Svenska Cupen

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Svenska Cupen is the premier domestic knockout cup competition in Sweden. The tournament was founded way back in 1941, with Helsingborgs IF lifting the inaugural title after beating IK Sleipner 3-1 in the final.

The competition has undergone format changes over the years. In the 2011 season and several campaigns before that, the tournament consisted of four rounds preceding the quarter-finals, with the 16 teams from Allsvenskan, the Swedish top-flight, entering the mix in round three.

However, the following season welcomed shake-ups. Svenska Cupen returned to the fall-spring schedule last seen in the cup back in 2000/01 and also reintroduced a group stage for the first time since 1995/96. Under this format, a total of 96 teams compete in the cup, with Allsvenskan and Superettan (the second division) sides entering the competition in the second round. After the second round comes the group stage, with the 32 remaining sides being split into eight groups of four in a single round-robin format.

The eight group winners move on to the quarter-finals, with the four best first-placed teams being seeded and the remaining four being unseeded for the draw. Similarly, the semi-final match-ups are also decided by a draw. The eventual champions of the Swedish cup earn a ticket to the Europa League qualifying stage if they had not already secured one via the top-flight league.