Coppa Italia Overview

The Coppa Italia (Italian Cup) is an annual football competition in which 42 club football teams from all over Italy compete in. This includes club teams from both Serie B and Serie A. Is it also referred to as the TIM Cup, due to sponsorship by the company Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM). The winner of the competition receives a trophy, a tricolor knot of ribbons and an appearance in the UEFA Cup. If a club wins the tournament 10 times it is awarded silver medal. The tournament was founded in 1922, and is known to be the least important competition in Italian Football. AS Roma, the current champions of the competition are the most successful team to participate in the tournament winning a total of nine competitions. The competition is known for its lack of importance, as club teams don’t put in their starters to play in the game. game.

History

The Italian Cup was founded in 1922 after a disagreement between large club teams and the Federation about the structure of the Italian League and competitions. As a result, FIGC, the governing body of football came up with a championship knockout style tournament called the Coppa Italia. At first there no public interest in the tournament, as the public did not appreciated the complicated structure and continues withdraws made. The first winner of the competition was FC Vado over Udinese. Due to its lack of success in both 1922 and 1926 the competition was canceled.

In 1935 the tournament was again reinstated, but the format was reconstructed to be more like the F.A Cup. There were a total of 5 rounds in the competition, with the semi-final and final held in neutral locations. The winner of the competition was entitled to participate in the Mitropa Cup. All the matches were now held on dry fields. The first winner of the new Coppa Italia was Torino FC. Following that victory teams such as Fiorentina and Venezia followed in winning tradition.

However, due to the start of World War II the competition was interrupted, and did not come back until 1958. SS Lazio became the first post World War champions of the Coppa Italia. The Lega Calcio was established in order to oversee all the professional football competitions. Public interest started to take off due to the created of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. The Lega Calcio changed the Coppa Italia, from a knockout round tournament to group stage, which helped create a more stable format for the competition.

However during the 1970s the competition was again reorganized due to the success of other big European tournaments. Just like in the UEFA Cup, Direct elimination rounds to rule with goals were added and used during the finals and semi-finals of the competition. Milan dominated the tournament during this decade.

During the 1980s and 1990s the tournament started to gain even more publicity. AS Roma and the Prama football club dominated the competition during these two decades. Serie C football clubs were admitted into playing in the competition.

Unfortunately football fan’s appetite for the Italian competition did not extend into the new millennium. Despite efforts to change the structure of the tournament in order to make it more interesting, the public did not care for it. Currently tournament is considered to be the least interesting competition to Italian soccer fans.

Trophy

Team Honours

Past Winners

Most Successful Teams

Important Links

References