UEFA Regions' Cup 2023 final preview: Galicia vs Belgrade

Hosts Galicia play FA of Belgrade in Saturday's UEFA Regions' Cup final, which will decide the 12th edition of Europe's premier amateur football tournament.

The lowdown

Two categories of teams have a particular good record of getting to UEFA Regions' Cup finals since the competition began in 1999: sides from Spain and hosts. Since Galicia are the first Spanish region to stage the competition, their presence in Saturday's decider is in keeping with precedent, though opponents Belgrade are the first from Serbia to make it that far.

Galicia are into the final on home soilUEFA via Sportsfile

Should Belgrade wish to add their nation to the roll of honour, they will have to do something that only Dolnośląski have managed in the seven previous finals involving a host team, and inflict defeat on the locals, the Polish side doing it to both South-East Region Bulgaria in 2007 and Bavaria last time out in 2019 (the 2021 edition having been cancelled due to COVID).

Dolnośląski were one of Belgrade's Group B victims, their title defence ended 1-0 on Matchday 2, after the Serbian representatives had drawn with fellow 2011 bronze-medallists Zlín, and they clinched their final spot by beating Lisboa 2-1 on Wednesday with two Marko Gavrilović goals. Mladen Miljković's booking in that game means he is suspended on Saturday, but Nemanja Vuković returns from his Matchday 3 ban.

Belgrade after making the finalUEFA via Sportsfile

Galicia were perfect in their three Group A games, defeating Republic of Ireland Amateur 2-0, Zenica-Doboj 2-1 and, in a must-win decider, 2019 runners-up Bavaria 1-0 courtesy of an early Álex Rey penalty. Around 2,200 fans were at A Lomba Stadium for that game and even more are expected on Saturday, perhaps threatening the finals record of 3,500 for that 2007 decider between South-East Bulgaria and Dolnośląski in Sliven.

Views from the camps

Ivan Cancela, Galicia coach: "The route here was difficult as there were many teams that could have reached this final.

"Belgrade are a good team with fine players. I think it will be a good match and it will be very important for Galicia to dictate the rhythm, to get the ball, to pass the ball."

Jesús Varela, Galicia captain: "It gives us extra energy to play in Galicia at home. Belgrade are a good team. I hope people enjoy the game.

"Obviously it's a final and we are looking forward to an even bigger crowd. Wednesday was a working day, Saturday isn't so I hope the stadium will be full."

Coaches Ivan Cancela and Goran JankovićUEFA via Sportsfile

Goran Janković, Belgrade coach: "We know that Galicia are very good. They played the best football in the group stage so it will be a tough game, very difficult for us. But in this tournament every game we have played better and better so we hope we will show our best.

"We know their quality and they will have a big crowd behind then, so we will have a lot of motivation to show our best football. If before the tournament someone had told us we would play the final we would have been satisfied, but now we want more."

Miloš Šarić, Belgrade captain: "We are looking forward to the atmosphere. We hope the stands will be full of fans. It will be a tough match for us players on the pitch. We are playing for Belgrade, we are playing for Serbia, and we know why we came here."

The trophy at A Lomba StadiumUEFA via Sportsfile

Key stats

• Galicia are the fifth different Spanish region to reach the final; the previous tally of four was already a record.
• Galicia could be a record third different region from the same nation to win the title after Basque Country in 2005 and Castilla y León in 2009. Italy already have three wins, but two were for Veneto in 1999 and 2013, the other C. R. Piemonte Valle d'Aosta in 2013.
• Serbia have never previously had a finalist and are the 12th nation to do so, and aim to be the eighth association to claim the title.
• Belgrade had previously recorded Serbia's best performance, bronze in 2011 (third place is shared between the two group runners-up).
• Hosts have previously been in seven of the 11 past finals and won five.
• No final has ever been decided by more than one goal.
• Galicia can equal the record of Veneto, who won the 2013 finals (also as hosts) conceding just one goal. However, Veneto also kept three clean sheets in qualifying while Galicia conceded twice.