The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "
knockout" cup competition in
Danish football
Association football is the most popular sport in Denmark, with 331,693 players and 1,647 clubs registered () under the Danish FA. The game was introduced into Denmark by British sailors. Kjøbenhavns Boldklub is the oldest club outside of the U ...
, run by the
Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955.
The winner will qualify for 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. ...
tournament the following year, where they (as of the 2009–10 season) will enter in the third qualifying round.
The latest edition,
2017-18 Danish Cup, was won by
Superliga-side
Brøndby, beating
Superliga-side
Silkeborg
Silkeborg () is a Danish town with a population of 49,747 (1 January 2022).[Parken Stadium
Parken Stadium, also known simply as Parken and as Telia Parken (2014–2020), is a football stadium in the Indre Østerbro (''Inner Østerbro'') district of Copenhagen, Denmark, built from 1990 to 1992. The stadium, which features a retractable ...]
, thereby winning their first domestic trophy since
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
.
The final traditionally takes place on ''Kristi Himmelfarts Dag'' (
The Ascension) and it is always played in the Danish national stadium Parken. However in the 1991 and 1992 seasons the final had been rescheduled to Odense Stadion and Århus Stadion respectively due to the renovation of Parken. Furthermore, in 2011, because Ascension Thursday fell on 2 June and an international match date was already allotted for this date, the Danish Cup final was played two weeks earlier on 22 May, which coincided with the annual
Copenhagen Marathon
The Copenhagen Marathon is an annual marathon that takes place on the streets of Copenhagen, Denmark. Established in 1980, it is held in May and has around 10,000 participants. It is a World Athletics Bronze Label race.
The course is a mos ...
.
The club with most final appearances is
AGF with 12 finals, having won 9 of them.
Attention has been brought to the fact that the final on most occasions unpractically is played before the last rounds of the league, which can open up for speculation in the benefit of losing league games at the end of the season especially for the cup runner-up if the winner is heading for the league championship. Recently former AaB player
David Nielsen claimed in his autobiography that after losing the cup final in 2004 to FC Copenhagen, he deliberately missed opportunities to score against them when AaB and FC Copenhagen met in the final league match because FCK would win the championship (and thereby the double) and land AaB in the
UEFA 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 ...
as losing cup finalists.
Sponsorship
The Danish FA sanctioned nation-wide cup tournament has been sponsored since the 1990.
File:blank.png , Giro Cup
(1990 to 1995–96)
Sponsor: GiroBank
National Girobank was a British public sector financial institution run by the General Post Office that opened for business in October 1968. It started life as ''National Giro'' then ''National Girobank'' and finally ''Girobank plc'' be ...
File:Compaq Cup logo 1999.svg , Compaq Cup
(1996–97 to 1998–99)
Sponsor: Compaq
Compaq Computer Corporation (sometimes abbreviated to CQ prior to a 2007 rebranding) was an American information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced ...
File:blank.png , DONG Cup
(Spring 2000–2004)
Sponsor: DONG
File:Ekstra Bladet Cup 2008.svg , Ekstra Bladet Cup
(2008–09 to 2010–11)
Sponsor: Ekstra Bladet
''Ekstra Bladet'' is a Danish tabloid newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen.[About](_blank)
(in Danish) ''E ...
File:DBU Pokalen logo.svg , DBU Pokalen
(2011–12 to 2017–18)
No cup sponsor
File:blank.png , Sydbank Pokalen
(2018–19 to 2021–22)
Sponsor: Sydbank
Sydbank A/S is one of Denmark's largest full service banks headquartered in Aabenraa. Sydbank was founded in 1970 with the merger of four local banks based in Southern Jutland: Den Nordslesvigske Folkebank (Aabenraa); Graasten Bank (Gråsten); F ...
(2022–23)
No cup sponsor
Format
Each club may only have one team in the tournament (their first team). If a match (except one of the two-legged semifinals, except if the 2nd match's result gives an
aggregate tie, including the
away goals rule) ends in a tie, two fifteen-minute
extra time periods will be played, with
penalty kicks if the tie remains after the extra time.
The participants
The teams are not seeded, but the lowest placed team from the previous season will always get the home pitch advantage.
Until 2005/06
*1st round, 64 teams
**48 teams qualified through preliminary cups held by the
regional associations.
**16 teams from the
2nd division (all teams)
*2nd round, 32+8 teams
**32 teams from the 1st round (winners)
**8 teams from the
1st division (9th–16th placed)
*3rd round, 20+8 teams
**20 teams from the 2nd round
**6 teams from the 1st division (3rd–8th placed)
**2 teams from the
Superliga (11th–12th, the relegated teams which are now in the 1st division)
*4th round, 14+6 teams
**14 teams from the 3rd round
**4 teams from the Superliga (7th–10th)
**2 teams from the 1st division (1st–2nd, the promoted teams which are now in the Superliga)
*5th round, 10+6 teams
**10 teams from the 4th round
**6 teams from the Superliga (1st–6th)
*Quarterfinals, 8 teams
**8 teams from the 5th round
– and so on until the finals.
From 2006/07
*1st round, 88 teams
**48 teams qualified through preliminary cups held by the
regional associations.
**28 teams from the
2nd divisions (all teams)
**12 teams from the
1st division (5th–16th placed)
*2nd round, 44+12 teams
**44 teams from the 1st round (winners)
**4 teams from the 1st division (1st–4th placed)
**8 teams from the
Superliga (5th–12th placed).
*3rd round, 28+4 teams
**28 teams from the 2nd round
**4 teams from the Superliga (1st–4th placed)
*4th round, 16 teams
**16 teams from the 3rd round
*Quarterfinals, 8 teams
**8 teams from the 4th round
– and so on until the finals.
From 2021/22
*1st round, 92 teams
**4 teams qualified through preliminary cups held by the
regional associations.
**12 teams from the
3rd divisions
**12 teams from the
2nd divisions
**12 teams from the
1st division
*2nd round, 58+6 teams
**44 teams from the 1st round (winners)
**6 teams from the
Superliga (5th–12th placed).
*3rd round, 28+4 teams
**26 teams from the 2nd round
**6 teams from the Superliga (1st–6th placed)
*4th round, 16 teams
**16 teams from the 3rd round
*Quarterfinals, 8 teams
**8 teams from the 4th round
– and so on until the finals.
Finals
Results by team
Footnotes
References
External links
Page on the website of the DBU
RSSSF.com
Danish Cup summary
SOCCERWAY)
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1
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