The 2015–16 Polish Cup was the 62nd season of the annual Polish football knockout tournament. It began on 18 July 2015 with the first matches of the preliminary round and ended on 2 May 2016 with the final at the Stadion Narodowy in Warsaw. Winners of the competition qualified for the qualifying tournament of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League.
The 2015–16 season brought several changes into the competition format determined by the 2014 reform of II liga (3rd tier), which decreased the number of teams playing in the league from 36 to 18 and the number of teams participating in the Polish Cup from 86 to 68. The tournament had one preliminary round (instead of two in previous seasons), in which also the 6 lowest-ranked I liga (2nd tier) teams entered.
Legia Warsaw successfully defended the Polish Cup champion title, winning the final game 1–0 against Lech Poznań and secured their eighteenth title.
Participating teams Enter in Round of 32 Enter in First round Enter in Preliminary round 2014–15 Ekstraklasa16 teams 2014–15 I Liga12 highest ranked teams 2014–15 I Liga6 lowest ranked teams 2014–15 II liga18 teams Winners of 16 regional cup competitions Lech Poznań Legia Warsaw Jagiellonia Białystok Śląsk Wrocław Lechia Gdańsk Wisła Kraków Górnik Zabrze Pogoń Szczecin Cracovia Ruch Chorzów Korona Kielce Piast Gliwice Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała Górnik Łęczna Zawisza Bydgoszcz GKS Bełchatów Zagłębie Lubin Termalica Bruk-Bet Nieciecza Wisła Płock Olimpia Grudziądz Chojniczanka Chojnice Dolcan Ząbki Stomil Olsztyn GKS Katowice Wigry Suwałki Arka Gdynia Chrobry Głogów Miedź Legnica Bytovia Bytów Sandecja Nowy Sącz Pogoń Siedlce GKS Tychy Widzew Łódź2 Flota Świnoujście3 MKS Kluczbork Zagłębie Sosnowiec Rozwój Katowice Raków Częstochowa KS ROW 1964 Rybnik1 Błękitni Stargard Szczeciński Stal Stalowa Wola Stal Mielec Znicz Pruszków Nadwiślan Góra Legionovia Legionowo Siarka Tarnobrzeg Wisła Puławy Okocimski KS Brzesko Puszcza Niepołomice Kotwica Kołobrzeg Górnik Wałbrzych Limanovia Limanowa4 Ślęza Wrocław (Lower Silesia) Wda Świecie (Kujawy-Pomerania) Chełmianka Chełm (Lublin) Stilon Gorzów Wielkopolski (Lubusz) Boruta Zgierz (Łódź) Garbarnia Kraków (Lesser Poland) Ursus Warszawa (Mazovia) Odra Opole (Opole) Resovia Rzeszów (Podkarpacie) ŁKS Łomża (Podlasie) Rodło Kwidzyn (Pomerania) Grunwald Ruda Śląska (Silesia) Wisła Sandomierz (Świętokrzyskie) Olimpia Olsztynek (Warmia-Masuria) KKS 1925 Kalisz (Greater Poland) Gwardia Koszalin (West Pomerania) Source: 90minut.pl Notes Competed in 2014–15 season as Energetyk ROW Rybnik. Widzew Łódź dissolved after the 2014–15 season. Flota Świnoujście dissolved after the 2014–15 season. Limanovia withdrew from the competition, citing financial difficulties.
Round and draw dates Round Draw date First leg Second leg Preliminary round 17 June 2015 18–19 July 2015 — First round 25–26 July 2015 Round of 32 23 July 2015 12 August 2015 Round of 16 23 September 2015 Quarter-finals 28 October 2015 18 November 2015 Semi-finals 16 December 2015 30 March 2016 20 April 2016 Final 2 May 2016at the National Stadium, Warsaw — Source: 90minut.pl
Preliminary round The draw for this round was conducted at the headquarters of the Polish FA on 17 June 2015. Participating in this round were 16 regional cup winners, 18 teams from the 2014–15 II Liga and 6 lowest ranked teams from the 2014–15 I Liga. The matches were played on 18, 19 and 22 July 2015.
16 of the 24 I Liga and II Liga teams participating in the preliminary round were drawn against the 16 regional cup winners, and the remaining 8 were drawn against each other. Games were hosted by teams playing in the lower division in the 2015–16 season. The host of Znicz Pruszków vs. Nadwiślan Góra (both playing in II Liga) game was determined by the order in which the teams were drawn.
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|18 July 2015
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|19 July 2015
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|22 July 2015
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|No match
Notes Note 1: Flota Świnoujście dissolved after the 2014–2015 season and withdrew from the Polish Cup. The successor club plays in the Szczecin I group of the A klasa (8th tier) Note 2: Widzew Łódź dissolved after the 2014–2015 season and withdrew from the Polish Cup. The successor club plays in the Łódź Voivodeship IV Liga (5th tier) Note 3: Limanovia withdrew from the competition, citing financial difficulties.
First round The draw for this round was conducted at the headquarters of the Polish FA on 17 June 2015. The matches were played on 25, 26, 28 and 29 July 2015. Participating in this round were the 20 winners from the previous round and 12 highest ranked teams from the 2014–15 I Liga.
The 12 teams joining in this round were seeded and their opponents were drawn from the 20 winners of the preliminary round (the other 8 formed the remaining 4 matches). Games will be hosted by teams playing in the lower division in the 2015–16 season. Hosts of matches between teams playing in the same tier were decided by a draw conducted on 20 July 2015, with the exception of the Katowice derby, where both teams agreed to play on GKS's Stadion Miejski.
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|25 July 2015
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|26 July 2015
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|28 July 2015
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|29 July 2015
Bracket
Round of 32 The draw for this round was conducted at the PGE Narodowy on 23 July 2015. The matches were played on 11, 12 and 13 August 2015. Participating in this round are the 16 winners from the previous round and 16 teams from the 2014–15 Ekstraklasa.
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|11 August 2015
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|12 August 2015
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|13 August 2015
Round of 16 Competing in this round were the 16 winners from the previous round. The draw for this round was conducted at the National Stadium, Warsaw on 23 July 2015. Matches were played on 15, 16, 22–24 September 2015. Hosts of matches between teams playing in the same tier were decided by a draw conducted on 14 August 2015.
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|15 September 2015
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|16 September 2015
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|22 September 2015
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|23 September 2015
! colspan="3" style="background:cornsilk;"|24 September 2015
Quarter-finals The 8 winners from Round of 16 competed in this round. The matches were played in two legs. The first leg took place on the 27 and 28 October 2015. The second leg took place on 18–19 November and 16 December 2015. The draw for this round was conducted at the National Stadium, Warsaw on 23 July 2015. Host of first match between teams playing in the same tier were decided by a draw conducted on 28 September 2015.
First leg
Second leg
Semi-finals The 4 winners from Quarterfinals will compete in this round. The matches will be played in two legs. The first leg took place on 15–16 March 2016. The second leg took place on 5–6 April 2016. The draw for this round was conducted at Stadion Miejski, Wrocław on 16 December 2015.
First leg
Second leg
Final The final match was played at the Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw on 2 May 2016.
GK1 Jasmin BurićRB4 Tomasz KędzioraCB23 Paulus ArajuuriCB35 Marcin KamińskiLB5 Tamás Kádár CM6 Łukasz Trałka (c) CM55 Abdul Aziz TettehRM11 Gergő Lovrencsics AM7 Karol LinettyLM8 Szymon Pawłowski CF24 Dawid Kownacki Substitutes:GK27 Krzysztof KotorowskiDF3 Vladimir VolkovMF10 Darko Jevtić MF14 Maciej Gajos DF21 Kebba CeesayDF26 Maciej WiluszMF29 Kamil Jóźwiak Manager: Jan Urban GK1 Arkadiusz MalarzRB5 Artur JędrzejczykCB4 Igor LewczukCB2 Michał Pazdan (c) LB14 Adam HloušekRM8 Ondrej Duda CM7 Ariel BorysiukCM3 Tomasz JodłowiecLM18 Michał KucharczykFW99 Aleksandar Prijović FW9 Nemanja Nikolić Substitutes:GK33 Radosław CierzniakMF6 Guilherme DF17 Tomasz BrzyskiDF19 Bartosz BereszyńskiMF22 Kasper Hämäläinen MF23 Stojan VranješMF77 Mihail Aleksandrov Manager: Stanislav Cherchesov
Match officials: Referee: Szymon Marciniak Assistant referees: Paweł Sokolnicki Tomasz Listkiewicz Additional assistant referees: Paweł Raczkowski Tomasz Musiał Fourth official: Radosław SiejkaMatch rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.
Top goalscorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Nemanja NikolićLegia Warsaw62 Aleksandar PrijovićLegia Warsaw53 Kamil DrygasZawisza Bydgoszcz3 Szymon LewickiZawisza Bydgoszcz3 Damian ŁanuchaStal Stalowa Wola3 Szymon MatuszekDolcan Ząbki3 Eryk SobkówZagłębie Lubin3 Radosław WiśniewskiBłękitni Stargard Szczeciński3
Notes
References
See also 2015–16 Ekstraklasa 2015–16 I Liga