2019–20 Coupe de France


The 2019–20 Coupe de France was the 103rd season of the main football cup competition of France. The competition was organised by the French Football Federation and was open to all clubs in French football, as well as clubs from the overseas departments and territories, Tahiti.
Rennes were the defending champions, but they were eliminated by Saint-Étienne in the semi-finals.
On 28 April 2020, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced all sporting events in France, including those behind closed doors, would be banned until September. The FFF were considering whether the final of the Coupe de France could be rescheduled for when events are allowed to restart. On 26 June, the FFF announced that the final was rescheduled to 24 July.
Paris Saint-Germain won their record 13th title overall with a 1–0 win over Saint-Étienne in the final.

Dates

Dates for the first two qualifying round were set by the individual Regional leagues. The remaining qualifying rounds, the seventh and eight round, and the round of 64 took place at weekends. The later rounds up to, but not including, the final, took place on midweek evenings. The final took place on Friday 24 July 2020.
RoundDraw DateMatches Played
Thirdvarious15 September 2019
Fourthvarious29 September 2019
Fifthvarious13 October 2019
Sixthvarious27 October 2019
Seventh29 and 30 October 201916 and 17 November 2019
Eighth19 November 20197 and 8 December 2019
Round of 649 December 20194, 5 and 6 January 2020
Round of 326 January 202016, 17, 18 and 19 January 2020
Round of 1619 or 20 January 202028, 29 and 30 January 2020
Quarter Finals29 January 202011, 12 and 13 February 2020
Semi Finals12 February 20204 and 5 March 2020
Finaln/a24 July 2020

Notable rule changes

For this season, there were changes in the rules of participation for Overseas Territories teams in both the seventh and eighth rounds. For Guadeloupe, French Guiana and Martinique, the seventh round match was defined as being between the two teams who qualified from the sixth round, rather than being a draw against a side from mainland France as previously.
Following the established rule regarding alternation of venue between overseas and mainland, the eighth round games involving the teams from French Guiana and Martinique were played on mainland France regardless of the order the teams were drawn. However, if the overseas team was drawn first, the match took place at a neutral venue within 100 km of Paris. The eighth round game involving the team from Guadeloupe took place in Guadeloupe.

Teams

Round 1 to 6

The first six rounds, and any preliminaries required, were organised by the Regional Leagues and the Overseas Territories, who allowed teams from within their league structure to enter at any point up to the third round. Teams from Championnat National 3 entered at the third round, those from Championnat National 2 entered at the fourth round and those from Championnat National entered at the fifth round.
The number of teams entering at each qualifying round was as follows:
RegionPrelimFirstSecondThirdFourthFifth
Nouvelle-Aquitaine 536701141
Pays-de-la-Loire 438493212
Centre-Val de Loire 214111140
Corsica 141212
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté 296303330
Grand Est 6981205950
Méditerranée 18020961
Occitanie 3561041121
Hauts-de-France 7881803722
Normandie 284701032
Bretagne 558813241
Paris IDF 360871192
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 79808164
Réunion 202200
Mayotte2630000
Guadeloupe 401200
Martinique 401200
French Guiana 3200
Saint Pierre and Miquelon 21
Total255719374275118

Round 7

145 qualifiers from the Regional Leagues were joined by the 11 qualifiers from the Overseas Territories and the 20 teams from Ligue 2.

Ligue 2

Figures in parenthesis indicate the tier of the French football league system the team play at.
Nouvelle-Aquitaine: 12 teams
Pays de la Loire: 11 teams
Centre-Val de Loire: 5 teams
Corsica: 2 teams
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté: 8 teams
Grand Est: 19 teams
Méditerranée: 5 teams
Occitanie: 10 teams
Hauts-de-France: 21 teams
Normandy: 8 teams
Brittany: 14 teams
Paris-Île-de-France: 11 teams
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes: 19 teams
French Guiana: 2 teams
Martinique: 2 teams
Guadeloupe: 2 teams
Réunion: 2 teams
Mayotte: 1 team
New Caledonia: 1 team
Tahiti: 1 team
The draw for the seventh round took place in two parts, with three sets of ties drawn:
Ties were played between 6 and 8 November 2019.

Overseas and mainland ties

Ties were played on 16 and 17 November 2019.

Mainland ties

The mainland ties were drawn in ten groups, with two Ligue 2 teams in each group. The rest of the teams in each group were selected to give an even distribution of teams from different tiers, and the best possible geographical fit.
The lowest ranked team remaining in the competition at this stage was Verton FC from tier 9.
Ties were played on 15, 16 and 17 November 2019, with postponements rearranged for 19, 23 and 24 November 2019.

Group 7A

Group 7B

Group 7C

Group 7D

Group 7E

Group 7F

Group 7G

Group 7H

Group 7I

Group 7J

Eighth round

The draw for the eighth round took place in two parts:
All ties took place on the weekend of 7 and 8 December 2019.

Overseas ties

Ties were played on 7 and 8 December 2019.

Main draw ties

The main draw ties were drawn in six groups, with the teams in each group selected to give an even distribution of teams from different tiers, and the best possible geographical fit.
The lowest ranked team remaining in the competition at this stage was SSEP Hombourg-Haut from tier 8.
Ties were played on 7 and 8 December 2019.

Group 8A

Group 8B

Group 8C

Group 8D

Group 8E

Group 8F

Round of 64

The draw for the ninth round took place on 9 December 2019. The 20 Ligue 1 teams joined the draw at this stage. The draw was split into four groups to ensure equal distribution of teams from each tier, with geographical proximity a secondary factor.
The lowest ranked team remaining in the competition at this stage was SSEP Hombourg-Haut from tier 8.
Games were played on 3, 4, 5 and 6 January 2020.

Group 9A

Group 9B

Group 9C

Group 9D

Round of 32

The draw for the tenth round took place on 6 January 2020. This was an open draw.
The lowest ranked mainland teams remaining in the competition at this stage were AS Prix-lès-Mézières, Athlético Marseille, ESM Gonfreville and FC Limonest Saint-Didier, all from tier 5.
Games were played on 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 January 2020.

Round of 16

The draw for the eleventh round took place on 19 January 2020. This was an open draw.
The lowest ranked team remaining in the competition at this stage was FC Limonest Saint-Didier from tier 5.
Games were played on 28, 29 and 30 January 2020.

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals took place on 30 January 2020. This was an open draw.
The lowest ranked teams remaining in the competition at this stage were ASM Belfort and SAS Épinal, both from tier 4.
Games were played on 11, 12 and 13 February 2020.

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals took place on 13 February 2020. This was an open draw.
Games were played on 4 and 5 March 2020.

Final

The final was originally scheduled for 25 April 2020, but was postponed due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.