Domestic football cup competitions like the FA Cup, Coupe de France and the Copa Del Ray have been in existence since what seems like the dawn of time.
The longstanding competitions have often been thought of as magical, and have given opportunities for lowly opposition to take on the giants of the game.
But with much more money at stake in Europe’s top divisions and the Champions League, managers seem to be putting less focus on these smaller prizes.
With the bigger competitions now overshadowing domestic tournaments, have these classic cups lost their lustre?
The Magic Of The Cup
Domestic cup competitions have long been thought of as special occasions, with sayings like “the magic of the cup” often being used to describe memorable ties.
The FA Cup is actually the oldest national football competition in the world, played since the 1871-72 season.
Meanwhile, the Coupe de France has been going over one hundred years since 1917, and Spain’s Copa Del Rey was first played in 1903 making it the country’s oldest football competition.
All three of these cups are open to all the teams playing in the respective countries, which means non-league teams have a chance at making it to the latter stages.
For this reason, these cups are certainly magical occasions for the sides that don’t get the chance to compete with the elite clubs on a regular basis.
Neutral fans love to see shock upsets, when sides from the lower divisions claim the scalp of one of the country’s top clubs. It can also lead to exciting online betting opportunities when the underdogs have long odds.
These occasions are still magical, and there have been many surprises in recent times.
For instance, Newport Town from League 2 recently defeated Middlesbrough of the Championship to claim a tie with Manchester City at home in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
The Coupe de France is perhaps the best competition for less renowned clubs to have a shot in. The cup is designed in such a way that lower ranked teams are always given a slight advantage over those in the higher divisions.
The rules state that higher placed clubs are forced to play away to lower-league competition if they are competing two leagues below.
This gives the teams of lesser renown a chance to battle with the heavyweights on their own turf, and it can also be a treat for the fans of these clubs to see some of the best players in the country visit.
Last year, an amateur club made it all the way to the final. Les Herbiers VF played at the Stade de France, but were ultimately beaten 2-0 by Paris Saint-Germain.
If the small French club had have won it would have been one of the biggest upsets in the history of football betting.
Financial Lure Of Champions League Football
Despite there still being some magic surrounding domestic cup competitions, it could be argued that they are losing their shine simply because the bigger clubs don’t care about them as much as the smaller sides.
In the eyes of the elite clubs, it makes more sense to go for the big money associated with winning the domestic top flight and the Champions League.
Without a shadow of a doubt, the Champions League is the most prestigious cup competition in the world.
The competition as we know it now came about in 1992, and expanded the previously named European Champion Clubs’ Cup so that it included a group stage and allowed for multiple entrants from certain countries.
Clubs who take part in the competition but are eliminated at the group stage receive €230,000, but those who go all the way and win the trophy take away an astonishing €19 million.
Not only does this money provide clubs with funds to strengthen in the transfer market, continued showings in the paramount competition also help to attract the best players.
If a side is to progress all the way to the final of the Champions League, they will play a total of thirteen extra games in the season. This is occurring between the domestic league and cup matches, and leaves squads stretched quite thinly.
This means that managers who want to have a chance of making it to the latter stages of the European tournament must rest their key players in other matches to ensure they are fit enough to compete.
Despite this, Barcelona have won the last four Copa Del Ray titles. The Spanish giants are heading the La Liga odds to claim another league title this year, but seeing as their squad is so vast, they may have what it takes to battle on all fronts.
Chance For Managers To Use Squad Players
From the point of view of players who don’t get a chance to play regularly in the first team, domestic cups are a great way to see some action.
Some clubs compete in four different competitions for large portions of the season, so to avoid players getting tired, managers will try to rotate their squads wherever possible.
Because there is so much money at stake in the Premier League, La Liga, Ligue 1, and the Champions League, managers of the elite sides in these divisions tend to put domestic cups much lower on their list of priorities.
Fans want to see their team progress in the major competitions, but they also want to see them pick up some silverware.
This can often lead to some frustration when managers put out a second string side and then end up being on the wrong end of an upset.
When Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United knocked out Tottenham Hotspur in the 2018 semi-final, the Red Devils boss went on to say that the cup was “no big deal.”
Mauricio Pochettino also recently announced that he placed a top-four finish in the English top flight above silverware in the cup, which makes sense from a financial standpoint.
However, fans of the club want to see the players trying to win as many medals as possible as well. When supporters pay the price of a ticket to watch their team play, they also want to see the best players in action.
They don’t want to go all the way to the stadium to see the manager put out a weakened squad who exit the cup meekly, simply because he wants to preserve the main players for the big competitions.
That seems to be the way cup tournaments are going now. Managers seem them as a way to keep squad players fit and give them a chance to prove they are ready to step up into the first team. This certainly takes some of the shine off the competitions.
For clubs outside the European elite who don’t have the Champions League to contend with, there is still a lot of magic surrounding domestic cups.
The problem is, the fact that some sides see the smaller competitions as unimportant does take some of the shine off and takes away some of the credit that smaller clubs deserve for winning games.
Bigger sides should respect these old cups and make sure they give the fans value for money.
