{"id":484238,"date":"2026-02-18T07:42:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T06:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/?p=484238"},"modified":"2026-02-18T07:42:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T06:42:54","slug":"copa-del-rey-2026-preview-by-our-correspondent-marta-bollini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/copa-del-rey-2026-preview-by-our-correspondent-marta-bollini\/","title":{"rendered":"Copa Del Rey 2026 | Preview by our correspondent Marta Bollini"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 Copa del Rey<\/strong> lands in the Capital of the Turia<\/strong>, with the stunning Roig Arena<\/span><\/span> \u2014 the new 15,600-seat home of Valencia Basket<\/span><\/span> \u2014 set to host the tournament. The event will reach 153 countries across five continents<\/strong>, with more than 60 hours of live TV coverage<\/strong>. For the taronja<\/em>, the mission is to protect their fortress and break the so-called host curse: it has been 24 years<\/strong> since the home team last lifted the trophy. Real Madrid Baloncesto<\/span><\/span>, meanwhile, will try to avenge last season\u2019s final defeat right away in the quarterfinals, facing Unicaja Baloncesto<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n

As always, the Copa del Rey will be more than just a sporting event: it\u2019s a true celebration for the fanbases of the participating clubs \u2014 and beyond \u2014 with over 10,000 people expected<\/strong>. An unprecedented Fan Zone<\/strong> set up between the Roig Arena and L’Alqueria del Basket<\/span><\/span> (home of the Minicopa Endesa) will be the beating heart of the atmosphere. Food trucks, stands, concerts and countless activities will guide supporters toward the much-anticipated encuentro de aficiones<\/em> scheduled for Saturday at 12:00<\/strong>. One of this year\u2019s new features will be Comando Copa<\/strong>, a roaming show moving through the streets of the Capital of the Turia with the aim of bringing even non-fans closer to the world of basketball.<\/p>\n

Thursday, February 19, 2026<\/h3>\n

VALENCIA BASKET\u2013ASISA JOVENTUT | 18:00<\/strong>
The 2026 Copa del Rey tips off with the host Valencia Basket<\/span><\/span> against the Catalans from Badalona, Club Joventut Badalona<\/span><\/span>, who beat the taronja<\/em> in their penultimate Liga Endesa<\/span><\/span> meeting at the Olimpic. Pedro Mart\u00ednez<\/span><\/span>\u2019s team arrive as one of the favourites, but with the added pressure of ending a drought that has seen the host club fail to win since 2002 in Vitoria. Valencia make it 14 straight Copa appearances<\/strong>, while Joventut are the third most successful club<\/strong> in the competition, behind Madrid and Bar\u00e7a.<\/p>\n

REAL MADRID\u2013UNICAJA | 21:00<\/strong>
The second quarterfinal is a remake of last season\u2019s final and their most recent Liga Endesa clash: the club with the most titles (29 trophies<\/strong>) meets the reigning Copa holder. Real Madrid Baloncesto<\/span><\/span> come in as winter champions, while Unicaja Baloncesto<\/span><\/span> arrive in a solid run of form despite losing their last league game, after a difficult start to the season. It will be up to Sergio Scariolo<\/span><\/span> to try to bring the trophy back to Madrid, starting with the very opponent with whom he won Andalusia\u2019s first Copa del Rey in 2005.<\/p>\n

Friday, February 20, 2026<\/h3>\n

KOSNER BASKONIA\u2013LA LAGUNA TENERIFE | 18:00<\/strong>
Saski Baskonia<\/span><\/span> return to the Copa after a two-year absence, entering as a seeded team \u2014 a status secured at the last gasp after winning a rescheduled game against CB Gran Canaria<\/span><\/span> \u2014 and aiming to bring a trophy back to Vitoria, where it has been missing since 2009. On the other side, CB Canarias<\/span><\/span> (La Laguna Tenerife), in their 10th consecutive<\/strong> Copa appearance and finalists in 2023, will look to push Giuseppe Galbiati<\/span><\/span>\u2019s team in what promises to be a wide-open matchup.<\/p>\n

BAR\u00c7A\u2013UCAM MURCIA | 21:00<\/strong>
A spicy finale to the quarterfinal slate, as the much-anticipated FC Barcelona B\u00e0squet<\/span><\/span> of Xavi Pascual<\/span><\/span> meet UCAM Murcia CB<\/span><\/span> coached by Sito Alonso<\/span><\/span>. The teams share the same league position (third place at 14-6<\/strong>) and Murcia are 2-0<\/strong> this season in Liga Endesa head-to-heads, while the only previous Copa meeting between them came in the 2022 semifinal, won by Bar\u00e7a 90-103<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Copa arrives in the Capital of Turia: 153 countries from 5 continents connected to follow the event, over 10,000 fans expected<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":484224,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_spbk_hide_featured":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[305],"tags":[],"rumors":[],"typology":[],"posizionamento":[],"class_list":["post-484238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acb"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/02\/RS882079_TROFEO-16.9-copia_01.jpg","digistream_id":0,"digistream":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484238"},{"taxonomy":"rumors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rumors?post=484238"},{"taxonomy":"typology","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/typology?post=484238"},{"taxonomy":"posizionamento","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posizionamento?post=484238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}