2025 UEFA Regions' Cup final preview: Aragón vs Dolnośląski

The 2025 UEFA Regions' Cup final will be played between Spain's Aragón and Poland's Dolnośląski Region on Tuesday in Acquaviva, San Marino.

The lowdown

Two major forces in UEFA's amateur championship come head to head in the historic first European final in San Marino. Dolnośląski, champions in 2007 and 2019, are going for an unprecedented third title, with no distinct region having even reached that many deciders, and set a record just by qualifying for their fifth final tournament. Their teams contains many veterans of 2023 – when they departed without a goal scored – their 2019 triumph and even, in the case of Jakub Bohdanowicz and Marcin Gasiorowski, 2015.

Aragón are in their first final tournament but their run has confirmed Spain as a Regions' Cup powerhouse. They are the eighth Spanish team to claim a medal – twice as many as any other nation – are their record sixth different finalists from the 13 editions and aim to claim their fourth title. They hope to succeed 2023 hosts Galicia as champions; Aragón defeated the Regions' Cup holders in the Spanish qualifying competition final to earn their own spot in Europe.

Dolnośląski made it to the final with a game to spare, beating both Switzerland's Vaud and Croata's Rijeka Region, before a 2-1 win against Finland's Länsi-Vantaan Ylpeys. They were able to rotate their squad for the last match, some luxury in a tournament with four games in nine days, the earlier kick-offs played in sweltering temperatures.

Aragón conceded a late equaliser in their 1-1 draw with Czechia's Hradec Králové but then beat hosts San Marino 1-0 and, needing a win to reach the final, saw off Serbia's FA of Vojvodina. Chegu scored twice and the Aragón front three of himself and Víctor Charlez flanking César San Agustín could be the key to the decider.

Views from the camps

Richi Civera, Aragón coach: "We are going into the final in the best possible mindset. The team is in mint condition and ready for the game; I am happy with how the team is developing, both in attack and defence. We are happy how we are defending here as we have only conceded one goal and have not lost in our 11 games in this campaign [including Spanish qualifying].

"We have the utmost respect for Dolnośląski, we know they are very strong, especially in defence. We are taking on a very experienced team who have won this title twice and are in their third final so we are well aware of the size of our task."

Jacek Kołodziejczyk, Dolnośląski coach: "We have had a good tournament so far, winning three games and only conceding once. We have won nine games [including Polish qualification] and we feel very good about those nine wins.

"We know the quality of Aragón, they definitely are the best attacking team in this tournament, they created the most chances. But we have only conceded one goal here and we are comfortable playing in the counter as we will try to do again."

Karol Losin, Aragón defender: "Our team are very motivated and confident in the game we have been playing. We cannot wait to start, that is the hunger of the team and how we feel. Dolnośląski have defended very well in this tournament, they are an amazing team in that respect but now they are facing the best attack in the tourament, so I hope it will be a great match.

[On facing a team from Poland, where he has nationality] "When it looked like this might be the final I was thrilled to have the chance to play my compatriots – I will understand everything they say, every swearword, maybe I will be the only person on that pitch with that knowledge!"

Paweł Niemienionek, Dolnośląski captain: "We think we have prepared well for this final. We have won nine games out of nine so we feel very comfortable going into the final and we are here to win. We know Aragón like to keep possession during the game but we have a plan and we are going to carry it out for victory."

Regions' Cup final refereeing team

UEFA via Getty Images

Robertas Valikonis of Lithuania will referee the final, assisted by compatriot Vytenis Kazlauskas and San Marino's Gian Marco Ercolani. Fourth official Michele Beltrano is also from the host nation.

Valikonis, 42, became an international referee in 2013, initially in futsal as well as football, and has acted as a referee, fourth official and additional assistant referee in many UEFA competitions. He is the first referee from Lithuania to take charge of a UEFA final. Ercolani and Beltrano are the first officials from San Marino to be involved in a UEFA final.

 Key stats

• Dolnośląski are the first distinct region to reach three finals and hope to be the first to claim a third title – Veneto of Italy, the only other multiple champions, won in 1999 and 2013.
• Adam Bońkowski, Adrian Niewiadomski, Jakub Bohdanowicz and Pawel Niemienionek all played for Dolnośląski in their 2019 final win against Bavaria. They could become the first four players to take part in and win two Regions' Cup finals.
• Aragón are a record sixth finalists from Spain, who are also already the only nation with three previous distinct champions (Basque Country in 2005, Castilla y León in 2009 and Galicia in 2023). Italy are currently level with Spain on three titles overall. Never before has one nation provided two consecutive champions.
• Dolnośląski hope to be the fourth team to win the competition with a perfect record (not counting penalty shoot-outs) including qualifying after Spain's Castilla y León in 2009, Portugal's Braga in 2011 and Eastern Region of Republic of Ireland in 2015. They were the first team to win all three of their group games since both Eastern Region and Croatia's Zagreb in 2015.
• If either side win and keep a clean sheet, they would equal the record of fewest final tournament goals conceded while winning the competition – 1, Veneto in 2013 and Eastern Region in 2015. Aragón, like Veneto in the 2013 edition, also kept three qualifying clean sheets.
• Vaud's Samir Benkreira is the finals top scorer on three goals. Chegu of Aragón is on two with team-mates Rober and Daniel Torcal, and Dolnośląski's Dawid Bąk, Adam Bońkowski, Kamil Olek and Dawid Wasilewski all on one.
• This is the first UEFA tournament final to be played in San Marino.