Taça de Portugal

The Taça de Portugal is open to clubs from the Primeira Liga, Segunda Liga, Liga 3 and Campeonato de Portugal, along with clubs representing Portugal's district and regional football associations. In the 2025/26 edition, the field contained 149 clubs: 18 from the Primeira Liga, 15 from the Segunda Liga, 18 from Liga 3, 54 from the Campeonato de Portugal and 44 district or regional representatives. B teams, reserve teams and satellite clubs are not allowed to enter. The competition is run by the Portuguese Football Federation.

The competition was founded in 1938/39, when the Primeira Liga was established as the new top-flight league competition. The earlier Campeonato de Portugal, played from 1922 to 1938, had been the country's main national competition through a knockout format among regional champions. It was then converted into the new cup competition under the Taça de Portugal name. The same trophy is awarded to the cup winners as was awarded to the Campeonato de Portugal winners, although titles in each competition are counted separately. Académica won the inaugural 1938/39 Taça de Portugal, beating Benfica 4-3.

In the current format, every round of the Taça de Portugal is a single-match knockout tie except for the semi-finals, which are played over two legs. This gives smaller clubs the chance to produce one-off upsets in the early rounds, while the semi-finals provide a more controlled route to the final. Ties that are level after 90 minutes go to 30 minutes of extra time, then a penalty shoot-out if needed. The competition usually begins in August or September.

In the 2025/26 format, Segunda Liga clubs enter in the second round and Primeira Liga clubs enter in the third round, with the higher-level clubs playing away when they first join the competition. From 2026/27, the format is expected to change, with Primeira Liga clubs entering from the fourth round and the semi-finals returning to single-match ties. The Taça de Portugal is broadly similar to the FA Cup, Copa del Rey and other major European domestic cups, but its exact entry rules and round structure should be checked for the current season.

The competition usually begins in August or September with the first round, played among lower-tier and qualifying clubs. Under the 2025/26 format, the Segunda Liga clubs enter in the second round and the Primeira Liga clubs enter in the third round. The quarter-finals and semi-finals are played later in the season, with the final typically held in late May or early June.

The final is traditionally played at the Estádio Nacional in Jamor, near Lisbon. The stadium is owned by the Portuguese state and was originally built in 1944 as Portugal's national sports stadium. Jamor's regular role as the cup final venue gives the Taça de Portugal a distinctive identity, although there have been occasional exceptions, including finals played away from Jamor for practical, capacity or public-health reasons. The stadium's capacity of around 37,000 is smaller than the major Portuguese club grounds, which contributes to the final's sense of occasion. The trophy is usually awarded by the President of the Portuguese Republic at the end of the match.

The Taça de Portugal winner qualifies automatically for the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, the Portuguese super cup. The Supertaça is usually played at the start of the following season as a single match between the Primeira Liga champion and the cup winner. If the same club wins both the league and the cup, the Supertaça is usually contested by the double winner and the cup runner-up. The Supertaça has been the curtain-raiser for the Portuguese football season since 1979.

The Taça de Portugal winner also qualifies for the Europa League, subject to UEFA access-list rules for the relevant season. If the cup winner has already qualified for a higher European place through the Primeira Liga, the cup place is reallocated through the league table. This European route is one of the main sporting and commercial incentives for clubs to take the competition seriously, especially for sides outside the regular Champions League places.

Portuguese football's first national-scale competition was the Campeonato de Portugal, launched in 1922 as a knockout tournament between regional championship winners. The Campeonato de Portugal ran until 1938 and was considered the Portuguese championship of its time, although the Portuguese Football Federation does not count those titles as official Primeira Liga championships. When the Primeira Liga was launched as the new round-robin top flight in 1938, the older Campeonato de Portugal was converted into the new Taça de Portugal cup competition under its current designation.

The Taça de Portugal grew across the post-war decades as Portuguese football developed. Benfica dominated the cup through the 1940s and 1950s by winning the first nine finals they reached. Porto's rise as a major force came later, with multiple cup wins accompanying their domestic and European success. Sporting's 3-1 win over Benfica in the 2025 final added another chapter to the long history of Lisbon derby cup finals, before Torreense's 2026 win over Sporting showed again how the cup can create a path to silverware for clubs outside the usual elite.