The 2020–21 Slovak Cup was the 52nd edition of the

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...

. The tournament began on 25 July 2020 and the final was played on 19 May 2021. Slovan Bratislava were the defending champions, defeating

Ružomberok Ružomberok (; german: Rosenberg; hu, Rózsahegy; pl, Rużomberk) is a town in northern Slovakia, in the historical Liptov region. It has a population of around 27,000 inhabitants (45,000 with nearby villages). Etymology The name of the initia ...

in the 2020 final. Slovan won a second consecutive title, defeating

Žilina Žilina (; hu, Zsolna, ; german: Sillein, or ; pl, Żylina , names in other languages) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the fourth largest city of Sl ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. The winner of the Slovak Cup earned automatic qualification for the second qualifying round in UEFA Europa Conference League. As Slovan had already qualified for the

2021–22 UEFA Champions League The 2021–22 UEFA Champions League was the 67th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 30th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Real Madrid ...

as league champion, the spot was decided by the Europa Conference League play-offs, which was eventually won by Žilina.

Format

The Cup was played as a knockout tournament contested by 229 teams - one more than the previous edition. Teams (excluding 'B' teams) from the top five levels played along with two winners of regional cups. All ties are decided on the day with penalty shoot-outs used to decide drawn matches. All rounds are played as one-off matches except the semi-finals which are played over two legs.

Prize money

In this season, the fixed amount of prize money paid to the clubs is as follows: * Winning the final: €50,000 * Losing finalist: €20,000 * Semi-finals: €5,000 The most successful club from the regional football associations will receive a financial reward of €3,000 if they end before semifinal. Teams that participate in the 1st and 2nd round will receive match balls (for home club five and for away club three).

First round

101 matches in the first round were played from July 25, 2020, to August 5, 2020. The first round is regional, which means that, only teams from one region meet each other. Matches of the first round drew the divisional football associations. If the score is still level after ninety minutes, a team advancing to next round will be reached by penalty shoutout.

Second round

64 matches in the second round were played from August 12, 2020, to September 16, 2020.

Third round

32 matches of the 3rd round were played from September 16. 31 matches finished until October 7. Only one match including DAC Dunajská Streda was rescheduled on a spring 2021 due

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and participation in

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

Fourth round

Due

all matches of the 4th and 5th rounds have been rescheduled on a spring 2021. In

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

from 11 October no sports event were allowed, expect top leagues of some sports.
On March 10, the organizers

Slovak Football Association The Slovak Football Association ( sk, Slovenský futbalový zväz, SFZ) is the governing body of football in Slovakia based in Bratislava. It has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Slovakia and is the body t ...

decided that the competition would be played only with clubs from the

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

leagues. Clubs from the lower leagues have been banned from official matches and trainings since October 2020. There were still 19 clubs from the first and second leagues left in the competition, and there were to be 16 clubs in the 5th round. 6 teams, selected by worst places from

2019–20 Slovak Cup The 2019–20 Slovak Cup was the 51st edition of the competition. The tournament began on 20 July 2019 and the final was played on 8 July 2020. Spartak Trnava were the defending champions, defeating Žilina in the 2019 final. Slovan Bratislava ...

, played an additional play-off in the 4th round. It was Dubnica,

Šamorín Šamorín (; hu, Somorja, german: Sommerein) is a small town in western Slovakia, southeast of Bratislava. Etymology The name is derived from a patron saint of a local church Sancta Maria, mentioned for the first time as ''villa Sancti Marie'' ...

Podbrezová Podbrezová (; hu, Zólyombrézó) is a large village and municipality in Brezno District, in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia, around 10 km west of the district seat town, Brezno. History The village is actually made of six ...

Zemplín Michalovce Zemplín or Zemplén can refer to: * Zemplín (region), a region in Slovakia * Zemplín (village), a village in Slovakia * Zemplén County Zemplén ( hu, Zemplén, sk, Zemplín, german: Semplin, Semmlin, la, Zemplinum) was an administrative cou ...

Komárno Komárno, ( hu, Komárom, german: Komorn, sr, Коморан, translit=Komoran), colloquially also called ''Révkomárom, Öregkomárom, Észak-Komárom'' in Hungarian language, Hungarian; is a town in Slovakia at the confluence of the Danube an ...

and

FC Košice FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

. , - !colspan="3" align="center", 23 March , - !colspan="3" align="center", 24 March :

¹ Played on neutral pitch in

Poprad Poprad (; hu, Poprád; german: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the ten ...

² ³Played on neutral pitch in

Topoľčany Topoľčany (; sk, Veľké Topoľčany before 1920; hu, Nagytapolcsány) is a town in the Nitra Region of Slovakia. The population is around 25,000 in total. The town's population is nicknamed ''Žochári'' (singl. ''Žochár'') (producers, or o ...

Round of 16

The draw was on March 25. Matches were played on April 6–7. , - !colspan="3" align="center", 6 April , - !colspan="3" align="center", 7 April :

¹ ⁶ ⁸Played on neutral pitch on

NTC Senec NTC Senec (Národné tréningové centrum Senec) is a football training center of the Slovak Football Association and a multi-use stadium in Senec, Slovakia. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of ŠK Senec. T ...

² ⁴Played on neutral pitch in

Zvolen Zvolen (; hu, Zólyom; german: Altsohl) is a town in central Slovakia, situated on the confluence of Hron and Slatina rivers, close to Banská Bystrica. It is surrounded by Poľana mountain from the East, by Kremnické vrchy from the West an ...

³ ⁵ ⁷Played on neutral pitch in

Quarter-finals

The draw was on April 8. Matches will be played on April 13–14. ---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

The draw was on April 15. Semi-finals was played on April 28 and May 5. ''Žilina won 8–3 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Slovan Bratislava won 6–1 on aggregate.''

Final

The final match was played on May 19 on

Tehelné Pole Tehelné pole or National football stadium ( sk, Národný futbalový štadión) is a multi-use stadium in Bratislava, Slovakia. It was completed in 2019 and is used for football (soccer), football matches, including the home matches of ŠK Slov ...

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 Slovak Cup Slovak Cup seasons

Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

Slovak Cup The Slovak Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Slovak football. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League. History The competition was first contested in 1969. Until 1993, the winner of the Slovak Cup would face the w ...