Copa del Rey: Who wins and who loses with the new Copa del Rey format? | Copa del Rey 2019

The semifinal team consolidates a spectacular and unpredictable tournament, but the elimination of large clubs devalue its commercial value.

• Rubiales
  

  “The new format of the Cup has been a tremendous success and has come to stay”
  

• Draw.
  

  Real Sociedad – Mirandés and Athletic – Granada, in the semifinals
  

Luis Rubiales He looked on Friday that smile so characteristic of those who are blessed by reason after a long time surrounded by other people's doubts. The new Copa del Rey format – its very personal project to revitalize a competition that, like RFEF itself after decades of Villarismo, was obsolete and accommodated in itself – it has been receiving praise falls for weeks, multiplied in recent days after the configuration of a semifinal table for which no one would have bet a single euro just a month ago.

The quarterfinals were resolved in favor of those who were not favorites, encumbing to Granada, Mirandés, Real Sociedad and Athletic and leaving Valencia, Villarreal, Real Madrid and Barcelona in the lurch. Before Atlético had fallen – at the hands of Cultural Leonesa – and Sevilla – against Mirandés. The list of unforeseen eliminations goes further: Getafe lost against Badalona, ​​Alavés against Jaén, Eibar against Badajoz …

«We had the clear feeling that we had to do something for modest football and give the competition a formula that will revitalize it. Above all, that would allow all clubs to dream, that they saw the possibility of going very far, as has happened. Looking back, it has been a tremendous success, ”Rubiales claimed during the semifinals draw, in which an official letter was given to the agreement so that the next four finals will be played in La Cartuja (Seville).

Faced with the double playoffs and the progressive incorporation of the usual First teams of recent times, this Cup has adopted a format of single match until semifinals in which the First teams – except for those who played the Super Cup – entered at the same time as the rest. A look at other glasses such as the English, the main reference, but also in some way to the past.

Precedents

Between the 2000/01 or 2005/06 seasons, both included, the Cup has already hosted rounds to a single match. Although the format was changing during that period, it was usual for the Firsts to play one of those qualifiers without a net before the round-trip crossings began in the round of 16. In those six seasons, the Cup champions were Betis, Mallorca, Espanyol, Deportivo and twice Zaragoza. Since the current format was recovered until the last edition, the Cup has finished once in the showcases of Atlético, two in Madrid, Seville and Valencia and six in Barça. Surprises, the minimum.

That format declined due to the pressures of the large teams to the RFEF of Villar, aware that double-sided their chances of avoiding scares were greater and that it gave them more options to give rest to their players. Short results became habitual in Second B fields and inclement goals in the second leg. This Friday, Rubiales made it clear that the same will not happen with him. «This format has come to stay», the current president warned.

Of course, not everything is a fairy tale. From a sporting perspective, the format approaches the impeccable, since it balances forces and multiplies the options of all the contestants. It happens, however, that today's football is above all an industry in which the zeros of contracts matter more than those of markers. Dazn and Mediaset made an investment with expectations of maximum audience games in the final rounds and they will not have them. Like Saudi Arabia, he opted strongly for an all-star in the form of a Super Cup and next year he will receive two between Real, Athletic, Granada and Mirandés.

All these contracts have two more years of validity, so that in the short term there are no problems. But if the dynamics of this Cup are repeated, the tournament as a commercial product runs the serious risk of being devalued. And at that moment it will be discovered what premium more in Spanish football, whether the show or the money.