Taça de Portugal

Taça de Portugal

Founded	1938
Region	Portugal
Number of teams	140 clubs
Current champions	FC Porto (15th title)
Most successful club	SL Benfica (24 titles)
Television broadcasters	SportTV and TVI
Website	http://www.fpf.pt
2010–11 Taça de Portugal

The Portuguese Cup, or Cup of Portugal (Portuguese: Taça de Portugal, pronounced [ˈtasɐ dɨ puɾtuˈɡaɫ]), called the Cup of Portugal Millennium for sponsorship reasons, is the Portuguese national football competition on a knock-out-basis. From the 2008 season the cup is sponsored by the Portuguese biggest private bank Millennium BCP. Up to 1938, the same competition was held under the name Championship of Portugal (Campeonato de Portugal) and defined the Portuguese champion.

Although the football competition is the most famous, a similar Portuguese Cup competition takes place for all main team sports in Portugal, including:

Portuguese Handball Cup
Portuguese Volleyball Cup
Portuguese Basketball Cup
Portuguese Rink Hockey Cup
Portuguese Rugby Cup
Portuguese Chess Cup
Portuguese Futsal Cup

1 History
2 Venue
3 Taça de Portugal (post 1938)
4 Notes

History

The first incarnation of the Taça was in 1912, but very few clubs could participate and thus it was not a regular competition, the fact which ended it in 1918, the Portuguese Federation doesn't take in account its existence. It was named Taça do Império since S.C. Império organized it (do not confuse with Taça Império, which was the trophy of the inaugural game at the National Stadium where the Champion and the Cup winner played against each other). In 1922 the Championship of Portugal (Campeonato de Portugal) was created and was played every season with all the clubs participating in elimination rounds, the winners were named Champions of Portugal and it was the primary tournament in Portugal, more important than the round-robin competition itself created in the middle 30s. For the 1938/39 season, the name was changed for Taça de Portugal (Cup of Portugal) and the tournament turned into the second-most important in Portugal. It is organized by the Portuguese Football Federation (Federação Portuguesa de Futebol) and is played by all the teams in the four national divisions (Liga, League of Honour, Second Division and Third Division). Also the runners-up of each regional football associations local championships from the previous season will have a place in the first round.

As of 2007, the cup is composed of 9 rounds (final included), with 1st level clubs joining at the 4th round, the 2nd level clubs joining at the 3rd round, the 3rd level clubs joining at the 2nd round and the lower level clubs competing from the beginning.

Venue

Since 1946 the final game has been played at the Estádio Nacional near Lisbon in Jamor, except in 1961 (albeit Estádio das Antas being the home of FC Porto, an agreement was made between the two sides, since it was also quite nearer for Leixões to play), in the three years following the Carnation Revolution and in the season 1982/83, due to FC Porto pressure. In the years next to the Carnation Revolution, the venue of the final game would be played at the home ground of the team that won the Portuguese Cup the previous year (note that when Boavista won the Cup two times in a row, the final of the next years were in Estádio das Antas (FC Porto's home ground at the time), since the Estádio do Bessa (Boavista's home ground) was too small to host the final and both teams were from the same city, Porto).