The 2025 Copa del Rey final was a football match to decide the winners of the

2024–25 Copa del Rey The 2024–25 Copa del Rey (branded as the Copa del Rey MAPFRE for sponsorship reasons), was the 123rd staging of the Copa del Rey (including two seasons where two rival editions were played). Both the winners and the runners-up qualified for the f ...

, the 123rd edition of Spain's primary football cup (including two seasons where two rival editions were played). The match was played on 26 April 2025 at

Estadio de La Cartuja Estadio La Cartuja (), formerly Estadio Olímpico de Sevilla, officially known as Estadio La Cartuja de Sevilla, is a stadium situated in the Isla de la Cartuja in Seville, Spain. It is used mostly for football and it is commonly referred to as ...

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

– in the first event at the venue following its expansion and conversion from an athletics facility ahead of its use at the

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– between

arch rivals ''Arch Rivals'' is a basketball video game released by Midway for arcades in 1989. Billed by Midway as "A Basket Brawl", the game features two-on-two full court basketball games in which players are encouraged to punch opposing players and st ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

. It was the 260th competitive match between the sides and the first in a Copa del Rey final since

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

. Barcelona won the match 3–2 after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

for a record-extending 32nd Copa del Rey title.

Route to the final

Key: (H) = Home; (A) = Away

Refereeing controversy

Ahead of the final,

Real Madrid TV Real Madrid TV is a free digital television channel, operated by Real Madrid specialising in the Spanish football club. The channel is available in Spanish and English. It is located at Ciudad Real Madrid in Valdebebas, Real Madrid's training c ...

broadcast a video criticising the appointed match referee

Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea (born 16 March 1986) is a football referee who officiates in La Liga. He has been a FIFA referee since 2018, and is ranked as a UEFA first category referee. Refereeing career In 2011, De Burgos Bengoetxea began offi ...

, stating that Barcelona won more often than Real Madrid in matches he refereed. RMTV disparaged De Burgos Bengoetxea for never being appointed to matches in the

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tournaments, and included footage of several alleged refereeing errors against Real Madrid. De Burgos Bengoetxea responded at a press conference by highlighting difficulties faced by match officials and their families when their integrity is questioned, saying "When your child goes to school and is told their father is a thief by other kids, that's really tough". The final's

video assistant referee The video assistant referee (VAR) is a Assistant referee (association football), match official in association football who assists the referee by reviewing decisions using video footage and providing advice to the referee based on those revi ...

Pablo González Fuertes suggested that Spanish match officials may take action such as a strike due to the way they were being treated. Real Madrid branded the officials' comments 'unacceptable' and withdrew from pre-final media duties, including the press conference and official training session.

Match

Details

Aftermath

The match official

issued three red cards — all to

players.

Antonio Rüdiger Antonio Rüdiger (; born 3 March 1993) is a German professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid and the Germany national football team, Germany national team. He is known for his aggressive playi ...

, who had already been substituted, was shown a red card during the stoppage time of extra time for throwing an object toward the referee from the technical area. Lucas Vázquez was sent off for entering the pitch to protest a refereeing decision aggressively. After the final whistle,

Jude Bellingham Jude Victor William Bellingham (born 29 June 2003) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid and the England national football team, England national team. Finis ...

was also dismissed for confronting the referee in an aggressive manner and had to be restrained by teammates. After being sent off, Rüdiger publicly apologized for his behaviour, admitting there was no excuse for his actions and expressed regret for disappointing the fans. However, Rüdiger could be suspended for four to twelve matches, or up to three to six months if the offense is classified as more serious. Meanwhile, both Vázquez and Bellingham would receive two-match suspensions, which will be served in the next season's Copa del Rey. Ultimately, Rüdiger was handed a six-match ban across domestic competitions, while Bellingham's red card was rescinded and Vázquez received a two-match Copa del Rey suspension.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Copa del Rey final 2025

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

Football competitions in Seville 21st century in Seville 2025 in Andalusia 1, final

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

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