Copa del Rey winners list: who has won more trophies?

Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad go head-to-head in Seville for the Copa del Rey 2019-20 trophy on Saturday in a game delayed by a year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The two sides, playing a Basque derby for the title, had preferred to wait until their fans could attend the showpiece game but the constraints of covid-19 restrictions and a bloated fixture list – Athletic will take on Barcelona in the 2020-21 final in two weeks’ time – have resulted in a behind closed doors encounter in Seville’s Estadio de la Cartuja.

Athletic have already tasted cup success this season after seeing off Real Madrid and Barcelona to lift the Spanish Super Cup and The Lions are the second most-successful side in Copa del Rey history with 23 titles from a total of 39 finals contested. Madrid have played the same number of finals on their way to 19 titles while Barcelona hold the outright record with 30 victories overall and 42 appearances in the showpiece game.

The last time Athletic were in the final of the Copa del Rey was in 2014-15, where they lost to 3-1 to Barça but qualified for the 2015 Super Cup, where Aritz Aduriz inspired his side to a 5-1 aggregate thumping of the same opposition to claim a first title for the Bilbao-based side since their Liga and Copa double of 1983-84.

First official Basque derby was a 1909 Copa tie

La Real have won the Copa on two occasions, most recently in the 1986-87 season. Their previous triumph was in 1909, when Real Sociedad were known as Club Ciclista and three games were required to win the trophy. Athletic were the beaten opponents in the first round – the first official meeting between Bilbao and La Real - before Galicia FC and Español de Madrid were seen off.

Athletic won the very first edition of the Copa del Rey in 1903, beating Madrid FC (now Real Madrid) and featured in all of the first four finals. The Lions hold the rare, perhaps even unique, distinction of winning the 1904 Copa without playing a single game.

The first Copa del Rey final between Saturday’s opponents took place in 1910, when the competition had two parallel tournaments held in Madrid and San Sebastián under the auspices of the Spanish Football Federation and the Unión Española de Clubes de Fútbol. Athletic, who were a regular feature in early finals, beat Real Sociedad 1-0 at Ondarreta.

Remarkably for two of the oldest clubs in Spain, Saturday’s meeting will be the first Copa del Rey final between Athletic and Real Sociedad since that match 110 years ago.