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Coppa Italia

Founded	1922
Region	Italy
Number of teams	78
Current champions	Lazio
Most successful club	Juventus Roma (9 titles each)
Website	Official Coppa Italia Site
Coppa Italia 2009-10

The Coppa Italia (Italy Cup, officially known as TIM Cup because of its sponsorship) is an Italian football annual cup competition. Its first edition was held in 1922, but the second champions were not crowned until 1936. Juventus and Roma lead the way with nine wins. Roma contested more finals: 15 (Torino and Juventus follow with 13). The holder can wear a "tricolore" cockade, like the roundels that appear on military aircraft, and obtains a UEFA Europa League spot for the next season.

The tournament is known for its low attendances, mainly because most teams consider the tournament of low importance and do not field their best line-up, especially after the abolition of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. While some top clubs may average over 50,000 for league games, often these same clubs will attract crowds of around 1,000 for Coppa Italia matches. Many domestic cups elsewhere in Europe attract large crowds. It is often in the final, where the UEFA Europa League spot is up for grabs, that larger crowds attend the games.

Bizarrely, four Coppa Italia finals were contested by the same two teams - Inter and Roma - between 2005 and 2008.

The 2008–09 Coppa Italia final was played between Lazio and Sampdoria. The match was held at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on 13 May 2009 and ended with Lazio winning 6-5 on penalties. The first 90 minutes ended in a 1-1 draw, and no goals were scored in extra time. It was Lazio's 5th Coppa Italia title, and first since 2004.

Formula and pairing teams

The format of 2009-10 tournament is the same of the previous year. Seventy-eight clubs are elegible for the competition, all teams belonging to Football League, and the best squads of Pro League and Serie D. The rather unusual two-leg final was eliminated two years ago: a single-match final would be played at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome^[1].

The format for pairings is as follows:

• First phase: one-leg fixtures
  • First round: Serie C and Serie D clubs are paired
  • Second round: Serie B clubs enter
  • Third round: Serie A clubs not competing European cups enter
  • Fourth round: the 16 winners of Round 3 are paired
• Second phase: one-leg fixtures
  • Round of 16: 8 first phase winners are inserted into a bracket with seeds 1-8
  • Quarterfinals: pairings based upon bracket
• Semifinals: two-leg fixtures
• Final: one-leg fixture in Rome

Winners by year

Performance by club

Trophies

Note: 1922 tournament was disputed only by minor teams, the biggest clubs having left FIGC forming a private league.

Finals

Note: from 1968 to 1971, FIGC introduced a final group instead of semifinals and finals. For statistical equity, only champions and runners-up of those groups are counted as finalists. Moreover, both in 1970 and 1971, decisive matches between the two best clubs were played to assign the cup.

References

External links

• Italy - List of Cup Finals (with links to full results) from RSSSF
• Coppa Italia Final Preview