Football Tickets – Italy Coppa Italia 2025/2026

Coppa Italia 2025/2026 is not a season that can be retold in a single sentence. It is a cup in which the defending champion Bologna was eliminated already in the quarter-finals, in which Como reached the semi-finals through extra time and penalty shootouts, and in which, at the beginning of April 2026, both semi-final ties are still open. After the first matches, Inter and Como stand at 0:0, and Lazio and Atalanta at 2:2, so the final stage does not look like a drawn path toward one favourite, but like a true Italian cup: a short fuse, little room for error, and enough dramatic evenings for every round to leave its mark.

How the 2025/2026 competition is structured

This season’s Coppa Italia is played with 44 clubs, and it is the 79th edition of the Italian cup. The system is strictly knockout, but it is not entirely linear because not everyone enters at the same moment. Eight clubs start from the preliminary round, then the bracket expands to thirty-two participants, then to sixteen, and only in the round of 16 do the eight highest-ranked seeded teams enter according to last season’s standings and the status of title holder. In the quarter-finals, a single match is still played, the semi-final is the only two-legged phase, and the final is one evening, one trophy, and no second chance.

• Preliminary round: 10 August 2025
• Round of 32: 17 August 2025
• Round of 16: 24 September 2025
• Round of 16: 3 and 17 December 2025, and 13 and 27 January 2026
• Quarter-finals: 4 and 11 February 2026
• Semi-finals, first legs: 4 March 2026
• Semi-finals, second legs: 21 and 22 April 2026
• Final: 13 May 2026

That is also where the particular tension of this format lies. The big clubs do not have to pass through the August mines, but once they enter, there is almost no room for calculation. One bad start to the match, one red card, one penalty series, and the whole plan falls apart. That is exactly why the cup still has a different pulse from the league: it is not necessarily won by the most stable side, but by the one that is cool enough at the right moment.

Who is taking part

This season’s draw brought together 44 clubs from Serie A, Serie B and Serie C. This matters because Coppa Italia always comes most alive precisely in the clash of different levels: a top-flight side trying to preserve authority, a second-tier side that sees an opportunity for a step forward, and a third-tier side searching for its night.

• Serie A: Atalanta, Bologna, Cagliari, Como, Cremonese, Fiorentina, Genoa, Inter, Juventus, Lazio, Lecce, Milan, Napoli, Parma, Pisa, Roma, Sassuolo, Torino, Udinese, Verona
• Serie B: Avellino, Bari, Carrarese, Catanzaro, Cesena, Empoli, Frosinone, Juve Stabia, Mantova, Modena, Monza, Padova, Palermo, Pescara, Reggiana, Sampdoria, Spezia, Südtirol, Venezia, Virtus Entella
• Serie C: Audace Cerignola, Rimini, Ternana, LR Vicenza

The eight seeded teams that directly awaited the round of 16 were Bologna, Napoli, Inter, Atalanta, Juventus, Roma, Fiorentina and Lazio. On paper, that looks like protection for the elite, but the cup immediately showed how thin that protection is. Bologna, as the current holder, reached February and then was eliminated by Lazio after penalties. Fiorentina did not even reach the semi-finals because Como knocked them out. Juventus had no answer against Atalanta. In translation: seeded status is worth only until the first whistle.

How the road to the semi-finals opened up

The first major turning point happened in the round of 16. Inter crushed Venezia 5:1 and in doing so sent the message that they did not intend to play the cup with a reserve hand. Atalanta got through against Genoa with a 1:0 and left the impression of a team that knows how to win even when it is not lavish. Bologna beat Parma 2:1, Lazio eliminated Milan 1:0, Roma fell against Torino 2:3, and Como came out of Florence with a 3:1, which at the time looked like a surprise, and today looks like an announcement of a serious breakthrough. Napoli went through against Cagliari after 1:1, and Juventus eliminated Udinese. The quarter-finals additionally changed the map of the competition. Inter defeated Torino 2:1 in a match played in Monza, which in itself is already an unusual detail for a cup of this level. Atalanta steamrolled Juventus 3:0, thereby eliminating the club with the most Coppa Italia titles in history. Napoli and Como drew 1:1, and Como went through after a 7:6 penalty shootout, on one of those evenings that changes the tone of an entire season. Bologna and Lazio also finished 1:1, but the Roman side was more convincing from the spot, 4:1. Thus, the semi-final pairings became Como – Inter and Lazio – Atalanta. In the first legs, there was no separation. Como, on its lake, stopped Inter at 0:0, without a major result deficit that would break it in advance in the return leg. Lazio and Atalanta played out a 2:2, which turns the second leg in Bergamo into a match without shelter: everything is open, and even the smallest detail can decide it.

• Semi-finals, first legs: Como – Inter 0:0; Lazio – Atalanta 2:2
• Second legs: Inter – Como 21 April 2026; Atalanta – Lazio 22 April 2026

This is the moment of the season in which the cup is seen most clearly in its full face. Inter carries the depth and experience of big evenings, Atalanta rhythm and aggression, Lazio the tradition of matches decided by one move, and Como the story of an outsider that is no longer exotic, but a real candidate to go all the way.

The stadiums where this season is being written

Coppa Italia 2025/2026 is being played in stadiums of very different scales, and it is precisely that difference that gives it additional charm. In one week, the cup can live by the lake in Como, and already in the next under the floodlights of one of the largest stadiums in Europe.

• Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, Como – the city stadium by the lake, an atmosphere that is almost unreal for cup matches with stakes of this level; the currently approved capacity increase has raised the number of seats to 6,498
• Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan – Inter’s home, a European stage with a capacity of 75,817 seats; the second leg with Como will have a completely different acoustics and pressure there
• Stadio Olimpico, Rome – the stage of Lazio’s major domestic cup evenings, a stadium with a capacity of 72,698 seats and the place to which Coppa Italia has for years naturally been tied in its final acts
• New Balance Arena, Bergamo – formerly Gewiss Stadium, Atalanta’s home, which in the 2025/2026 season also entered a new name; it is more compact than the Roman and Milanese giant, but precisely for that reason it can be an extremely unpleasant space for visitors

For Inter, the cup as a rule gets a monumental backdrop. Giuseppe Meazza does not forgive a team that enters sluggishly, and against an opponent like Como that can be both an advantage and a burden. On the other side, Como has already shown that small numbers in the stands do not mean small reach on the pitch. Sinigaglia is not a stadium that frightens the opponent with size, but with proximity, unusual surroundings, and the feeling that the match stands right on the edge of the city and the water. Lazio and Atalanta offer a completely different contrast. Olimpico carries breadth, ceremony and the habit of great final scenes. Bergamo carries condensed pressure, tempo and an atmosphere in which the match often moves toward intensity before beauty. When the cup reaches April, precisely such details cease to be scenery and become a factor.

The defending champion and the shadows of last season

To understand the 2025/2026 season, it is necessary to look back to May 2025. Bologna then beat Milan 1:0 in the final and won its third Coppa Italia title, the first since 1974. The only scorer in the final was Dan Ndoye, and there were 68,490 spectators at the Roman final. That figure says a lot about the weight of the competition: the cup is not a passing stop in the Italian season, but an evening that still fills the Olimpico. Bologna therefore entered the new season as trophy holder, but the cup very rarely agrees to sentimental reruns. It reached the quarter-finals, drew there with Lazio 1:1 and was eliminated on penalties 1:4. Thus, already in February it became clear that Italy would get a new or at least a different protagonist of the final stage in May.

The history that constantly hangs over the competition

Coppa Italia has existed since 1922, and through the decades it has been both a refuge for giants and a stage for unexpected stories. Juventus is the most successful club in history with 15 titles, and behind it are Roma and Inter with nine each. That is exactly why Atalanta’s 3:0 against Juventus in the quarter-finals carries additional weight: it was not only a strong opponent that was eliminated, but the club that historically most often knows how to go all the way. Since 2008, the final has settled at Rome’s Olimpico, so in recent years the cup has been increasingly tied to one closing, almost ritual image: neutral ground, the capital city, one evening and an atmosphere that resembles a final act more than an ordinary cup match. That is why Coppa Italia still has a special internal logic. The league demands continuity over months; the cup demands nerve over minutes.

The numbers that show where the season breathes

By the beginning of March, that is, after the first semi-final matches, 42 matches had been played in the competition and 102 goals had been scored. That is an average of a little more than 2.4 goals per match, enough to speak of a cup that is neither sterile nor closed, but also not so unruly that every evening slips into chaos. At the top of the scorers’ chart were Anastasios Douvikas, Mateo Pellegrino and Mario Pašalić with three goals each. And here the numbers reveal an interesting detail. Douvikas’s Como is not an accidental passer-by, Pašalić’s Atalanta still has a strike from the second line, and Pellegrino’s output is a reminder that in the early phases of the cup stories are often born that later remain under the radar because the semi-final and final are run over by the floodlights.

The most interesting stories of the season

If this Coppa Italia is retold as a story, then it has several strong chapters. The first is Como. A club that does not have a seventy-thousand-seat stadium, nor the historical status of an Italian cup giant, but does have a semi-final and a real chance for the final. The road through Fiorentina and Napoli is not a romantic addition, but a serious competitive signature. Como reached the semi-finals by eliminating Napoli in the quarter-finals after a 7:6 penalty shootout, and that is the type of victory that brings not only qualification, but also the conviction that the pressure of the hardest evenings can be endured. The second is Atalanta. The club from Bergamo has for years lived not from reputation but from rhythm, automatisms and courage. In the quarter-finals, Juventus was brought down 3:0, without room for excuses. When you play such a match against the most decorated club in the cup, you enter the semi-final with different weight. The third is Inter. In the cup, it is often difficult to combine squad depth and real concentration, but Inter reached the semi-finals with enough authority that it still looks like one of the most serious candidates. The problem for Inter is that the 0:0 from Como is not a result that calms; it is a result that keeps the second leg alive until the final minute. The fourth is Lazio. The Romans did not reach the semi-finals through an easy path. They eliminated Milan and then Bologna, and now after 2:2 with Atalanta they stand in a very Italian situation: everything is open, but nothing will be won on reputation. For the final, either perfect patience or one move that changes the whole evening will be needed.

Why Coppa Italia still carries a different weight from an ordinary cup

The Italian cup is not always the competition that brings the most matches or the longest story, but it often brings the purest drama. In the league, you can correct a defeat a week later. In Coppa Italia, one poor hour can eliminate you from the entire season. That is why this season’s images are also so strong: Torino knocks out Roma, Como gets past Napoli, Lazio eliminates the defending champion, Atalanta puts out Juventus with three goals, and Inter must go for the final through a completely open second leg. In the 2025/2026 season, Coppa Italia for now looks exactly as a cup should look: with enough big names to carry weight, and enough cracks for someone unexpected to come through them. That is why this edition has already now left more than a mere schedule. It has left the impression of a competition in which favourites still exist, but no longer have the right to speak from above.