2018–19 Taça da Liga

The 2018–19 Taça da Liga is the twelfth edition of the Taça da Liga (also known as Allianz Cup for sponsorship reasons), a football cup competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) and contested exclusively by clubs competing in the top two professional tiers of Portuguese football. It will begin on 21 July 2018.

Format
The eleven teams placed 4th-16th in the 2017–18 LigaPro (reserve teams from Primeira Liga clubs are excluded) take part in the first round; one-legged ties will be played between ten teams, with one team receiving a bye to the next round..

In the second round, the six teams advancing from the previous round (five winners plus the one teams with a bye) will be joined by the fourteen teams placed 5th–18th in the 2017–18 Primeira Liga, the by the two teams promoted to 2018–19 Primeira Liga and the team placed 3rd in the 2017–18 LigaPro. Again, one-legged ties were played between 22 teams, with one team receiving a bye to the next round.

The third round featured the twelve teams advancing from the previous round (eleven winners plus the one team with a bye) and the four best-placed teams in the 2017–18 Primeira Liga. The sixteen teams are drawn into four groups that will be contested in a single round-robin format, with each team playing at least one game at home. The four group winners qualified for the semi-finals, which will be played as single-legged ties. The semi-finals and final will be played at a neutral venue.

Tiebreakers
In the third round, teams are ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If two or more teams are tied on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:
 * 1) highest goal difference in all group matches;
 * 2) highest number of scored goals in all group matches;
 * 3) 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 contest a penalty shootout to determine the winner.

Teams
Thirty-three teams competing in the two professional tiers of Portuguese football for the 2018–19 season are eligible to participate in this competition. For teams in both leagues, the final position in the previous league season determined in which round they enter the competition.


 * Key:
 * Nth: League position in the 2017–18 season
 * P1: Promoted to the Primeira Liga
 * P2: Promoted to the LigaPro
 * R1: Relegated to the LigaPro

First round
The 11 non-reserve teams competing in the 2018–19 LigaPro entered the competition in this round. Ten teams were paired against each other for five single-legged ties, while the eleventh team (Oliveirense) was given a bye to the next round. The draw took place on 11 July 2018, and matches will be played on 21 and 22 July 2017.

Second round
In the second round, the five first-round winners and Oliveirense, who was given a bye to this round, joined the 14 teams ranked 5th–18th in the 2017–18 Primeira Liga, the team ranked 3rd and the two teams promoted from the 2017–18 LigaPro. Twenty two teams were paired against each other for eleven single-legged ties, while Vitória de Setúbal was given a bye to the next round. The draw took place on 11 July 2018, and matches will be played on 29 July 2018.