The first round of the Copa del Rey was drawn on Tuesday. Barcelona and Real Madrid are still on hold, however, with the top two favourites not entering the competition until a later date
There are a total of 110 teams competing in the first round of the Copa del Rey. 100 teams come from the five national leagues, ten clubs have qualified in a pre-selection. The total of 55 matches, which were drawn on Tuesday, will take place on 31 October and 1 and 2 November.
Many club representatives, even from smaller clubs, had gathered in Las Rozas, where the headquarters of the Spanish Football Federation is located, to find out their opponents for the first round.
And indeed, there was reason for some glaring underdogs to cheer. Rubi, for example, one of ten qualifiers, drew the big one by playing Athletic Bilbao. Similarly, Quintanar, also a pre-selector, was drawn against reigning Europa League winners Sevilla FC.
The small club Hernan Cortes is looking forward to Real Betis, Chiclana to Villarreal, Tardienta to Getafe, Bunol to Real Sociedad, Boiro to Mallorca and Turegano to Celta Vigo. The failure of a Spanish first division team would be tantamount to a major sensation.
Four participants, however, are allowed to skip the first two rounds of the competition, which is linked to their performances in the pre-season: Barcelona as champions, Real as defending Copa champions, Osasuna as last year’s finalists and Atletico Madrid as La Liga third-place finishers in the 2022/23 season – as Cup winners Real finished second and “free up” a place.
These four teams will play the Supercopa between 10 and 14 January – again in Saudi Arabia. For the fifth time, this will be played in the new format of a Final Four. Real Madrid triumphed in 2020 and 2022, Athletic Bilbao in 2021 and FC Barcelona in the last edition to date in January 2023.
