The 2016 Hazfi Cup final was the 29th final since 1975. The match was an wonderful for both teams to get a chance to clinch a title after a good season. Zob Ahan was the defending champion in the competition, if they won it would their first time in the club history to win any competition back-to-back. Zob Ahan had the lead but Esteghlal equalized it at the second half. There was nothing to separate the two teams in the extra-time, Esteghlal lost to Zob Ahan in penalties. Zob Ahan qualified for the group stage of the 2017 AFC Champions League. Esteghlal also went to the play-offs for AFC Champions League because of their third position at the league.
Format The tie was contested over one legs, simply to last edition. If the teams could still not be separated, then extra time would have been played with a penalty shootout (taking place if the teams were still level after that).
Pre-match
Match history This was Zob Ahan's fifth Hazfi final and Esteghlal's ninth appearance in the final match of the tournament. Zob Ahan lastly won the cup in 2002–03, 2008–09 and 2014–15. Their other final appearance was in 2000–01 season where they lost to Fajr Sepasi.
Esteghlal didn't make it to the final of Hazfi Cup for four years, Esteghlal lately won the cup in 1977, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2008, and 2012, Esteghlal was runners-up four times.
Details
Zob Ahan: 4-3-3 GK 12 Mohammad Rashid MazaheriDF 3 Walid IsmailDF 33 Vahid MohammadzadehDF 4 Hadi MohammadiDF 18 Ali Hamam MF 8 Ghasem Hadadifar (c)MF 11 Morteza Tabrizi MF 16 Mehdi MehdipourFW 23 Danial EsmaeilifarFW 30 Mehdi RajabzadehFW 9 Kaveh RezaeiManager: Yahya Golmohammadi
Esteghlal: 4-5-1 GK 1 Mehdi Rahmati (c)DF 34 Milad Fakhreddini DF 5 Hanif OmranzadehDF 15 Hrayr MkoyanDF 20 Meysam Majidi MF 3 Mohammad Reza KhorsandniaMF 6 Omid EbrahimiMF 88 Farshid Esmaeili MF 8 Yaghoub KarimiMF 11 Jaber Ansari FW 77 Behnam BarzayManager: Parviz Mazloumi
Man of the match Ghasem Hadadifar (Zob Ahan)
Assistant referees: Hassan Zaheri Javad Sharafi Fourth official:
Match rules: 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary Penalty shoot-out if scores still level Seven named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions
See also 2015–16 Iran Pro League 2015–16 Azadegan League 2015–16 Iran Football's 2nd Division 2015–16 Iran Football's 3rd Division 2015–16 Hazfi Cup Iranian Super Cup 2015–16 Iranian Futsal Super League Esteghlal season Zob Ahan season
References