2023–24 Taça da Liga

2023–24 Taça da Liga

Allianz Cup
Tournament details
Country	Portugal
Dates	21 July 2023 – 27 January 2024
Teams	34
Final positions
Champions	Braga (3rd title)
Runner-up	Estoril
Tournament statistics
Matches played	37
Goals scored	92 (2.49 per match)
Attendance	224,098 (6,057 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Clayton (4 goals)
← 2022–23 2024–25 →

The 2023–24 Taça da Liga is the seventeenth edition of the Taça da Liga (also known as Allianz Cup for sponsorship reasons), a football league cup competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional and contested exclusively by clubs competing in the top two professional tiers of Portuguese football – the Primeira Liga and the LigaPro. It will begin on 21 July 2023 and conclude with the final in Leiria on 27 January 2024.^[1]

Porto were the current holders, after beating Sporting CP 2–0 in the 2023 final, but they were eliminated by Estoril by losing to 3–1 on 6 December 2023.

Format

Twenty-eight teams consisting in all teams from 2022–23 Primeira Liga and Segunda Liga with exception of the top 6 teams in 2022–23 Primeira Liga take part in the first round; one-legged ties with no extra-time were played between Twenty-eight teams.

In the second round, the fourteen teams advancing from the previous round are joined by the teams placed 5th and 6th in the 2022–23 Primeira Liga. Again, one-legged ties with no extra-time were played between sixteen teams.

The third round features the eight teams advancing from the previous round and the four best-placed teams in the 2022–23 Primeira Liga. The twelve teams will drawn into four groups that are contested in a single round-robin schedule, with each team playing one game at home and one game on the opposition's home.

The four group winners qualify for the knockout phase, which features single-legged ties, again with no extra-time being played. The semi-finals and final are played at a neutral venue, set to be in Leiria in January 2024.^[2]

Round	Teams entering in this round	Teams advancing from previous round
First round (28 teams)	16 teams from the 2023–24 Liga Portugal 2 9 teams ranked 7th–15th in the 2022–23 Primeira Liga 3 teams promoted to the 2023–24 Primeira Liga
Second round (16 teams)	2 teams ranked 5th and 6th in the 2022–23 Primeira Liga	14 winners from the first round
Third round (12 teams)	4 teams ranked 1st–4th in the 2022–23 Primeira Liga	8 winners from the second round
Semi-finals (4 teams)		4 group winners from the third round
Final (2 teams)		2 winners from the semi-finals

Tiebreakers

In the third round, teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are tied on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:

1. highest goal difference in all group matches;
2. highest number of scored goals in all group matches;
3. lowest average age of all players fielded in all group matches (sum of the ages of all fielded players divided by the number of fielded players).

In all other rounds, teams tied at the end of regular time contest a penalty shootout to determine the winner. No extra-time is played.

Teams

Thirty-four teams competing in the two professional tiers of Portuguese football for the 2023–24 season are eligible to participate in this competition. For teams that were either promoted or related, the final position in the previous league season determines in which round they enter the competition.

Third round (Primeira Liga)
Benfica (1st)	Porto (2nd)	Braga (3rd)	Sporting CP (4th)
Second round (Primeira Liga)
Arouca (5th)	Vitória de Guimarães (6th)
First round (Primeira and Segunda Liga)
Chaves (7th)	Famalicão (8th)	Boavista (9th)	Casa Pia (10th)
Vizela (11th)	Rio Ave (12th)	Gil Vicente (13th)	Estoril (14th)
Portimonense (15th)	Moreirense (P1)	Farense (P1)	Estrela da Amadora (P1)
Marítimo (R1)	Paços de Ferreira (R1)	Santa Clara (R1)	Académico de Viseu (4th)
Mafra (6th)	AVS (7th)	Feirense (8th)	Torreense (9th)
Oliveirense (10th)	Tondela (11th)	Penafiel (12th)	Nacional (13th)
Leixões (15th)	União de Leiria (P2)	Belenenses (P2)	Länk Vilaverdense (P2)

Key

• Nth: League position in the 2022–23 season
• P1: Promoted to the Primeira Liga
• R1: Relegated to the Liga Portugal 2
• P2: Promoted to the Liga Portugal 2

Schedule

Round		Draw date	Match date(s)	Teams	Fixtures
First round		3 July 2023	21–29 July 2023	34 → 20	14
Second round			28 July – 9 September 2023	20 → 12	8
Third round	Matchday 1	11 September 2023	26–28 September 2023	12 → 4	12
	Matchday 2		31 October – 6 December 2023
	Matchday 3		21–23 December 2023
Final four	Semi-finals		23–24 January 2024	4 → 2	2
	Final		27 January 2024	2 → 1	1

First round

Twenty-eight teams consisting in all teams from Primeira and Segunda Liga with exception of the top 6 teams in 2022–23 Primeira Liga took part in the first round. Twenty-eight teams were paired against each other for fourteen single-legged ties. The draw took place on 3 July 2023, and the matches were played on 21 and 29 July 2023. Games tied at the end of regular time were decided by a penalty shoot-out, with no extra time being played. The first team drawn in each fixture played at home.

Second round

In the second round, the fourteen first-round winners joined the two teams ranked 5th and 6th in the 2022–23 Primeira Liga. Sixteen teams were paired against each other for twelve single-legged ties. The draw took place on 3 July 2023, and the matches were played on 28 July and 9 September 2023. Games tied at the end of regular time were decided by a penalty shoot-out, with no extra time being played. The first team drawn in each fixture played at home.

Third round

In the third round, the eight second-round winners joined the four top-ranked teams from the 2022–23 Primeira Liga: Benfica (1st), Porto (2nd), Braga (3rd) and Sporting CP (4th). These twelve teams were drawn into four groups of three, each group containing one of the four top-ranked Primeira Liga teams. Group matches were played in a single round-robin schedule, ensuring that each team played at least one match at home.^[2]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BRA	CAS	NAC
1	Braga	2	1	1	0	4	2	+2	4	Advance to knockout phase		—	1–1	—
2	Casa Pia	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	4			—	—	2–1
3	Nacional	2	0	0	2	2	5	−3	0			1–3	—	—

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BEN	ARO	AVS
1	Benfica	2	2	0	0	6	1	+5	6	Advance to knockout phase		—	—	4–1
2	Arouca	2	1	0	1	2	3	−1	3			0–2	—	—
3	AVS	2	0	0	2	2	6	−4	0			—	1–2	—

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SPO	FAR	TON
1	Sporting CP	2	2	0	0	6	3	+3	6	Advance to knockout phase		—	4–2	—
2	Farense	2	1	0	1	3	4	−1	3			—	—	1–0
3	Tondela	2	0	0	2	1	3	−2	0			0–0	—	—

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		EST	POR	LEI
1	Estoril	2	2	0	0	5	2	+3	6	Advance to knockout phase		—	3–1	—
2	Porto	2	1	0	1	3	4	−1	3			—	—	2–1
3	Leixões	2	0	0	2	2	4	−2	0			1–2	—	—

Knockout phase

The knockout phase was contested as a final-four tournament by the four third-round group winners in one-legged semi-finals and final. All matches was played in a single venue, decided before the competition has started. As in the first and second round, games tied at the end of regular time will be decided by a penalty shoot-out, with no extra time being played.^[2]

All matches was played at Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa, in Leiria, with the semi-finals scheduled to be played on 23–24 January, and the final on 27 January 2024.^[1]

	Semi-finals				Final
	23 January – Leiria
	Braga	1
					27 January – Leiria
	Sporting CP	0
					Braga (p)	1 (5)
	24 January – Leiria
					Estoril	1 (4)
	Benfica	1 (4)
	Estoril (p)	1 (5)

Semi-finals

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Final

References

External links

• Liga Portugal official website