Taça de Portugal

Taça de Portugal
Founded	1938 (1922, as Campeonato de Portugal)
Region	Portugal
Number of teams	155 (current season)
Qualifier for	UEFA Europa League
Domestic cup(s)	Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira
Current champions	Porto (20th title)
Most successful club(s)	Benfica (26 titles)
Television broadcasters	RTP1; SportTV; Canal 11
Website	fpf.pt/taca-de-portugal
	2024–25 Taça de Portugal

The Taça de Portugal (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈtasɐ ðɨ puɾtuˈɣal]; lit. 'Cup of Portugal') is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 season. Organised by the Portuguese Football Federation since it was first held in 1938, the competition is open to professional and amateur clubs from the top-four league divisions. Matches are played from August–September to May–June, and the final is traditionally held at the Estádio Nacional in Oeiras, near Lisbon. The winners qualify for the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (or the runners-up, in case the winners are also the league champions) and the UEFA Europa League (unless they already qualify for the UEFA Champions League through league placing).

Before 1938, a similar competition was held since 1922 under the name Campeonato de Portugal (English: Championship of Portugal), which determined the national champions from among the different regional championship winners. The establishment of the Primeira Liga, a nationwide league-based competition, as the official domestic championship in 1938, led to the conversion of the Campeonato de Portugal into the main domestic cup competition, under its current designation. In fact, the trophy awarded to the Portuguese Cup winners is the same that was awarded to the Campeonato de Portugal winners, although titles in each competition are counted separately.

The first winners of the Taça de Portugal were Académica, who defeated Benfica 4–3 in the 1939 final. Benfica are the most successful team in the competition, with 26 trophies in 38 final appearances. Porto are the current holders, after beating Sporting CP 2–1 in the 2024 final to secure their 20th and third-consecutive title in the competition.

History

Replica of the Taça de Portugal trophy first awarded to Académica de Coimbra in 1939.

The first incarnation of a Portuguese Cup began in 1912, as an invitational tournament organized by SC Império; it was named after the organizing club, as "Taça do Império" (not to be confused with a similarly named, but unrelated, Taça Império - the one-off trophy for the inaugural match at the National Stadium on 10 June 1944). Because of its closed format, with very few clubs taking part, the Portuguese Federation does not recognise it as a true "national cup"; it ended in 1918.

The inaugural season of the "Campeonato de Portugal" (Championship of Portugal) took place in 1921–22, and this competition was played every season until 1937–38. The original format had all the clubs participating in regional leagues, with the regional winners progressing to knock-out rounds, and the ultimate victors named Champions of Portugal. This was the primary tournament in Portugal, until the creation of the round-robin competition in 1934-35 - in fact, the Champions moniker of this early period can be misleading, as the modern concept of "champion" applies to the league champion (i.e., for statistical purposes, the winners of this Campeonato de Portugal are no longer counted among Portuguese League champions). The short period of coexistence between two championships meant considerable confusion, and was pointed as a reason for lack of competitiveness in contemporary international matches - therefore, a revamp was bound to happen.

The success of the older competition meant it was carried over after the reorganization of Football competitions in 1938–39, albeit losing its top status: the (round-robin) league carried the name Campeonato (or, in its longform, "Campeonato Nacional da Primeira Divisão"), and the old Campeonato de Portugal was renamed "Taça de Portugal" (Portuguese Cup) for the 1938–39 season. The Cup soon became the second-most important trophy in Portuguese football.

The Cup is organised by the Portuguese Football Federation (Federação Portuguesa de Futebol) and is played by all teams in the Primeira Liga, Segunda Liga, Liga 3 and Campeonato de Portugal, by the 20 District Championship runners-up and by the 20 District Cup winners. Some extra teams from the District Championships might be invited in order to fill necessary spots. Reserve teams aren't allowed to enter the competition.^[1]

Format

As of the 2023–24 season, the cup is composed of 8 rounds (final included), with 1st level clubs joining at the 3rd round, the 2nd level clubs joining at the 2nd round and the 3rd and lower-level clubs competing from the beginning. All rounds are played in a single game, except for the semifinals, which are played over two legs (home and away).^[1]

Final venues

The final match has been played at the Estádio Nacional near Lisbon in Jamor every season since 1946, except in 1961 (in a rare occurrence, Estádio das Antas was chosen as a more convenient venue for both Leixões and FC Porto, despite being the home of the latter; an agreement was reached by both teams due to geographical proximity and capacity); in the three years following the Carnation Revolution; in the 1982–83 season, due to FC Porto's pressure. In the years following the Carnation Revolution, the venue for the final match would be the home ground of the team that had won the Portuguese Cup the previous year; however, when Boavista won the Cup twice in a row, its home ground (Estádio do Bessa) was deemed too small and the matches were instead played in Estádio das Antas (FC Porto's former home ground).^{[citation needed]}

Finals

Campeonato de Portugal (1922–1938)

Campeonato de Portugal finals
Season	Winners	Result	Runners-up	Date	Venue
1922	Porto	2–1	Sporting CP	4 June 1922	Campo da Constituição, Porto
		0–2		11 June 1922	Campo Grande, Lisbon
		3–1 (a.e.t.)		18 June 1922	Campo do Bessa, Porto
1922–23	Sporting CP	3–0	Académica	24 June 1923	Santo Estádio, Faro
1923–24	Olhanense	4–2	Porto	8 June 1924	Campo Grande, Lisbon
1924–25	Porto (2)	2–1	Sporting CP	28 June 1925	Campo de Monserrate, Viana do Castelo
1925–26	Marítimo	2–0^[a]	Belenenses	6 June 1926	Campo do Ameal, Porto
1926–27	Belenenses	3–0	Vitória de Setúbal	12 June 1927	Estádio do Lumiar, Lisbon
1927–28	Carcavelinhos	3–1	Sporting CP	30 June 1928	Campo de Palhavã, Lisbon
1928–29	Belenenses (2)	3–1	União de Lisboa	16 June 1929	Campo de Palhavã, Lisbon
1929–30	Benfica	3–1 (a.e.t.)	Barreirense	1 June 1930	Campo Grande, Lisbon
1930–31	Benfica (2)	3–0	Porto	28 June 1931	Campo do Arnado, Coimbra
1931–32	Porto (3)	4–4 (a.e.t.)	Belenenses	30 June 1932
1931–32	Porto (3)	2–1	Belenenses	17 July 1932
1932–33	Belenenses (3)	3–1	Sporting CP	2 July 1933	Estádio do Lumiar, Lisbon
1933–34	Sporting CP (2)	4–3 (a.e.t.)	Barreirense	8 July 1934
1934–35	Benfica (3)	2–1	Sporting CP	30 June 1935
1935–36	Sporting CP (3)	3–1	Belenenses	7 July 1936
1936–37	Porto (4)	3–2	Sporting CP	4 July 1937	Campo do Arnado, Coimbra
1937–38	Sporting CP (4)	3–1	Benfica	26 June 1938	Estádio do Lumiar, Lisbon

Performance by club

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runner-up years
Sporting CP	4	6	1923, 1934, 1936, 1938	1922, 1925, 1928, 1933, 1935, 1937
Porto	4	2	1922, 1925, 1932, 1937	1924, 1931
Belenenses	3	3	1927, 1929, 1933	1926, 1932, 1936
Benfica	3	1	1930, 1931, 1935	1938
Olhanense	1	0	1924	–
Marítimo	1	0	1926	–
Carcavelinhos	1	0	1928	–
Barreirense	0	2	–	1930, 1934
Académica	0	1	–	1923
Vitória de Setúbal	0	1	–	1927
União de Lisboa	0	1	–	1929