football knockout tournament. It began on 7 August 2018 with the first matches of the preliminary round and ended on 2 May 2019 with the final at Stadion Narodowy. Winners of the competition would qualify for the qualifying round of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, however eventual winners Lechia Gdańsk had qualified for Europe through their league performance.
Format changes Before the start of the 2018–19 season, the PZPN confirmed the reforming plan of the Polish Cup, introducing several changes: draws would be carried out separately before the start of each round, the rule where two of the best teams of the previous season could not be in the same draw before the semi-finals was abandoned, introduction of the four teams representing Poland in European competitions in the draw of the round of 64, the second leg matches in the quarter-finals and semi-finals had been canceled (the winner of the pair in each round met after a single match), Ekstraklasa teams started the game one round earlier than before (in the round of 64 instead of the round of 32), teams from places 13 to 18 in the I liga and teams from places 1 to 10 in the II liga as well as cup winners at the provincial level start the game one round later than before (in the round of 64 final instead of the preliminary round), the host of the match between teams from the same league level was randomly selected as the first in a given pair (previously an additional draw of the host of the first or only match), except for the round of 64 for teams playing in European competitions.
Participating teams
2017–18 Ekstraklasa16 teams 2017–18 I liga18 teams 2017–18 II liga18 teams Winners of 16 regional cup competitions Arka Gdynia Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza Cracovia Górnik Zabrze Jagiellonia Białystok Lech Poznań Lechia Gdańsk Legia Warsaw Korona Kielce Piast Gliwice Pogoń Szczecin Sandecja Nowy Sącz Śląsk Wrocław Wisła Kraków Wisła Płock Zagłębie Lubin Bytovia Bytów Chojniczanka Chojnice Chrobry Głogów GKS Katowice GKS Tychy Górnik Łęczna Miedź Legnica Odra Opole Olimpia Grudziądz Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała Pogoń Siedlce Puszcza Niepołomice Raków Częstochowa Ruch Chorzów Stal Mielec Stomil Olsztyn Wigry Suwałki Zagłębie Sosnowiec Błękitni Stargard Garbarnia Kraków GKS Jastrzębie GKS Bełchatów Gryf Wejherowo Gwardia Koszalin Legionovia Legionowo ŁKS Łódź MKS Kluczbork Olimpia Elbląg Radomiak Radom ROW 1964 Rybnik Rozwój Katowice Siarka Tarnobrzeg Stal Stalowa Wola Warta Poznań Wisła Puławy Znicz Pruszków Lechia Dzierżoniów (Lower Silesian, III liga) Elana Toruń (Kuyavian-Pomeranian, III liga) Unia Hrubieszów (Lublin, Klasa okręgowa) Falubaz Zielona Góra (Lubusz, III liga) KS Paradyż (Łódź, IV liga) GKS Drwinia (Lesser Poland, IV liga) Victoria Sulejówek (Masovian, III liga) Polonia Głubczyce (Opole, III liga) Resovia (Subcarpathian, III liga) Tur Bielsk Podlaski (Podlaskie, III liga) KP Starogard Gdański (Pomeranian, III liga) Śląsk Świętochłowice (Silesian, IV liga) Wisła Sandomierz (Holy Cross, III liga) Huragan Morąg (Warmian-Masurian, III liga) Polonia Środa Wielkopolska (Greater Poland, III liga) Bałtyk Koszalin (West Pomeranian, IV liga)
Prize money The PZPN Board of Directors determined the size of the prizes at its meeting on May 23, 2018. Round reached Amount Preliminary round 5,000 PLN Round of 64 10,000 PLN 5,000 PLN Round of 32 30,000 PLN Round of 16 60,000 PLN Quarterfinal 125,000 PLN Semifinal 250,000 PLN Final 500,000 PLN Winner 3,000,000 PLN
Round and draw dates Round Draw date Number of teams Date of matches Number of teams entered competition Preliminary round 68 → 64 7–8 August 2018 2017–18 II liga teams from positions 11–18 Round of 64 10 August 2018 64 → 32 25–27 September, 2–4 October 2018 2017–18 Ekstraklasa teams,2017–18 I liga teams,2017–18 II liga teams from positions 1–10,winners of the regional cups Round of 32 28 September 2018 32 → 16 30–31 October, 6–8 November 2018 None Round of 16 8 November 2018 16 → 8 4–6 December 2018 None Quarter-finals 7 December 2018 8 → 4 26–28 February, 5–7 and 12–14 March 2019 None Semi-finals 15 March 2019 4 → 2 9–10 and 16–17 April 2019 None Final None 2 → 1 2 May 2019 None
Preliminary round Participating in this round were 8 teams from the 2017–18 II liga from positions 11 to 18. Teams from places 11 to 14 faced teams from places 15 to 18 in the following pairs: 11–18, 12–17, 13–16, 14–15. The matches were played on 7 and 8 August 2018. The number in brackets indicates what tier of Polish football each team competes in during the 2018–19 season.
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|7 August 2018
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|8 August 2018
Bracket
Round of 64 The draw for this round was conducted in the headquarter of PZPN on 10 August 2018. The matches was played on 25 to 27 September and 2 to 3 October 2018. Participating in this round were the 4 winners from the previous round, 16 teams from the 2017–18 Ekstraklasa, 18 teams from the 2017–18 I liga, 10 highest ranked teams from 2017 to 2018 II liga and 16 winners of the regional cup competitions. Games were hosted by teams playing in the lower division in the 2018–19 season.
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|25 September 2018
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|26 September 2018
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|27 September 2018
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|2 October 2018
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|3 October 2018
Round of 32 The draw for this round was conducted in the headquarter of PZPN on 28 September 2018. The matches were played on 30–31 October and 7 November 2018. Games were hosted by teams playing in the lower division in the 2018–19 season.
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|30 October 2018
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|31 October 2018
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|7 November 2018
Round of 16 The draw for this round was conducted in the headquarter of PZPN on 8 November 2018. The matches were played on 4 to 6 December 2018.
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|4 December 2018
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|'5 December 2018
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|6 December 2018
Quarter-finals The 8 winners from Round of 16 competed in this round. The matches were played on 27 February 2019, as well as 12 to 13 March. The draw for this round was conducted in the headquarter of PZPN, Warsaw on 7 December 2018.
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|27 February 2019
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|12 March 2019
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|13 March 2019
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|14 March 2019
Semi-finals
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|9 April 2019
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|10 April 2019
Final
GK25 Marián KelemenRB2 Andrej Kadlec CB17 Ivan RunjeCB15 Zoran Arsenić LB19 Böðvar BöðvarssonCM20 Marko Poletanović CM6 Taras Romanczuk (c)RM9 Arvydas NovikovasAM11 Jesús ImazLM12 Guilherme SityáCF98 Patryk KlimalaSubstitutes:GK29 Grzegorz SandomierskiDF5 Nemanja MitrovićDF7 Jakub Wójcicki MF26 Martin PospíšilMF77 Martin KošťálMF99 Bartosz Kwiecień FW30 Maciej TwarowskiManager: Ireneusz Mamrot GK1 Zlatan AlomerovićRB3 João NunesCB25 Michał NalepaCB26 Błażej Augustyn LB22 Filip MladenovićRCM36 Tomasz MakowskiCM35 Daniel Łukasik LCM6 Jarosław KubickiRW11 Konrad Michalak CF28 Flávio Paixão (c)LW17 Lukáš Haraslín Substitutes:GK12 Dušan KuciakDF5 Steven Vitória DF19 Karol FilaMF8 Michał MakMF9 Patryk Lipski FW29 Mateusz ŻukowskiFW90 Artur Sobiech Manager: Piotr Stokowiec
Match officials: Referee: Bartosz Frankowski Assistant referees: Jakub Winkler Adam Kupsik Fourth official: Paweł Raczkowski Video assistant referee: Tomasz Kwiatkowski Marcin BorkowskiMatch rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.
References