The 2015–16 KNVB Cup tournament was the 98th edition of the Dutch national football annual knockout tournament to determine the winner of the KNVB Cup.
FC Groningen unsuccessfully defended its 2015 title losing in the third round to FC Utrecht, 5–3. Feyenoord successfully pursued its 2016 Cup title on 24 April 2016 at De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam defeating FC Utrecht, 2–1. 45,592 in attendance. They qualified for: the group stage in the Europa League the following season and the Johan Cruyff Shield, the Dutch Supercup match between the Cup winner and the champions of the Eredivisie.
Qualification Teams qualified for the Cup through the following: (reserve teams were excluded)
Competition (tiers and how they qualified)Number of teamsRound in which they enterEredivisie, Eerste Divisie (1, 2)35Second roundTopklasse (3, champions and winners of period titles of the 2014–15 Topklasse)10Topklasse (remaining teams of the 2015–16 Topklasse)16First roundKNVB District Cups (15 from tier 4, 4 from tier 5, 2 from tier 6 and 3 from tier 7, the semi-finalists of the 2014–15 KNVB District Cups)24
Calendar The calendar is as follows: RoundDraw date (location of the draw) Date First round1 July 2015 (at the KNVB headquarters in Zeist) 26 August 2015 Second round 22–24 September 2015 Third round24 September 2015 (at De Kuip, Rotterdam) 27–29 October 2015 Round of 1629 October 2015 (at the Rabobank IJmond Stadion, Velsen-Zuid) 15–17 December 2015 Quarter-finals17 December 2015 (at De Kuip, Rotterdam) 2–4 February 2016 Semi-finals4 February 2016 (at the Philips Stadion, Eindhoven) 2 and 3 March 2016 Final 24 April 2016 Source: Royal Dutch Football Association
First round Only amateur teams compete in this round. Matches were played on 26 August 2015. Due to heavy rainfall four matches were abandoned during the game and finished one week later on 2 September 2015
Second round Winners from the first round compete against all professional clubs.
Third round The 32 winners from the previous round progress to this stage.
Fourth round The 16 winners from the previous round progress to this stage.
Quarter-finals The 8 winners from the previous round progress to this stage.
Semi-finals The 4 winners from the previous round progress to this stage.
Final
The 2 winners from the previous round progressed to the final. The winner of the semi-final match between Feyenoord and AZ is marked as the 'home' team in the final, as that was the first match to be drawn at the draw for the semi-finals.
References