The 2020–21 Coupe de France was the 104th season of the main football cup competition of France. The competition was organised by the French Football Federation (FFF) and is normally open to all clubs in French football, as well as clubs from the overseas departments and territories (Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Réunion, Saint Martin, and Saint Pierre and Miquelon). Due to the travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the club from Saint Pierre and Miquelon did not progress beyond the second round and qualifying clubs from New Caledonia and Tahiti did not participate.
The competition was paused on 28 October 2020, when France entered a second period of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 17 December, the FFF announced a new format to allow the competition to complete. On 22 December, the FFF announced a plan to resume the competition from 31 January 2021.
On 19 January 2021, the FFF produced a new calendar for the amateur path and the final stages.
Paris Saint-Germain were the defending champions, and they won a record fourteenth title with a 2–0 win over Monaco in the final.
Dates
Dates for the first two qualifying round were set by the individual Regional leagues. The original calendar had the remaining qualifying rounds, the seventh and eight round, and the round of 64 taking place on weekends. The later rounds up to, but not including, the final, would take place on midweek evenings. The final would take place on Saturday 24 April 2021.
On 28 October 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a second COVID-19 lockdown, including the suspension of all amateur football, for four weeks. The following day, the FFF confirmed the suspension of senior football at all levels below Championnat National. This caused the suspension of the competition, and the postponement of the sixth round and remaining fifth round matches. On 17 November, the FFF formally announced the postponement of the seventh and eighth rounds until January 2021.
On 22 December, the FFF announced a plan to resume the competition on 31 January 2021, subject to COVID-19 restrictions being removed as planned.
On 19 January 2021, the ministère des sports gave the go-ahead for amateur clubs involved in the competition to resume training, and the FFF produced a new calendar for the amateur path and the final stages.
Round Amateur path Professional path Third round 19–20 September 2020N/A Fourth round 3–4 October 2020 Fifth round 17–18 October 2020 Sixth round 30–31 January 2021 Seventh round 6–7 February 2021 Eighth round 13–14 February 202119–20 January 2021 Round of 64 20–21 February 20219–11 February 2021 Round of 32 5–8 March 2021 Round of 16 17 March / 6–8 April 2021 Quarter-finals 20–21 April 2021 Semi-finals 12–13 May 2021 Final 19 May 2021
Notable rule changes Following the changes introduced regarding Guadeloupe, French Guiana and Martinique last year, teams from Réunion and Mayotte also played an internal match in the seventh round. This meant an additional team qualifying for the seventh round from Mayotte.
Ligue 2 sides joined the competition at the eighth round, a change which the FFF stated was only for this season's competition. This meant fewer teams would qualify from each region's preliminary rounds.
Other than the final, there was no extra time in fixtures this season. Tied matches were settled by a penalty shoot-out after ninety minutes.
On 22 October 2020, the FFF announced that clubs from New Caledonia and Tahiti would not participate in the seventh round due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation. Two clubs were awarded byes to the eighth round. A decision was to follow on 12 November regarding other overseas teams participating in the eighth round.
On 25 November, the FFF announced that the seventh round winners from Réunion, Guadeloupe, Mayotte and French Guiana would play their eighth round matches against each other in December, rather than being integrated into the main eighth round draw when the competition restarts. The competition in Martinique would restart at the seventh round when the mainland tournament restarts.
On 17 December, the FFF announced a change of format to avoid cancelling the competition due to a lack of available dates. The competition would be divided into two parts: A professional path, involving teams from Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, and an amateur path, involving mainland teams qualifying from the preliminary rounds and the overseas qualifiers. The amateur path was straight knockout over two rounds (seventh, eighth), taking 124 qualifiers down to 31. The three overseas qualifiers re-joined the competition for the round of 64, resulting in seventeen qualifiers at the end of the path. The professional path started at the eighth round with the twenty Ligue 2 teams. The winners were then joined by the twenty Ligue 1 teams for the round of 64, resulting in fifteen qualifiers at the end of the path. The two paths joined for the Round of 32, and the rest of the competition was straight knockout.
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: Region Prelim First Second Third Fourth Fifth Nouvelle-Aquitaine 132 488 35 12 4 0 Pays de la Loire 300 140 41 34 2 3 Centre-Val de Loire 178 59 0 11 6 1 Corsica 6 16 1 2 Bourgogne-Franche-Comté 6 373 0 12 3 0 Grand Est 934 5 12 4 0 Méditerranée 96 88 24 8 7 0 Occitanie 496 0 10 3 1 Hauts-de-France 982 49 10 2 1 Normandy 82 275 20 11 2 2 Brittany 666 1 11 3 2 Paris IDF 248 126 94 11 8 2 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 370 475 48 37 7 4 Réunion 16 0 0 Mayotte 8 48 12 0 0 0 Guadeloupe 32 16 0 0 Martinique 44 10 0 0 French Guiana 32 0 0 Saint Pierre and Miquelon 2 1 Total 1420 5152 412 269 52 18
Round 7 124 qualifiers from the Regional Leagues were joined by the ten qualifiers from the Overseas Territories.
Regional Leagues
Nouvelle Aquitaine (11 teams) Trélissac-Antonne Périgord FC (4) Genêts Anglet (5) Aviron Bayonnais FC (5) US Lège Cap Ferret (5) FC Libourne (5) Stade Poitevin FC (5) FCE Mérignac Arlac (6) OL Saint-Liguaire Niort (6) AS Aixoise (7) AS Panazol (7) Association Saint-Laurent Billère (9)
Pays de la Loire (9 teams) Stade Lavallois (3) Voltigeurs de Châteaubriant (4) Les Herbiers VF (4) US Changé (5) Vendée Fontenay Foot (5) US Philbertine Football (5) Sablé FC (5) Olympique Saumur FC (5) Élan de Gorges Foot (7)
Centre-Val de Loire (4 teams) US Orléans (3) Bourges 18 (4) SO Romorantin (4) Tours FC (5)
Corsica (2 teams) Gazélec Ajaccio (4) AS Furiani-Agliani (5)
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (7 teams) ASM Belfort (4) Jura Sud Foot (4) Louhans-Cuiseaux FC (4) Racing Besançon (5) CA Pontarlier (5) Union Cosnoise Sportive (6) UF Mâconnais (6)
Grand Est (16 teams) SAS Épinal (4) FCSR Haguenau (4) SC Schiltigheim (4) CS Sedan Ardennes (4) CSO Amnéville (5) AS Prix-lès-Mézières (5) FC Saint-Louis Neuweg (5) ES Thaon (5) FC Soleil Bischheim (6) FC Obermodern (6) EF Reims Sainte-Anne Châtillons (6) FC Saint-Meziery (6) SSEP Hombourg-Haut (7) AS Ribeauvillé (7) FCO Strasbourg Koenigshoffen 06 (7) AS Portugais Saint-Francois Thionville (7)
Méditerranée (4 teams) Aubagne FC (4) Athlético Marseille (5) AS Maximoise (6) ES Saint-Zacharie (6)
Occitanie (9 teams) Canet Roussillon FC (4) US Colomiers Football (4) Olympique Alès (5) AS Fabrègues (5) Castelnau Le Crès FC (6) FC Marssac-Rivières-Senouillac Rives du Tarn (6) Onet-le-Château (6) Entente Saint-Clément-Montferrier (6) Montauban FCTG (7)
Hauts-de-France (18 teams) US Boulogne (3) AS Beauvais Oise (4) Olympique Saint-Quentin (4) AC Amiens (5) US Chantilly (5) Olympique Marcquois Football (5) US Saint-Omer (5) Arras FA (6) Écureuils Itancourt-Neuville (6) ES Lambresienne (6) US Laon (6) US Lesquin (6) ESC Longueau (6) FC Loon-Plage (6) US Saint-Maurice Loos-en-Gohelle (6) AS Steenvorde (6) OS Aire-sur-la-Lys (7) SC Bailleulois (8)
Normandy (7 teams) US Avranches (3) US Quevilly-Rouen (3) FC Rouen (4) AG Caennaise (5) AF Virois (5) ESM Gonfreville (6) ESFC Falaise (7)
Brittany (12 teams) Stade Briochin (3) US Saint-Malo (4) Stade Plabennécois (4) Vannes OC (4) Dinan-Léhon FC (5) Plouzané AC (5) Saint-Colomban Sportive Locminé (5) Saint-Pierre de Milizac (5) FC Guichen (6) US Liffré (6) US Montagnarde (6) EA Saint-Renan (6)
Paris-Île-de-France (9 teams) US Créteil-Lusitanos (3) Red Star FC (3) Football Club 93 Bobigny-Bagnolet-Gagny (4) FC Fleury 91 (4) US Lusitanos Saint-Maur (4) JA Drancy (5) Saint-Brice FC (6) US Sénart-Moissy (6) CA Vitry (6)
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (16 teams) Annecy FC (3) FC Villefranche (3) Andrézieux-Bouthéon FC (4) FC Chamalières (4) Le Puy Foot 43 Auvergne (4) Moulins Yzeure Foot (4) GFA Rumilly-Vallières (4) AS Saint-Priest (4) FC Aurillac Arpajon Cantal Auvergne (5) FC Limonest Saint-Didier (5) Thonon Évian FC (5) US Feurs (6) FC Rhône Vallées (6) AC Seyssinet (6) Vénissieux FC (6) AS Nord Vignoble (8)
Overseas Territories teams
Mayotte: 2 teams FC Mtsapéré Pamandzi SC
Réunion: 2 teams JS Saint-Pierroise US Sainte-Marienne
Martinique: 2 teams AS Samaritaine Club Franciscain
Guadeloupe: 2 teams Phare du Canal Unité Sainte-Rosienne French Guiana: 2 teams US Sinnamary ASU Grand Santi
Round 8 Overseas teams Two matches between teams from Mayotte, Guadeloupe, Réunion and French Guiana. The team from Martinique received a bye.
Amateur path The 62 qualifiers from the seventh round played a straight knockout round.
Professional path The 20 Ligue 2 teams joined the competition, and played a straight knockout round.
Round of 64 Amateur path The 31 qualifiers from the eighth round were joined by the two overseas teams qualifying from the eighth round, and the team from Martinique. They played a straight knockout round. Following petition by the Ligue de Football de Martinique, the team from Martinique were guaranteed a draw against one of the qualifying overseas teams.
Professional path The ten Ligue 2 qualifiers from the eighth round were joined by the twenty Ligue 1 sides. They played a straight knockout round.
Round of 32, and later The seventeen amateur path qualifiers and the fifteen professional path qualifiers joined for a straight knockout competition.
Seventh round The seventh round was split over an extended period, starting on 21 November 2020. Playoff ties between teams from the overseas leagues of Guadeloupe, French Guiana and Mayotte took place between 21 and 29 November. The playoff tie between teams from Martinique took place on 13 January 2021. The matches involving the 124 qualifying teams from mainland France took place entirely within the regional leagues, except for those leagues providing an odd number of qualifiers, where inter-league matches were drawn. This resulted in ties between Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie, Normandy and Pays de la Loire, and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Paris-Île-de-France. The pre-draw was published on 22 January. Matches took place on 5, 6 and 7 February 2021, with three postponed to 13 and 14 February, awaiting outcomes of ties in the previous round.
Overseas ties
Mainland ties Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes group
Brittany group
Centre-Val de Loire group
Grand Est group
Hauts-de-France group See also the combined Hauts-de-France and Corsica group
Combined Hauts-de-France and Corsica group