It's Cup Final season around most of Europe's larger leagues. Like the NFL's Super Bowl, the various countries' cup finals are usually single-game affairs at a site determined long in advance. That, however, is where similarities end.
In soccer, the regular season championship ("the league") offers more prestige than the cup. That said, the cup is more inclusive: where half the teams in a league (or less) make the playoffs in N. American sports, a country's soccer cup is open to entry by every pro side who wants in, and many amateur teams as well. Italy accepted 78 entries for this year's Coppa Italia. England accepted 762 entries for the FA Cup.
Pairings in each round are usually drawn at random, often on TV. (Take that, March Madness.) Teams farther up the food chain are given byes to later rounds. The tournaments themselves are spread over eight or nine months and run parallel to the league season. Winners play in the subsequent season's Europa League as a reward, unless they qualify for the Champions' League instead.
Most rounds are single games, played at one team's home ground. (TV cash and gate receipts are split evenly between the teams. A nice cup run by an amateur team can pay several years' bills.) If the game is drawn, rules vary by country. Sometimes teams will proceed to extra time and a shootout; sometimes the game will be replayed about a week later at the home ground of the visiting team. Quarterfinals and semifinals, to minimize home field advantage, are often either played at a neutral site or are "two games, total goals" with a game at each team's ground.
Tonight's game between Inter and Roma should add sparkle to Coppa Italia, a competition that's lost many people's interest in recent years.
Viewing Guide
- Italy: May 5, Inter vs Roma
- Turkey: May 5, Fenerbahce vs. Trabzonspor
- Holland: May 6, Feyenoord vs. Ajax, second leg (Ajax won first leg 2-0 in Amsterdam)
- Switzerland: May 9, Basel vs Lausanne
- Belgium: May 15, Gent vs. Cercle Brugge
- England: May 15, Chelsea vs. Portsmouth
- Germany: May 15, Bayern vs. Bremen
- Scotland: May 15, Dundee United vs. Ross County
- Portugal: May 16, Porto vs. Chaves
- Russia: May 16, Zenit vs. Sibir (Cup starts in spring of previous year, breaks over winter)
- Ukraine: May 16, Shakhtjor vs. Tavriya (same set-up as Russia)
- Spain: May 19, Atletico Madrid vs. Sevilla
- Romania: May 26, Cluj vs. Vaslui
Panathinaikos won the Greek Cup on April 24.
Paris St.-Germain won the French Cup on May 1.