The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

cup competition in

French football Association football is the most popular sport in France. The French Football Federation (FFF, Fédération Française de Football) is the national governing body and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of association football in the cou ...

organized by the

Ligue de Football Professionnel The Ligue de Football Professionnel (, ''Professional Football League''), commonly known as the LFP, is a French governing body that runs the major professional football leagues in France. It was founded in 1944 and serves under the authority o ...

. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

, was only open to professional clubs in France which play in country's top three football divisions, though the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

is not fully professional. The most successful team in the competition was

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

with nine wins, including the last edition in 2019–20. The LFP voted to suspend the competition indefinitely to "reduce the season schedule".

Precursors

Another competition named Coupe de la Ligue existed from 1963 to 1965. In 1982, a Coupe d'Eté (Summer cup) was held before the start of the French league season; the cup was won by Stade Laval. This tournament continued under the name of Coupe de la Ligue, until 1994, before the beginning of the French season.

History

The tournament in its last format started in 1994 and was initiated by the professional teams because of their displeasure with the Coupe de France, thanks to its built-in home advantage for teams playing in the lower leagues. Entrance to the UEFA Cup, now called the

UEFA 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 ...

, was offered to the winning team. Its first winner was

, after their 2–0 victory over

Bastia Bastia (, , , ; co, Bastìa ) is a commune in the department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest population of any commune on the is ...

. The first final decided by a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

was in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

when

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

beat

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

. The first three finals were held at

Parc des Princes Parc des Princes () is an all-seater stadium, all-seater Association football, football stadium in Paris, France, in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin ...

; from 1998 edition until

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, the finals have been held at the

Stade de France The Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national foot ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

and Paris Saint-Germain won the competition at both stadiums.

Gueugnon Gueugnon () is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Population Economy The primary industry in the town is a stainless-steel factory run by Aperam. A huge part of Gueugnon ...

became the first team below the top division of France to win the cup after beating Paris Saint-Germain in the 2000 final. Overall, there were 14 winners of the competition since its inception. For over 20 years from its inception, finals of the tournament were only held in the Paris area: the first three were at the

and the rest at the

. This changed in September 2016 when the LFP announced that the next three finals would be held in Lyon, Bordeaux and Lille respectively. The LFP suspended the competition indefinitely after the 2019–20 season, to reduce fixture congestion. In the last final in 2020, Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon drew 0–0 and the former won 6–5 on penalties.

Winners

Records

*Most tournament wins (team): 9,

*Most final appearances (team): 10,

*Most tournament wins (player): 6,

Edinson Cavani Edinson Roberto Cavani Gómez (; born 14 February 1987) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Valencia and the Uruguay national team. Nicknamed ''El Matador'' ('The Bullfighter'), being known for his i ...

Marquinhos Marcos Aoás Corrêa (born 14 May 1994), known as Marquinhos, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain, which he captains, and the Brazil national team. Mainly a centre-back, he can ...

Thiago Silva Thiago Emiliano da Silva (born 22 September 1984) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Chelsea and captains the Brazil national team. Considered one of the best defenders of his generation, he is known f ...

and

Marco Verratti Marco Verratti (; born 5 November 1992) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Italy national team. He is often considered as one of the best midfielders in the wor ...

(2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020) *Most tournament wins (manager): 4,

Didier Deschamps Didier Claude Deschamps (; born 15 October 1968) is a French professional football manager and former player who has been manager of the France national team since 2012. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, E ...

(2003, 2010, 2011 and 2012) and

Laurent Blanc Laurent Robert Blanc (born 19 November 1965) is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back, and is currently the manager of Ligue 1 club Lyon. He has the nickname ''Le Président'', which was given to him ...

(2009, 2014, 2015 and 2016) *All-time top goalscorer (player):

and

Pauleta Pedro Miguel Carreiro Resendes (born 28 April 1973), known as Pauleta (), is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a striker. During 18 years as a senior he never played in the Primeira Liga, having spent 12 of those cam ...

, 15 goals each *Most goals scored in a season (player): 7,

Stéphane Guivarc'h Stéphane Pierre Yves Guivarc'h (born 6 September 1970) is a French former professional footballer who played as striker. He featured in the France squad that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup on home soil. His early career was spent in France with ...

(1997–98) *Most goals scored in the final (player): 8,

(2 in 2014, 2 in 2015, 2 in 2017, 2 in 2018)

References

External links

Coupe de la Ligue information on LFP.fr
{{National football (soccer) league cups Recurring sporting events established in 1994 1994 establishments in France 2020 disestablishments in France Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2020 Defunct football competitions in France Defunct football cup competitions