UEFA Regions' Cup
| File:UEFA Regions' cup logo.svg | |
| Organising body | UEFA |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1996 |
| Region | Europe |
| Number of teams | Up to 53 (Qualifiers) 8 (Finals) |
| Current champions | Spain Galicia (1st title) |
| Website | uefa.com/regionscup |
| File:Soccerball current event.svg 2025 UEFA Regions' Cup | |
The UEFA Regions' Cup is a football competition for amateur teams in Europe, run by UEFA. It was held for the first time in 1999 and has been played biennially since. The 2023 champions are the Galicia team from Spain. The competition was created in 1996 as there was no European level competition for amateur teams. The UEFA Amateur Cup, a previous attempt to organise a continental competition for amateurs, had run from 1966 to 1978, but ceased due to lack of interest from both the public and amateur teams themselves. In contrast to today's Regions' Cup, in which amateur regions are represented, the previous competition was for representative amateur national teams. Each UEFA member nation may enter one representative amateur team into the competition, with regions having to win a domestic amateur competition (such as the FA Inter-League Cup) in order to qualify. The first two finals were won by teams from the host nation. Thus far, Italy and Spain have been the most successful nation in the competition, with their representatives winning respectively three of the twelve editions.
Format
All of the 55 UEFA-affiliated associations are eligible to submit a team to compete in the Regions' Cup, provided they hold a domestic qualifying competition to decide which team will represent that nation. Smaller member nations, however, are permitted to enter a representative national side. Teams were entered by 32 nations for the inaugural tournament in 1999 and competed in one qualifying round. As interest in the tournament grew over the years, the qualifying stage was enlarged and an extra group round added in 2005, scrapping the playoffs added in 2001. The preliminary round consists of a small number of teams split into groups, with the best from each group being included in the draw for the intermediary round. In the intermediary round, the teams are placed into eight groups of four teams. The teams in each group play each other once and the team finishing top of the group qualifies for the Regions' Cup finals. The eight group winners are placed into two groups of four for the final tournament and the winners of these two final groups, after each team has played one another once, play in the final, with the winners being crowned champions. Third place is shared between the two teams which finish second in their respective groups. One aspect of the Regions' Cup that is different from most other international club tournaments is the hosting of games. As teams play each other once in the preliminary and intermediary rounds, in contrast to the more common two-legged fixtures, each group has all its matches held in one particular region. For example, in the 2009 tournament, all the preliminary Group 1 matches were played in San Marino. Another unusual feature of the Regions' Cup is the choice of host for the final tournament. In most football tournaments, the host nation or city is decided by the governing body before qualification begins. In the Regions' Cup, however, the host is chosen only after most of the eight finalist teams have qualified, with one of the qualified regions selected as host.
Results
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Finals
| Veneto Italy | 3–2 (a.e.t.) | Spain Madrid |
|---|---|---|
| Borriero File:Soccerball shade.svg <45' Giaretti File:Soccerball shade.svg >45' De Toni File:Soccerball shade.svg 120' |
(Report) | Moreno File:Soccerball shade.svg 9' Sanz Pascual File:Soccerball shade.svg 71' |
| Braga Portugal | 2–2 (a.e.t) (2–4 pen.) | Czech Republic Central Moravia |
|---|---|---|
| Ferreira File:Soccerball shade.svg 55' Freitas File:Soccerball shade.svg 84' |
(Report) | David File:Soccerball shade.svg 12' Svach File:Soccerball shade.svg 90+4' (pen.) |
| Maine France | 1–2 | Italy Piedmont–Aosta Valley |
|---|---|---|
| Kharraz File:Soccerball shade.svg 83' | (Report) | Borgna File:Soccerball shade.svg 24', 29' |
| South-West Sofia Bulgaria | 0–1 | Spain Basque Country |
|---|---|---|
| (Report) | Arroyo File:Soccerball shade.svg 33' |
| South-East Region Bulgaria | 1–2 (a.e.t.) | Poland Lower Silesia |
|---|---|---|
| Stoyanov File:Soccerball shade.svg 66' | (Report) | Sudoł File:Soccerball shade.svg 78' Jaskułowski File:Soccerball shade.svg 114' |
| Oltenia Romania | 1–2 | Spain Castile and León |
|---|---|---|
| Sîrbu File:Soccerball shade.svg 25' | (Report) | Ramírez File:Soccerball shade.svg 20' Robles File:Soccerball shade.svg 81' |
| Braga Portugal | 2–1 | Republic of Ireland Leinster & Munster |
|---|---|---|
| Nobre File:Soccerball shade.svg 62' Fortunato File:Soccerball shade.svg 84' |
Report | O'Sullivan File:Soccerball shade.svg 68' |
| Eastern Region Republic of Ireland | 1–0 | Croatia Zagreb |
|---|---|---|
| David Lacey File:Soccerball shade.svg 10' | Report |
| Zagreb Croatia | 1–0 | Republic of Ireland Munster/Connacht |
|---|---|---|
| Adžić File:Soccerball shade.svg 26' | Report |
| Bavaria Germany | 2–3 | Poland Lower Silesia |
|---|---|---|
| Türk File:Soccerball shade.svg 35' (pen.) Ekin File:Soccerball shade.svg 90' (pen.) |
Report | Jaros File:Soccerball shade.svg 41' Traczyk File:Soccerball shade.svg 47' (pen.) Bohdanowicz File:Soccerball shade.svg 80' (pen.) |
| Galicia Spain | 3–1 | Serbia Belgrade |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
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Titles by country
| Country | Titles | Runners-up | Winning teams | Second-placed teams |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Flag of Spain.svg Spain | 3 | 2 | Basque Country (2005) | Madrid (1999) |
| Castile and León (2009) | Catalonia (2013) | |||
| Galicia (2023*) | ||||
| File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy | 3 | 0 | Veneto (1999*, 2013*) | None |
| Piedmont–Aosta Valley (2003) | ||||
| File:Flag of Poland.svg Poland | 2 | 0 | Lower Silesia (2007, 2019) | None |
| File:Flag of Ireland.svg Ireland | 1 | 2 | Eastern Region (2015*) | Leinster & Munster (2011) |
| Munster/Connacht (2017) | ||||
| File:Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal | 1 | 1 | Braga (2011*) | Braga (2001) |
| File:Flag of Croatia.svg Croatia | 1 | 1 | Zagreb (2017) | Zagreb (2015) |
| File:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czech Republic | 1 | 0 | Central Moravia (2001*) | None |
| File:Flag of Bulgaria.svg Bulgaria | 0 | 2 | None | South-West Sofia (2005) |
| South-East Region (2007*) | ||||
| File:Flag of France.svg France | 0 | 1 | None | Maine (2003) |
| File:Flag of Romania.svg Romania | 0 | 1 | None | Oltenia (2009) |
| File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany | 0 | 1 | None | Bavaria (2019*) |
| File:Flag of Serbia.svg Serbia | 0 | 1 | None | Belgrade (2023) |
- * = Hosts
See also
References
- ↑ "UEFA competitions to resume in August". UEFA.com. 17 June 2020.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "UEFA Regions' Cup. All-Time Statistics". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 18 March 2005. Archived from the original on 18 March 2005. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ↑ "South-West Sofia vs. Vasca" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 9 July 2005. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ↑ "South-East Region vs. Dolnoslaski" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 26 June 2007. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ↑ "Oltenia vs. Castilla y León" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 26 June 2007. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ↑ "Braga vs. Leinster" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 28 June 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ↑ "Veneto vs. Selección Catalana" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 29 June 2013. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ↑ "Eastern Region vs. Zagreb" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 4 July 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ↑ "Zagreb vs. Region 2" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 9 July 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
- ↑ "Bavaria vs. Dolny Śląsk" (JSON). Union of European Football Associations. 26 June 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2022.