# 2023–24 Taça da Liga

The 2023–24 Taça da Liga was the seventeenth edition of the Taça da Liga (also known as Allianz Cup for sponsorship reasons), a football league cup competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional and contested exclusively by clubs competing in the top two professional tiers of Portuguese football – the Primeira Liga and the LigaPro. It began on 21 July 2023 and concluded with the final in Leiria on 27 January 2024.
Porto were the defending champions, having beaten Sporting CP 2–0 in the 2023 final, but were eliminated in the group stage after losing 3–1 to Estoril on 6 December 2023.

## Format

Twenty-eight teams, consisting of all teams from the 2022–23 Primeira Liga and Segunda Liga (with the exception of the top six teams in the 2022–23 Primeira Liga), took part in the first round; one-legged ties with no extra-time were played between the sided.
In the second round, the fourteen teams advancing from the previous round were joined by the teams which placed 5th and 6th in the 2022–23 Primeira Liga. Again, one-legged ties with no extra time were played between the sixteen sides.
The third round featured the eight teams advancing from the previous round and the four best-placed teams in the 2022–23 Primeira Liga. The twelve teams were drawn into four groups that were contested in a single round-robin schedule, with each team playing one game at home and one game on the opposition's home.
The four group winners qualified for the knockout phase, which featured single-legged ties, again with no extra time being played. The semi-finals and final were played at a neutral venue, held in Leiria in January 2024.
| Round | Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from previous round |
| First round (28 teams) | 16 teams from the 2023–24 Liga Portugal 2 9 teams ranked 7th–15th in the 2022–23 Primeira Liga 3 teams promoted to the 2023–24 Primeira Liga | |
| Second round (16 teams) | 2 teams ranked 5th and 6th in the 2022–23 Primeira Liga | 14 winners from the first round |
| Third round (12 teams) | 4 teams ranked 1st–4th in the 2022–23 Primeira Liga | 8 winners from the second round |
| Semi-finals (4 teams) | | 4 group winners from the third round |
| Final (2 teams) | | 2 winners from the semi-finals |

### Tiebreakers

In the third round, teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams were tied on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria were applied to determine the rankings:
* highest goal difference in all group matches;
* highest number of scored goals in all group matches;
* lowest average age of all players fielded in all group matches (sum of the ages of all fielded players divided by the number of fielded players).
In all other rounds, teams tied at the end of regular time contested a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner. No extra time was played.

## Teams

The thirty-four teams competing in the two professional tiers of Portuguese football for the 2023–24 season were eligible to participate in this competition. For teams that were either promoted or related, the final position in the previous league season determined in which round they entered the competition.
Third round (Primeira Liga) :
| Benfica (1st) | Porto (2nd) | Braga (3rd) | Sporting CP (4th) |
| Second round (Primeira Liga) ||||
| Arouca (5th) | Vitória de Guimarães (6th) | | |
| First round (Primeira and Segunda Liga) ||||
| Chaves (7th) | Famalicão (8th) | Boavista (9th) | Casa Pia (10th) |
| Vizela (11th) | Rio Ave (12th) | Gil Vicente (13th) | Estoril (14th) |
| Portimonense (15th) | Moreirense (P1) | Farense (P1) | Estrela da Amadora (P1) |
| Marítimo (R1) | Paços de Ferreira (R1) | Santa Clara (R1) | Académico de Viseu (4th) |
| Mafra (6th) | AVS (7th) | Feirense (8th) | Torreense (9th) |
| Oliveirense (10th) | Tondela (11th) | Penafiel (12th) | Nacional (13th) |
| Leixões (15th) | União de Leiria (P2) | Belenenses (P2) | Länk Vilaverdense (P2) |

### Key

* Nth: League position in the 2022–23 season
* P1: Promoted to the Primeira Liga
* R1: Relegated to the Liga Portugal 2
* P2: Promoted to the Liga Portugal 2

## Schedule

| Round | Round | Draw date | Match date(s) | Teams | Fixtures |
| First round | First round | 3 July 2023 | 21–29 July 2023 | 34 → 20 | 14 |
| Second round | Second round | 3 July 2023 | 28 July – 9 September 2023 | 20 → 12 | 8 |
| Third round | Matchday 1 | 11 September 2023 | 26–28 September 2023 | 12 → 4 | 12 |
| Third round | Matchday 2 | 11 September 2023 | 31 October – 6 December 2023 | 12 → 4 | 12 |
| Third round | Matchday 3 | 11 September 2023 | 21–23 December 2023 | 12 → 4 | 12 |
| Final four | Semi-finals | 11 September 2023 | 23–24 January 2024 | 4 → 2 | 2 |
| Final four | Final | 11 September 2023 | 27 January 2024 | 2 → 1 | 1 |

## First round

Twenty-eight teams consisting in all teams from Primeira and Segunda Liga with exception of the top 6 teams in 2022–23 Primeira Liga took part in the first round. Twenty-eight teams were paired against each other for fourteen single-legged ties. The draw took place on 3 July 2023, and the matches were played on 21 and 29 July 2023. Games tied at the end of regular time were decided by a penalty shoot-out, with no extra time being played. The first team drawn in each fixture played at home.

## Second round

In the second round, the fourteen first-round winners joined the two teams ranked 5th and 6th in the 2022–23 Primeira Liga. Sixteen teams were paired against each other for twelve single-legged ties. The draw took place on 3 July 2023, and the matches were played on 28 July and 9 September 2023. Games tied at the end of regular time were decided by a penalty shoot-out, with no extra time being played. The first team drawn in each fixture played at home.

## Third round

In the third round, the eight second-round winners joined the four top-ranked teams from the 2022–23 Primeira Liga: Benfica (1st), Porto (2nd), Braga (3rd) and Sporting CP (4th). These twelve teams were drawn into four groups of three, each group containing one of the four top-ranked Primeira Liga teams. Group matches were played in a single round-robin schedule, ensuring that each team played at least one match at home.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | BRA | CAS | NAC |
| 1 | Braga | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 4 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 1–1 | — |
| 2 | Casa Pia | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 4 | | — | — | 2–1 |
| 3 | Nacional | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 0 | | 1–3 | — | — |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | BEN | ARO | AVS |
| 1 | Benfica | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 6 | Advance to knockout phase | — | — | 4–1 |
| 2 | Arouca | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 3 | | 0–2 | — | — |
| 3 | AVS | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 0 | | — | 1–2 | — |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | SPO | FAR | TON |
| 1 | Sporting CP | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 6 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 4–2 | — |
| 2 | Farense | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 3 | | — | — | 1–0 |
| 3 | Tondela | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 0 | | 1–2 | — | — |

### Group D

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | EST | POR | LEI |
| 1 | Estoril | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 6 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 3–1 | — |
| 2 | Porto | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 3 | | — | — | 2–1 |
| 3 | Leixões | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 0 | | 1–2 | — | — |

## Knockout phase

The knockout phase was contested as a final-four tournament by the four third round group winners in one-legged semi-finals and final. All matches were played in a single venue, decided before the competition had started. As in the first and second round, matches tied at the end of regular time were decided by a penalty shoot-out, with no extra time being played.
All matches were played at the Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa in Leiria, with the semi-finals played on 23–24 January, and the final on 27 January 2024.
| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 23 January – Leiria | 23 January – Leiria |
| Braga | 1 |
| Braga | 1 | 27 January – Leiria | 27 January – Leiria |
| Sporting CP | 0 | 27 January – Leiria | 27 January – Leiria |
| Sporting CP | 0 | Braga (p) | 1 (5) |
| 24 January – Leiria | 24 January – Leiria | | Braga (p) | 1 (5) |
| 24 January – Leiria | 24 January – Leiria | Estoril | 1 (4) |
| Benfica | 1 (4) | Estoril | 1 (4) |
| Estoril (p) | 1 (5) | | |