REAL MADRID
Why were Real Madrid not included in the Copa del Rey first round draw?
The current LaLiga champions are one of the five teams exempt from playing the first round of the 2024-25 season Copa del Rey.
The draw for the 2024-25 Copa del Rey first round was carried out on Thursday afternoon at the headquarters of the RFEF (Spanish FA) in Las Rozas in Madrid.
Eagle eyed fans will have noticed some key absentees with five teams exempt from the first round which include all four Spanish Super Cup participants (Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Athletic Club, Mallorca) along with 1a RFEF champions Deportivo la Coruña who also got a bye at this stage.
The 2025 Spanish Super Cup will be staged in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and features the top two sides from the previous season LaLiga table (Real Madrid and FC Barcelona) along with the 23-24 Copa del Rey winner (Athletic Club) and beaten finalists (Real Mallorca) and is earmarked for early January with two semifinals and the final match on 12 January.
All four Super Cup sides are exempt from the first two rounds of the Copa del Rey due to their participation in the Spanish Super Cup next January as no Primera Division team can play more than 46 games in domestic competitions (38 in the League and 8 as a maximum between the Cup and the Super Cup). For this reason, Real Madrid (LaLiga champion 23-24), Athletic (Cup winner), Barcelona (league runner-up) and Mallorca (cup runner-up) are also exempt from the first two rounds.
All four Super Cup sides will begin their participation in the Spanish Cup at the third round stage with games set to be played in 2025, on the weekend of Friday 3 to Sunday 5 January and the following week (from 8 to 12 January) the Super Cup will be played in Saudi Arabia.
Today’s draw saw 110 teams from the 115 participating sides get to discover their first round pairings with a series of teams from the sixth and seventh tier also involved in the tournament and given the structure of the format, they are automatically drawn at home to top flight sides.
Champions League contestants Atletico Madrid will face Vic Esportiu with Girona heading to play Extremadura in round one. Sevilla travel to Madrid to take on Las Rozas with city rivals Betis being drawn with CD Gévora.
All 55 first round fixtures can be seen here:
The dates of the 2024-2025 Copa del Rey
- First round: 29-31 October.
- Second round: 3-5 December.
- 1/16 finals: 3-5 January 2025.
- Round of 16: 14-16 January 2025.
- Quarter-finals: 4-6 February 2025.
- Semi-finals (first leg): 26-27 February 2025.
- Semi-finals (second leg): 2-3 April 2025.
- FINAL: Saturday, 26 April 2025.