Copa del Rey Juvenil · History

FC Barcelona are the most successful club in the Copa del Rey Juvenil, with 19 titles from 29 finals. Real Madrid are next with 15, although no club has played more finals than their 32, of which they lost 17. The competition was founded in 1951 and is run by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). Its official name is the Campeonato de España Juvenil–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, and it is played between the under-19 sides of Spanish clubs.

Origins and early editions

The first tournament began on 29 April 1951 and was won by Barcelona, who beat SD Sueca 5-1 in the final. Until 1976 it was called the Copa del Generalísimo, and that year it became the Copa del Rey. The first decade produced a wide spread of winners. Atlético de Madrid won in 1952, 1956 and 1958, and Plus Ultra (the Real Madrid reserve side later known as Real Madrid Castilla) won in 1954. Real Sociedad won in 1955 and Real Murcia in 1957. CD Firestone took the 1960 edition, and Valencia won in 1961, beating Deportes Elizondo 7-2 in the final.

The Atlético de Bilbao years

Bilbao's academy controlled the 1960s. Atlético de Bilbao, the club later known as Athletic Club, won five editions in a row between 1963 and 1967, beating Real Madrid 2-0 and 2-1 in the first two of those finals. They won again in 1970 by beating UD Las Palmas 3-2, and later added titles in 1984, 1992 and 2010. Their nine cups put them third on the all-time list. Reserve teams were allowed to enter until 1991, when the federation excluded them. Before that, Sevilla Atlético also won the competition, in 1979, beating Athletic 3-1.

Barcelona against Real Madrid

From the late 1960s the trophy nearly always went to Barcelona or Madrid. Real Madrid won in 1968, 1969 and 1971. Barcelona then won five in a row between 1973 and 1977. They beat Real Murcia on penalties at the Vicente Calderón in the 1975 final and won 4-0 against the same opponents at the Santiago Bernabéu in 1976. The two clubs met in several finals between 1978 and 1996. Madrid won in 1978, 1985, 1988 and 1993, and Barcelona won in 1986 with a 6-3 scoreline, then again in 1994 and 1996. Real Betis broke the pattern in 1983 and 1990. So did Albacete Balompié, who beat Sevilla FC 2-1 in 1995.

Andalusian winners and Espanyol

Real Betis won back-to-back titles: in 1998 in Toledo, on penalties against Deportivo Alavés, and in 1999 in Olivenza, 2-1 against Real Madrid. RCD Espanyol won in 2001, 2003 and 2004, and again in 2012 with a 1-0 win over Málaga in Burriana. Sevilla FC had already won in 1962 and 1997. They added titles in 2008 and 2009 and another in 2014, when they beat Real Madrid on penalties at the federation's Ciudad del Fútbol in Las Rozas. Albacete won a second title in 2007, and Rayo Vallecano won their only cup in 2015, in Ceuta.

Format and venues

Under the RFEF rules, 32 teams qualify from the División de Honor Juvenil, Spain's top under-19 league: the top four in each of its seven groups plus the four best fifth-placed sides. Every round is a single match played at the ground of the team that finished higher in the first half of the league season. Drawn games go to extra time and then penalties. The trophy is decided at a four-team final tournament on neutral ground. Hosts have included small and mid-sized towns all over Spain, such as Cuenca, Ponferrada, Ceuta, Vera, Calahorra, Lugo and León. The 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recent finals

Atlético de Madrid won in 2016, beating Real Madrid 4-3, and again in 2018. Villarreal lifted their first cup in 2019 after a 3-0 win over Atlético in Roquetas de Mar. Real Madrid won in Lugo in 2022 and in León in 2023, and RCD Mallorca took the 2024 title in Oviedo, on penalties against Espanyol. In 2025 Barcelona beat Real Zaragoza 5-0 in Villanueva de la Serena. On 15 March 2026, at the Anxo Carro in Lugo, Real Betis beat Barcelona 4-1 in the final to win their fifth title, their first since 1999.