Four LaLiga teams in top 10
©TM/IMAGO
With the serious stage of the season in the top leagues and the Champions League almost here, the main domestic cups in Europe’s top-five leagues are also beginning to heat up. Barcelona drew 4-4 to Atlético Madrid in their Copa del Rey semi-final 1st leg, whilst Real Madrid will take a 1-0 lead away at Real Sociedad back to the Santiago Bernábeu. AC Milan, Inter Milan, Bologna and Empoli booked their place in the Coppa Italia semi-finals. Stuttgart, Bayer Leverkusen, third-tier Bielefeld, and RB Leipzig made it to the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal. Reims, fourth-tier Cannes, PSG and Dunkerque will fight it out in the Coupe De France semi-final, whilst this weekend sees teams go head-to-head in the FA Cup round of 16. But when we look down the archives, which teams are the kings of the domestic cup?
The FA Cup (football’s oldest competition) began in 1871, the Copa del Rey began in 1903, the Coupe De France in 1917, the Coppa Italia in 1922, and the DFB-Pokal 1935. When we nostalgically reflect back across the decades, some teams have dominated their country’s domestic cup. Other competitions have seen trophies more shared out. Here at Transfermarkt, we have calculated which top-five league teams have won their nation’s main domestic cup competition the most times, and put them all head-to-head. We have only included each country’s main cup, so for example, the EFL Cup won’t count in England only the FA Cup etc.
Leading the way are Barcelona, who have incredibly won as many as 31 Copa del Rey trophies. The Catalan club have won over a quarter of all the titles ever won in the competition. Their last victory came in the 2020/21 season, where they beat Athletic Club 4-0 in the final thanks to two Lionel Messi goals. They will be looking to extend their lead at the top of this list this season. In second place, perhaps surprisingly, are another LaLiga side in Athletic Club. The Bilbao-based club have won the Copa del Rey 24 times, including winning last season’s trophy. A truly remarkable feat for a club that only play players from the Basque region in northern Spain and southern France. In joint-third place are Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, whom have won the Copa del Rey and DFB-Pokal respectively on 20 different occasions.
In joint-sixth are Juventus and PSG – the Old Lady have won the Coppa Italia on 15 occasions, while the Parisians have won the Coupe De France 15 times, including in seven of the last 10 seasons. Arsenal are the first Premier League side on the list, having won the FA Cup 14 times in their history – the last of which was in 2020. Next come Manchester United, who have won the FA Cup on 13 different occasions, including last season’s triumph. Atlético Madrid and Marseille are the only other two top-five league sides to have won their main domestic cup 10 times; Atlético have tasted glory on 10 occasions in the Copa Del Rey, whilst Marseille have won 10 Coupe de Frances. The most successful team in each of the five main domestic cups in the top-five leagues are illustrated and compared below.
