The 2014–15 Copa del Rey was the 113th staging of the Copa del Rey (including two seasons where two rival editions were played). The winners assure a place for the group stage of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League.
Real Madrid were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Atlético Madrid 2–4 on aggregate in the round of 16.
Barcelona won the tournament by defeating Athletic Bilbao in the final, 3–1, thus achieving their record-extending 27th title.
Schedule and format
The fixtures' schedule was released by the RFEF and the LFP on 30 May 2014 and the format is identical to the previous season.[1]
New entries: Clubs participating in Segunda División will gain entry. Byes: One team from the first round will receive a bye. Opponents seeding: Segunda División teams will face each other. Local team seeding: Draw of lots. Knock-out tournament type: Single match
Byes: One team from Segunda División B or Tercera División, which previously didn't receive a bye, will receive one. Opponents seeding: Segunda División teams will face each other. Local team seeding: Draw of lots. Knock-out tournament type: Single match
Round of 32
17 October 2014
29 October 2014 (see notes) 3 December 2014
16
32 → 16
New entries: Clubs participating in La Liga will gain entry. Opponents seeding: The seven teams from La Liga which were qualified for 2013–14 UEFA competitions, will face against remaining seven teams from Segunda División B and Tercera División. The five remaining Segunda División teams will face against La Liga teams. The eight remaining La Liga teams will face each other. Local team seeding: First leg at home of team in lower division. Knock-out tournament type:Double match
3 December 2014 (see notes) 17 December 2014
Round of 16
7 January 2015
8
16 → 8
Opponents seeding: Draw of lots. Local team seeding: First leg at home of team in lower division. Knock-out tournament type: Double match
14 January 2015
Quarter-finals
21 January 2015
4
8 → 4
Opponents seeding: Draw of lots. Local team seeding: Luck of the draw. Knock-out tournament type: Double match
Double-match rounds enforced away goals rule, single-match rounds did not.
Games ending in a tie were decided in extra time; and if it persisted, by a penalty shoot-out.
Real Madrid, as participant in the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup, played its Round of 32 games on 29 October 2014 and 3 December 2014.
UEFA Europa League qualification:[4] if the Cup winners had qualified for the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League, the Cup runner-up would have qualified for the third qualifying round, then the 5th and 6th ranked teams in 2014–15 La Liga (always excluding no "UEFA license" and banned clubs) would qualify for group stage and play-off round respectively. However, if the Cup runners-up ended in Europa League places (5th or 6th), the 5th, 6th and 7th ranked teams in 2014–15 La Liga would have qualified for the group stage, play-off round and third qualifying round respectively. Similarly, if both finalists qualified for the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, the 5th, 6th and 7th ranked teams in 2014–15 La Liga would also qualify for group stage, play-off round and third qualifying round respectively.
At the date of the draw of the first and second round, Murcia was considered a team of Segunda División yet, and Mirandés of Segunda División B.
Qualified teams
The following teams competed in the 2014–15 Copa del Rey.
36 teams of 2014–15 Segunda División B: the top five teams of each of the 4 groups (excluding reserve teams), the five with the highest number of points out of the remaining non-reserve teams (*), the three teams relegated from 2013–14 Segunda División, and the twelve teams winners of a group of 2013–14 Tercera División (or at least the ones with the highest number of points within their group since reserve teams are excluded) that were promoted to Segunda División B.
Seven teams of 2014–15 Tercera División. Teams that qualified were six of eighteen champions that were not promoted to Segunda División B (or at least the ones with the highest number of points within their group since reserve teams were excluded):
The draw for the Round of 32 was held on October 17, 2014, in La Ciudad del Fútbol. In this round, all La Liga teams gained entry in the competition.
Round of 32 pairings were as follows: the six remaining teams participating in Segunda División B and Tercera División faced the La Liga teams which qualified for European competitions, this was: four teams from Pot 1 (Segunda B and Tercera) were drawn against four teams from pot 2a (champions) and the two remaining teams in pot 1 were drawn in the same way with the pot 2b teams (Europa League). The remaining team in pot 2b was drawn with a Segunda División team (Pot 3). The five remaining teams in this pot were drawn against five teams of the thirteen remaining teams of La Liga (Pot 4). The remaining eight teams of La Liga faced each other. Matches involving teams with different league tiers were played at home on the first leg the team in lower tier. This rule also applied in the Round of 16, but not for Quarter-finals and Semi-finals, in which order of the two legs was decided by the draw.
