2021 Hazfi Cup final was the final match of the 34th edition of Hazfi Cup that held between Esteghlal and Foolad F.C. at Naghsh-e Jahan Stadium in Isfahan.
Originally, the final was planned to be held at Imam Ali Stadium in Kerman on 9 August.قرعه کشی مرحله نیمه نهایی جام حذفی برگزار شد On 26 July, after the draw of semi-finals, Iran Football League Organisation announced that the final match will be held one day earlier on 8 August due to beginning of Muharram. On 1 August 2021, the final venue was also changed due to problems with the field, scoreboard and seats in Imam Ali stadium.محل برگزاری مسابقه فینال جام حذفی اعلام شد The match also played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran.
Teams TeamCityPrevious finals appearances (bold indicates winners)FooladAhvazDebutEsteghlalTehran12 (1977, 1991, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2018, 2020)
Route to the final
FooladRoundEsteghlalOpponentsResultsStadiumSecond StageOpponentsResultsStadiumMashin Sazi3-0Shahid Qasem Soleimani Stadium (Away)Round of 32Paykan2-1Shohadaye Shahr-e Qods Stadium (Away)Qashqai2-1Pars Stadium (Away)Round of 16ZobAhan2-1Azadi Stadium (Home)Sepahan1-1 Foolad Arena (Home)Quarter-finalPersepolis0-0 Azadi Stadium (Away)Malavan2-0Foolad Arena (Home)Semi-FinalGol Gohar2-1Azadi Stadium (Home)
Foolad RoundOppositionScoreRound of 32Mashin Sazi (A)3-0Round of 16Qashqai (A)2-1Quarter-finalSepahan (H)1-1 Semi-FinalMalavan (H)2-0Key: (H) = Home venue; (A) = Away venue; (N) = Neutral venue
Foolad, as an Iran Pro League club, started in the Round of 32 against another Pro League side Mashin Sazi and won 3–0 with a hattrick from Luciano Pereira Mendes at Shahid Qasem Soleimani Stadium, Tabriz. In the next round, they won an Azadegan League side, Qashqai at Pars Shiraz Stadium 2–1 with both goals from Shervin Bozorg. In the quarter-final round they drew 1–1 against a Pro League club Sepahan at their home stadium, Foolad Arena with a goal from Saleh Hardani in extra times and they won 5–4 in penalty shoot-outs. Mehran Mousavi, Moussa Coulibaly, Hossein Ebrahimi, Chimba and Mohammad Miri scored and Vahid Heydarieh missed their penalties while Mohsen Forouzan saved two penalties as the goalkeeper. In the semi-final they hosted against Malavan, an Azadegan League team, at Foolad Arena with a goals from Vahid Heydarieh and Ayanda Patosi.
Esteghlal RoundOppositionScoreRound of 32Paykan (A)2-1Round of 16ZobAhan (H)2-1Quarter-finalPersepolis (A)0-0 Semi-FinalGol Gohar (H)2-1Key: (H) = Home venue; (A) = Away venue; (N) = Neutral venue
Esteghlal, as a Iran Pro League club, started in the Round of 32 against another Pro League side Paykan and won 2–1 with goals from Cheick Diabaté from penalty mark and Mohammad Daneshgar at Shohadaye Shahr-e Qods Stadium. In the next round, they faced another Pro League team ZobAhan at Azadi Stadium and they won 2–1 with goals from Farshid Esmaeili. In the quarter-final round they were drawn with Persepolis to play the 96th Tehran Derby. Like previous season, Esteghlal won this derby match at Azadi Stadium 4–3 in penalty shoot-outs after the 0–0 draw during 120 minutes. Vouria Ghafouri, Farshid Esmaeili, Babak Moradi and Amir Arsalan Motahari scored and Mehdi Ghayedi missed their penalties, while Hossein Hosseini saved one penalty as the goalkeeper. In the semi-final at Azadi Stadium, Esteghlal played with Gol Gohar. Esteghlal won semi-final match 2-1 and Voria Ghafouri scored both goals from penalty mark. Esteghlal played all of the matches before final against the teams from Iran Pro League. Except the quarter-final match, which tied 0-0, they won all other matches with 2–1 score. Also, after the first match in round of 32, which was played at Shohadaye Shahr-e Qods Stadium, Esteghlal played their matches at Azadi Stadium. This means Esteghlal did not exit from Tehran Province before the Final.
Details
Foolad: 4-4-2 GK 1 Ehsan Moradian DF 6 Zobeir Niknafs DF 2 Saleh HardaniDF 13 Mohammad Abshak DF 5 Moussa Coulibaly MF 34 Sina ShahabbasiMF 29 Luciano Pereira MendesMF 50 Vahid HeydariehMF 12 Ayanda Patosi FW 10 Farshad AhmadzadehFW 30 Sasan AnsariSubstitutes:GK 68 Mohsen Forouzan MF 91 Mohammad Miri MF 11 Ahmad Abdollahzadeh FF 15 Mehran Mousavi Manager: Javad Nekounam
Esteghlal: 3-2-4-1 GK 12 Mohammad Rashid MazaheriDF 21 Voria Ghafouri (c)DF 4 Siavash YazdaniDF 3 Mohammad Hossein Moradmand DF 2 Mohammad NaderiDF 27 Matin Karimzadeh MF 88 Arash Rezavand MF 79 Sobhan Khaghani MF 6 Masoud Rigi MF 8 Farshid EsmaeiliFW 10 Mehdi GhayediSubstitutes:GK Sina Saeedi FarMF 9 Mehdi Mehdipour MF 11 Dariush Shojaeian MF 15 Sina KhadempourDF 20 Ahmad MousaviMF 22 Babak Moradi FW 23 Arman RamezaniMF 66 Saeid MehriFW 72 Amir Arsalan Motahari Manager: Farhad Majidi
Referee: Bijan Heydari Assistant Referees: Mohammad Reza Mansouri Hasan Yousefi Additional AR: Mohammad Rahi Fourth official: Seyed Reza Mahdavi
Match rules: 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary Penalty shoot-out if scores still level Eleven named substitutes Maximum of five substitutions in normal time and another substitution in extra time
See also 2020–21 Persian Gulf Pro League 2020–21 Azadegan League 2020–21 Iran Football's 2nd Division 2020–21 Iran Football's 3rd Division 2021 Hazfi Cup Iranian Super Cup
References