- For the defunct Argentine football tournament named Sweden Cup, please see Copa Suecia
Svenska Cupen (English: The Swedish Cup), is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 98 teams compete, comprising the 16 teams from Allsvenskan and the 16 teams of Superettan together with 68 teams from lower tiers of the league system. The winners qualify for the qualifying stages of the UEFA Europa League. The winner is awarded Gustaf VI Adolfs Pokal.
Compared to cups in many other countries, Svenska Cupen attracts considerably less public interest and even the cup final is rarely sold out. Consequently the Swedish Football Association has experimented with the format in order to raise the profile of the cup. The final has been staged at a neutral venue, at the national stadium as well as being played as a two-leg match. Starting 2013, the newly built national stadium Swedbank Arena in Solna will host the final, it is not currently known if the stadium will continue to host the final annually.
Svenska Cupen was first held in 1941. The current holders of Svenska Cupen are Helsingborgs IF, who beat Kalmar FF 3–1 in the 2011 final for their fifth and second consecutive cup title. Malmö FF are the most successful club of the competition having won 14 titles, the latest in 1989.
[edit] Rounds and teams
- First round - (level 3 and below)
- Second round - (the teams from the first round + the Allsvenskan and the Superettan teams)
- Group stage
- Quarter-finals
- Semi-finals
- Final
The winner of Svenska Cupen qualifies for the second qualification round of the UEFA Europa League. The qualification spot is awarded to the runner-up if the winner is already qualified to the UEFA Champions League by winning Allsvenskan. However in this case the runner-up will go into the Europa League in the first qualifying round and the runner-up of Allsvenskan will go into the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round. If the winner or runner-up (in the previous mentioned situation) is already qualified for the first qualifying round of the Europa League by finishing as runner-up or third place in Allsvenskan they will go into the second qualifying round and the fourth placed team in Allsvenskan will be awarded a qualifying spot for the first qualifying round.
[edit] How district teams qualify
There are a number of districts in the Swedish football organization, and each of them receives a number of spots in the Swedish Cup, due to how many licensed players they have. For an example, Värmlands FF receives three spots and Västergötlands FF receives seven spots.
[edit] Winners
[edit] External links
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Svenska Cupen
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Sweden
2012–13 Svenska Cupen
