Astograthian Royal Cup

The Astograthian Royal Cup, commonly known in Astograth as simply the Royal Cup (Asograthian: Errege Kopa), is an annual knockout cup competition for Astograthian association football teams. It is organised and run under the auspices of the Futbol Astograthiko Federazioa, in honour of the reigning monarch.

The competition was founded in 634, to coincide with the first season of the Astograthian First Division. The format and number of entrants has varied with time, but is currently played with a total of 124 clubs, of which the 44 belonging to the top two tiers of the Astograthian Football League enter the tournament at the Round of 64. Starting from the 638 season, the Royal Cup winners qualify for the Cup Winners' Cup, a worlwide knockout tournament for national cup winners. Royal Rumiatzi won the 25th Cup Winners' Cup, while Urbizania Wanderers have twice been defeated in the final. Royal Rumiatzi currently hold the record for most Royal Cup titles, having won eight. Royal Rumiatzi, Urbizania Wanderers, Ituraitz FC and Iturributa United, are the only teams to successfully defend the title from one season to the next. Old City Central became, in 674, the first team from outside the First Division to win the Royal Cup, a feat subsequently repeated by Army United and Sporting Ibarguren.

All Royal Cup finals have been held at Grand Duke's Stadium in Rumiatzi, the capital of Astograth.

Format
The competition is a single-legged knockout cup tournament with a total of eight stages. Two preliminary rounds feature the 48 clubs of the Second Division B and 32 qualified teams from lower tiers of the Astograthian league system. The 20 teams resulting from these preliminary rounds are joined by the 44 teams of the First and Second Divisions. Top-flight teams are seeded to avoid each other in the Round of 64 and Round of 32. If two clubs with two or more tiers of difference are drawn against each other before the final, the lower-tier team must play at home.

The final is normally held the Sunday after the First Division finishes, and is the only match of the tournament played as a single leg and at a neutral ground. The club drawn as the "home" team in the final have preference to play in their home colours if there should be a clash between their kit and their adversaries'.