2026 Copa del Rey de Baloncesto

The 2026 Copa del Rey de Baloncesto was the 90th edition of the Spanish Basketball King's Cup. It was managed by the ACB and was held in Valencia, in the Roig Arena in February 2026.^[1]

Unicaja were the defending champions, which were thrashed by Real Madrid in quarterfinals, which were stunned in the final by Kosner Baskonia that achieved their seventh cup after 17 years since the last title in its favourite tournament.^[2]

All times are in Central European Time (UTC+01:00).

On 11 March 2025, ACB selected and announced Valencia to host the Copa del Rey in February 2026.^[1] The plot is located between the streets Ángel Villena, Bomber Ramón Duart and Antonio Ferrandis, next to La Fonteta;^[3] it was used as a parking lot for the attendants to the former venue and L'Alqueria.^[4] The arena is being funded by Juan Roig, who created the company Licampa 1617 S.L. to carry out the project.^[5] After a fifty-year concession, the facilities will revert to the municipality.^[3] It will host matches for the 2028 European Men's Handball Championship. The venue has a capacity of 15,600 for basketball fixtures, of 18,600 for 180° concerts and of 20,000 for 360° shows.^[6] It also features around 1,300 parking spaces.^[3] Building works started on 29 June 2020 and ended on 5 September 2025.^[7] In 2020 the arena was expected to open in 2023,^[3] but was later delayed to 2025, and it was finally opened on 6 September 2025. It replaced La Fonteta as the main venue of Valencia Basket.^[8]

The top seven ranking teams after the first half of the 2025–26 ACB regular season qualified to the tournament. As Valencia Basket, host team, finished between the seven first teams, the eighth qualified entered in the Copa del Rey.

The draw was held on 26 January 2026 in Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, Spain.^[10] The top four ranking teams act as seeded teams in the draw of the quarterfinals. For its part, Real Madrid as the top ranked team played its quarterfinal match on Thursday. Two Valencian sports stars act as innocent hands: the former Liga ACB player Víctor Claver and the former professional tennis player David Ferrer who was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in July 2013 and won 27 ATP Tour singles titles.^[11][12]

Host team Valencia Basket kicked off their Copa del Rey campaign in style, with a 95–84 win over Asisa Joventut, which never gave up. Talented as ever, but with the added benefit of maturity, hard work, and consistency this season, the Dominican player Jean Montero shook off Valencia Basket's nerves on Thursday in their Copa del Rey opener, guiding them to the semifinals and blocking Asisa Joventut's path. Joventut fought hard, making the victory difficult until the final quarter. The Dominican guard, who finished with 19 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists as the home team's top performer, carried his team on his back during moments of doubt for Valencia and, along with a sharp–shooting Brancou Badio, neutralized Joventut's last-ditch effort to force a close finish

In his return to the Copa del Rey after a 15–year absence, Ricky Rubio was the driving force behind Joventut, very well supported by Cameron Hunt. The Spanish point guard distributed the ball, rebounded and scored, but he did so mainly from the free throw line and his 2/12 field goal percentage weighed heavily.

This was the third cup meeting between these two teams, with each team winning one out of the first two meetings.

Real Madrid dominated from start to finish against Unicaja (100–70), extending their winning streak to 13 consecutive quarterfinal series. Lyles (16 points, 23 PIR) and Maledon (13 points, 21 PIR) avenged Los Blancos defeat in the previous final. With an imposing start and overwhelming control in the paint, Real Madrid intimidated Unicaja from beginning to end of the match. Unicaja never found an answer and was ultimately overwhelmed by Sergio Scariolo's team, which exacted revenge for the 2025 final and will face Valencia Basket in the semifinals on Saturday. First Edy Tavares and then Usman Garuba intimidated the Andalusian team's big men, the former with his size and the latter with his intensity. Unicaja lost all confidence, failed to tighten up their defense, and allowed the Madrid team to shoot with dazzling percentages until they finished the match before halftime.

This was the seventh cup meeting between these two teams, with each team winning three out of the first six meetings.

Kosner Baskonia defeated La Laguna Tenerife 91–81 in a match that they were always ahead, although they lost a 16–point lead against a Canarian team that managed to tie the game but was unable to complete their comeback. The Basque team, whose top scorer was Trent Forrest with 21 points, returns to the semifinals after a two-year absence from the tournament.

This was the second cup meeting between these two teams, with Kosner Baskonia winning the previous meeting.

Barça patiently waited for their moment and, with a dose of composure and the inspiration of Kevin Punter (20 points, 11 in the final quarter), defeated a relentless UCAM Murcia (91–85) to qualify for the semifinals. Kevin Punter returned like a whirlwind on Friday, two weeks after suffering a muscle injury that threatened to sideline him for a month. He led Barça to a semifinal where they will face Kosner Baskonia and ended the dream of a strong UCAM Murcia team, which dominated the last quarterfinal match of the tournament in Valencia for much of the game. Led by the intense and brilliant Dylan Ennis and Devontae Cacok, and with all their players fully engaged, the team from Murcia seemed to have the game under control, holding a six-point lead with eight minutes remaining. But then Punter, who had already neutralized an initial Murcia surge, reappeared to cap off his stellar performance: 20 points in 20 minutes.

This was the second cup meeting between these two teams, with Barça winning the previous meeting.

A lethal Mario Hezonja, with two accurate three-pointers in the last minute, ruined the show in which the Dominican Jean Montero, author of 19 points in the last quarter and 26 in total, had put Valencia Basket on the verge of the final of the tournament. Thus, Real Madrid reached the final in the match with the most total points scored (without overtime) in the history of the tournament.

This was the seventh cup meeting between these two teams, with Real Madrid winning the previous six meetings.

Kosner Baskonia managed to stay close behind Barça for much of the second semifinal, never letting them pull away on the scoreboard. In the final stretch, they capitalized on Nico Laprovittola's rest to seize control of the game and reach the final of the tournament, held at the Roig Arena in Valencia, for the first time in 17 years, in pursuit of what would be their seventh title. In a match marked by more errors than successes, Kosner Baskonia managed to score several field goals against their opponent and remained calm to prevent Barça from forcing overtime.

This was the 16th cup meeting between these two teams, with Barça winning 11 out of the first 15 meetings.

Kosner Baskonia rediscovered their cup magic after defeating Real Madrid (100–89) in the final in a dream game with three clear heroes. The trio of stellar players Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, Eugene Omoruyi, and Trent Forrest, who scored 73 of their team's 100 points, along with crucial late contributions from Markus Howard, brought down Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final on Sunday and, against all odds, crowned Kosner Baskonia champions 17 years after their last title in this tournament. The team, coached by Paolo Galbiati, overcame a poor start and nearly lost control of the game on a couple of occasions, but they clung on and, aided in the final moments by the previously ineffective Howard, secured their seventh cup title, much to the delight of their fans.

This was the 11th cup meeting between these two teams, with Real Madrid winning 7 out of the first 10 meetings.

Source: ACB

Source: ^[13]

• Official website (in Spanish)