In 1902, a competition under the name
Copa de la Coronación was played after Juan de Astorquia, President of
Bilbao Football Club, and
Carlos Padrós, later president of
Real Madrid, suggested a football tournament to celebrate the coronation of Spanish
King Alfonso XIII. Four other teams joined
Madrid FC for the competition:
FC Barcelona,
Club Español de Foot-Ball,
New Foot-Ball de Madrid and
Club Bizcaya (a team made up of players from Athletic Club and Bilbao FC), which eventually defeated Barcelona in the final. That cup is on display in the
Athletic Bilbao museum and the club includes the victory as the first of its Copa del Rey wins, but the
Royal Spanish Football Federation officially does not recognise it as such, only considering it to be the forerunner of the Copa del Rey. The Copa del Rey was effectively Spain's national football championship from 1903 (the first edition won by Athletic Bilbao with Juan de Astorquia as captain and president) until the foundation of the
Campeonato de Liga—League Championship (
La Liga)—in 1928. It was initially known as the
Copa del Ayuntamiento de Madrid (Madrid City Council's Cup). Between 1905 and 1932, it was known as the
Copa de Su Majestad El Rey Alfonso XIII (His Majesty King Alfonso XIII's Cup). During the
Second Spanish Republic, it was known as the
Copa del Presidente de la República (President of the Republic Cup) or
Copa de España (Spanish Cup) and during the years of
Francisco Franco's
Spanish State, it was known as the
Copa de Su Excelencia El Generalísimo or
Copa del Generalísimo (His Excellency, The Supreme General's Cup). However, in both 1910 and 1913 there was a split among the clubs and two parallel competitions were held, one organized by the FECF and the other by the UECF (
Unión Española de Club de Football). All these editions are officially recognized by the RFEF. In 1937, during the
Spanish Civil War, clubs in the
Republican area of Spain entered the
Copa de la España Libre, with
Levante FC (forerunner of the present
Levante UD) beating their city rivals
Valencia 1–0 in the final. Although in 2009 the
Congress of Deputies urged the
Royal Spanish Football Federation to recognise it as a Copa del Rey win for Levante, for several years the governing body of Spanish football made no decision on the matter. On 25 March 2023, the tournament was officially recognized by the RFEF, but not as a Copa del Rey. Since the format overhaul, all rounds are single-leg ties with lower division teams hosting the match and the majority of the top-level clubs entering at the first Round (four teams taking part in the
Supercopa de España entering in the third round – last 32), other than the semi-final stage which is played over two legs. This is another change introduced in 2019–20, with prior editions involving two legs from the point at which the top-tier clubs entered in the fourth round (last 32). Athletic Bilbao particularly embraced the new format, winning a total of 22 single-leg ties to reach the two-legged semi-finals in each of its first five seasons before losing to
Osasuna in the
2024–25 Round of 16. The final is a one-off game played at a neutral venue, with
Seville becoming the regular home. The winners qualify for both the following season's Supercopa de España and
UEFA Europa League; in the past, the runners-up often played in the Supercopa if the winners had also finished as league champions (although on some earlier occasions in these circumstances, no Supercopa match was played and the
double winners were awarded the title by default). From the
2019–20 Supercopa de España edition onwards, the previous Copa del Rey runners-up automatically qualify in addition to the winners with four teams taking part in the event. Throughout the history of the competition, there have been 12 actual trophies, which were permanently awarded to clubs for winning the competition either three times in a row or on five separate occasions, and for other special reasons. Thus, five trophies have been permanently awarded to Barcelona, three to Athletic Bilbao and one to Real Madrid (the last
Copa de la República in 1936). Athletic kept the first trophy as inaugural winners,
Sevilla were awarded the
Trofeo del Generalísimo after its first edition in 1939 and
Atlético Madrid, winners the previous year, were awarded the 11th trophy following the death of Francisco Franco in 1976. On 22 December 2010, at an
extraordinary general meeting of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, Sevilla requested permission from the Federation to keep the trophy they had won in the
2010 final to commemorate the victory of the
Spain national team at the
2010 FIFA World Cup in
South Africa. A new trophy was made by
Madrid jeweler Federico Alegre. The trophy, made of silver, weighs and is tall. On 21 April 2011, Real Madrid became the first recipients. During the post-game celebrations, the trophy was accidentally dropped by Real Madrid player
Sergio Ramos from the top of a
double-decker bus, which then ran over it. Ten pieces were found by civil servicemen when they recovered it from the ground at
Plaza de Cibeles. The club received a copy which is displayed at
Santiago Bernabéu. The new presidency of
Luis Rubiales initiated profound restructuring within the Federation. These changes impacted competitions organized by the organization, specifically the Copa del Rey and the
Supercopa de España. Both were reformed with new formats designed to increase competitiveness and attractiveness. In the case of the Supercopa, the changes had a reciprocal effect; the Copa champion and runner-up were included alongside the league championship's top two finishers, creating a four-team competition. Beginning with the 2019–20 edition, the cup championship introduced a significant change: the designation of a fixed venue for the final; the
Estadio de La Cartuja in Seville was chosen to host the final for a four-year period. ==Performances==