The Danish Men's Handball cup (Danish: Landspokalturneringen i håndbold for herrer) is the nationwide cup tournament for men's handball teams in Denmark. It’s also known as Santander Cup for sponsorship reasons. The competition has been played annually since 1964.
Tournament structure
The initial fase of the tournament is split in two. They are managed by the three regional federations, Jydsk Håndbold Forbund (JHF) in Jutland, and Håndboldregion Øst (HRØ) in Sealand together with Fyns Håndbold Forbund (FHF) in fyn. The western half of the initial tournament lasts 7 rounds, while the eastern half lasts 6 round.
After the initial fase the DHF taking over the tournament at the round of 16. At the round of 16 and onwards, there are no longer geographical considerations, when drawing the matches.
The tournament ultimately results in a final four event scheduled between Christmas and New Year. The winner of the tournament qualify for the annual Super Cup held during the summer where they meet the season's league winner. If the same team wins both the league and the cup, the losing cup finalist will participate as the second team in the Super Cup. The winner also qualifies for the EHF European League.
Continental Qualification
The winner of the tournament qualifies for the continental tournament EHF European League. If the team is already qualified for the tournament or the EHF Champions League, the loser of the final will qualify instead.
If they are also qualified, the qualification spot will go the whichever of the two losing semifinalists, who finished the highest in the league table.
History
From 2001 to 2014 all finals where played in Aarhus, with the exception of 2011 where it took plays in Aalborg. Since 2010 the semifinals and finals have been played at one big event, where the semifinals are played on a saturday, while the final is played the day after, on sunday.