Iranian Hazfi Cup

Hazfi Cup
Organising body	Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI)
Founded	1976; 48 years ago (as Pahlavi Cup)
Region	Iran
Number of teams	96
Qualifier for	AFC Champions League Elite
Domestic cup(s)	Iranian Super Cup
Current champions	Sepahan (5th title)
Most successful club(s)	Esteghlal; Persepolis; (7 titles each)
Television broadcasters	IRIB TV3; IRIB Varzesh; Jame Jam TV; IRIB Provincial Channels;
	2023–24 Hazfi Cup

Hazfi Cup (Persian: جام حذفی, romanized: Jām-e Hazfi, lit. 'knockout cup') formerly known as Pahlavi Cup (Persian: جام پهلوی, romanized: Jām-e Pahlavi) is an Iranian knockout football competition held annually by the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Iranian football league was not held during the 1980s, hence the winner of Hazfi Cup represented Iran in the Asian Club Championship. After the revival of the league system, the champion of Iranian league qualified for Asian Club Championship and the winner of Hazfi Cup for Asian Cup Winners' Cup. The Asian Cup Winners' Cup merged with the Asian Champions Cup in 2002–03 to form the AFC Champions League and Iran was initially given two (and later four) slots in this competitions. The FFIRI decided to award one of Iran's AFC Champions League spots to the winner of the Hazfi Cup, and since then, the winners of Hazfi Cup have always been allocated a spot in the AFC Champions League.^[1]^[2] Since 2024 and with the rebranding of the Asian club competitions, the FFIRI decided to send the winner of the Hazfi cup to the AFC Champions League Elite Qualifying play-off.

The competition was founded in 1976 as Pahlavi Cup but after the revolution continued as Hazfi Cup. Esteghal and Persepolis are the most successful clubs with seven titles each.^[3]

Format

The rules for the final were exactly the same as the one for the previous knockout rounds. The tie was contested over two legs with away goals deciding the winner if the two teams were level on goals after the second leg. If the teams could still not be separated at that stage, then extra time would have been played with a penalty shootout (taking place if the teams were still level after that). Since the 2011–12 season, the final is always held as a single match.^[4]

Finals

Key

Qualified to the AFC Champions League Elite, and predecessor competitions.

Qualified to the Asian Cup Winners' Cup.

Year	Winners	Scores	Runners-up	Venue
1976	Malavan (1)	4–1	Tractor	Amjadieh Stadium, Tehran
1977–78	Taj (1)	2–0	Homa	Amjadieh Stadium, Tehran
1979–1985	Not held due to Iranian Revolution and Iran–Iraq War
1986	Malavan (2)	2–0	Kheybar	Shahid Shiroudi Stadium, Tehran
1987	Persepolis (1)	1–0	Malavan	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
	Persepolis (1)	0–0	Malavan	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
	Persepolis won 1–0 on aggregate
1988–89	Shahin Ahvaz (1)	1–3	Malavan	Takhti Stadium, Bandar-e Anzali
	Shahin Ahvaz (1)	4–0	Malavan	Takhti Stadium, Ahvaz
	Shahin Ahvaz won 5–3 on aggregate
1989–90	Not held
1990–91	Malavan (3)	1–1 (a.e.t.) (6–5 pen.)	Esteghlal	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
1991–92	Persepolis (2)	2–1	Malavan	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
1992–93	Not held
1993–94	Saipa (1)	0–0	Jonoob	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
	Saipa (1)	1–1	Jonoob	Takhti Stadium, Ahvaz
	Saipa won 1–1 on aggregate on away goal
1994–95	Bahman (1)	0–1	Tractor	Takhti Stadium, Tabriz
	Bahman (1)	2–0	Tractor	Ekbatan Stadium, Tehran
	Bahman won 2–1 on aggregate
1995–96	Esteghlal (2)^[a]	3–1	Bargh	Hafezieh Stadium, Shiraz
	Esteghlal (2)^[a]	2–0	Bargh	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
	Esteghlal won 5–1 on aggregate
1996–97	Bargh (1)	3–3 (a.e.t.) (3–0 pen.)	Bahman	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
1997–98	Not held
1998–99	Persepolis (3)	2–1	Esteghlal	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
1999–00	Esteghlal (3)	3–1	Bahman	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
2000–01	Fajr Sepasi (1)	1–0	Zob Ahan	Foolad Shahr Stadium, Fuladshahr
	Fajr Sepasi (1)	2–1	Zob Ahan	Hafezieh Stadium, Shiraz
	Fajr Sepasi won 3–1 on aggregate
2001–02	Esteghlal (4)	2–1	Fajr Sepasi	Hafezieh Stadium, Shiraz
	Esteghlal (4)	2–2	Fajr Sepasi	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
	Esteghlal won 4–3 on aggregate
2002–03	Zob Ahan (1)	2–2	Fajr Sepasi	Foolad Shahr Stadium, Fuladshahr
	Zob Ahan (1)	2–2 (6–5 pen.)	Fajr Sepasi	Hafezieh Stadium, Shiraz
	Zob Ahan won 4–4 on aggregate on Penalty shootout
2003–04	Sepahan (1)	3–2	Esteghlal	Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium, Isfahan
	Sepahan (1)	2–0	Esteghlal	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
	Sepahan won 5–2 on aggregate
2004–05	Saba Battery (1)	1–1	Aboomoslem	Shahid Derakhshan Stadium, Robat Karim
	Saba Battery (1)	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–2 pen.)	Aboomoslem	Samen Stadium, Mashhad
	Saba Battery won 2–2 on aggregate on Penalty shootout
2005–06	Sepahan (2)	1–1	Persepolis	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
	Sepahan (2)	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–2 pen.)	Persepolis	Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium, Isfahan
	Sepahan won 2–2 on aggregate on Penalty shootout
2006–07	Sepahan (3)	1–0	Saba Battery	Shahid Derakhshan Stadium, Robat Karim
	Sepahan (3)	3–0	Saba Battery	Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium, Isfahan
	Sepahan won 4–0 on aggregate
2007–08	Esteghlal (5)	0–1	Pegah	Sardar Jangal Stadium, Rasht
	Esteghlal (5)	3–0	Pegah	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
	Esteghlal won 3–1 on aggregate
2008–09	Zob Ahan (2)	0–1	Rah Ahan	Ekbatan Stadium, Tehran
	Zob Ahan (2)	5–1	Rah Ahan	Foolad Shahr Stadium, Fuladshahr
	Zob Ahan won 5–2 on aggregate
2009–10	Persepolis (4)	1–0	Gostaresh Foolad	Yadegar-e Emam Stadium, Tabriz
	Persepolis (4)	3–1	Gostaresh Foolad	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
	Persepolis won 4–1 on aggregate
2010–11	Persepolis (5)	4–2	Malavan	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
	Persepolis (5)	0–1	Malavan	Takhti Stadium, Bandar-e Anzali
	Persepolis won 4–3 on aggregate
2011–12	Esteghlal (6)	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–1 pen.)	Shahin Bushehr	Hafezieh Stadium, Shiraz
2012–13	Sepahan (4)	2–2 (a.e.t.) (4–2 pen.)	Persepolis	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
2013–14	Tractor (1)	1–0	Mes Kerman	Shahid Bahonar Stadium, Kerman
2014–15	Zob Ahan (3)	3–1	Naft Tehran	Takhti Stadium, Tehran
2015–16	Zob Ahan (4)	1–1 (a.e.t.) (5–4 pen.)	Esteghlal	Arvandan Stadium, Khorramshahr
2016–17	Naft Tehran (1)	1–0	Tractor	Arvandan Stadium, Khorramshahr
2017–18	Esteghlal (7)	1–0	Khooneh be Khooneh	Arvandan Stadium, Khorramshahr
2018–19	Persepolis (6)	1–0	Damash	Shohada-ye Foolad Stadium, Ahvaz
2019–20	Tractor (2)	3–2	Esteghlal	Imam Reza Stadium, Mashhad
2020–21	Foolad (1)	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–2 pen.)	Esteghlal	Naghsh-e Jahan Stadium, Isfahan
2021–22	Nassaji (1)	1–0	Aluminium Arak	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
2022–23	Persepolis (7)	2–1	Esteghlal	Azadi Stadium, Tehran
2023–24	Sepahan (5)	2–0	Mes Rafsanjan	Azadi Stadium, Tehran

Performance by finalists

source: ^[5]

#	Club	Winners	Runners-up	Years won	Years runner-up
1	Esteghal	7	7	1977, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2018	1991, 1999, 2004, 2016, 2020, 2021, 2023
2	Persepolis	7	2	1988, 1992, 1999, 2010, 2011, 2019, 2023	2006, 2013
3	Sepahan	5	–	2004, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2024	—
4	Zob Ahan	4	1	2003, 2009, 2015, 2016	2001
5	Malavan	3	4	1976, 1987, 1991	1988, 1989, 1992, 2011
6	Tractor	2	3	2014, 2020	1976, 1995, 2017
7	Bahman	1	2	1995	1997, 2000
7	Fajr Sepasi	1	2	2001	2002, 2003
9	Bargh	1	1	1997	1996
	Saba^[b]	1	1	2005	2007
	Naft Tehran	1	1	2017	2015
12	Shahin Ahvaz	1	–	1989	—
	Saipa	1	–	1994	—
	Foolad	1	–	2021	—
	Nassaji	1	–	2022	—
16	Damash^[c]	–	2	—	2008, 2019
17	Homa	–	1	—	1977
	Kheybar	–	1	—	1987
	Jonoob	–	1	—	1994
	Aboomoslem	–	1	—	2005
	Rah Ahan	–	1	—	2009
	Gostaresh Foolad	–	1	—	2010
	Shahin Bushehr	–	1	—	2012
	Mes Kerman	–	1	—	2014
	Khooneh be Khooneh	–	1	—	2018
	Aluminium Arak	–	1	—	2022
	Mes Rafsanjan	–	1	—	2024

Statistics

Winners by Province

source: ^[5]

Province	Winners	Clubs
Tehran	18	Esteghal (7), Persepolis (7), Bahman^[d] (1), Saba^[e] (1), Naft Tehran (1), Saipa (1)
Isfahan	9	Sepahan (5), Zob Ahan (4)
Gilan	3	Malavan (3)
East Azerbaijan	2	Tractor (2)
Fars	2	Fajr Sepasi (1), Bargh (1)
Khuzestan	2	Shahin Ahvaz (1), Foolad (1)
Mazandaran	1	Nassaji (1)

Winners by City

source: ^[6]

City	Winners	Clubs
Tehran	17	Esteghal (7), Persepolis (7), Saba^[e] (1), Naft Tehran (1), Saipa (1)
Isfahan	9	Sepahan (5), Zob Ahan (4)
Bandar-e Anzali	3	Malavan (3)
Tabriz	2	Tractor (2)
Shiraz	2	Fajr Sepasi (1), Bargh (1)
Ahvaz	2	Shahin Ahvaz (1), Foolad (1)
Karaj	1	Bahman (1)
Qaemshahr	1	Nassaji (1)

Winning managers

Notes

^ Taj changed its name to Esteghlal in 1979.
^ Saba was formerly named Saba Battery in the Hazfi Cup.
^ Damash was formerly named Pegah in the Hazfi Cup.
^ Bahman held its home matches in Karaj. Before the formation of Alborz province in 2010, Karaj was one of the cities of Tehran province; Therefore, Bahman team was one of the representatives of Tehran province during the championship.
^ ^a ^b Saba Battery moved to Qom (Capital of Qom province) in 2008 and its name was changed to Saba. however Saba team was one of the representatives of Tehran city and province during the championship.

References

^ "تاریخچه کامل و نتایج همه فينال‌های جام حذفی" [History of Hazfi Cup]. tabnak.com (in Persian). Archived from the original on 25 November 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
^ "درباره جام حذفی ایران" [about Iran Hazfi Cup]. hazfi-cup.com (in Persian). Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
^ "لیست قهرمانان جام حذفی فوتبال ایران" [List of Hazfi Cup winners all times]. hazfi-cup.com (in Persian). Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
^ "آیین نامه جام حذفی فوتبال ایران" [Regulation of Iran Hazfi Cup]. hazfi-cup.com (in Persian). Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
^ ^a ^b "رده بندی جام حذفی ایران" [Iran Hazfi Cup ranking]. hazfi-cup.com (in Persian). Archived from the original on 20 May 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
^ "شهرهای صاحب قهرمانی در جام حذفی هفت تایی می شوند" [cities those won Hazfi Cup]. tarafdari.com (in Persian). Archived from the original on 12 February 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2022.