Spain's King's Cup trophy once fell off a bus and got run over
In April 2011 Real Madrid became the first club to lift a brand-new silver Copa del Rey trophy. During the victory parade Sergio Ramos dropped it from the top of the double-decker bus, which then drove over it. Workers recovered ten pieces from the street, and the club was given a replica.
The tournament dates to 1903, making it Spain's oldest national football competition, and until La Liga began in 1929 it effectively decided the national champion. A forerunner in 1902 celebrated the coronation of King Alfonso XIII and was won by a Bilbao side. Athletic Bilbao count that as their first cup, but the federation does not, which is why sources disagree on whether Athletic have 24 or 25 titles. Athletic won the first official edition, and the next year took the trophy when their opponents simply failed to turn up.
The name has followed Spain's politics. It was the King Alfonso XIII Cup, then the President of the Republic's Cup in the 1930s, then under Franco the Generalísimo's Cup, before returning to the king in 1976. During the Civil War, clubs in the Republican zone played a separate Free Spain Cup in 1937, won by Levante; the federation finally recognised it in 2023, though not as a Copa del Rey.
Barcelona have won it most, 32 times, ahead of Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid with 20. Lionel Messi dominates the finals records, with nine goals and six assists. Clubs used to keep a trophy permanently for winning it three times running or five times in all, which is how twelve different cups have been made; Sevilla asked to keep theirs in 2010 to mark Spain's World Cup win, prompting the new 15 kg silver trophy that met the bus.
A 2019 overhaul turned most rounds into single matches hosted by the lower-division team, opened entry to 125 clubs and fixed the final at Seville's Estadio de La Cartuja. Athletic Bilbao relished the format, winning 22 straight one-off ties to reach five consecutive semi-finals. The winner earns a place in the Europa League and the four-team Supercopa.
Source: Copa del Rey
