The 2016–17

Iraq FA Cup The Iraq Cup (), commonly known as the Iraq FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in men's domestic Football in Iraq, Iraqi football organised by the Iraq Football Association. Firs ...

was the 28th edition of the Iraqi knockout

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

cup as a club competition, the main domestic cup in Iraqi football. A total of 19 teams from the

Iraqi Premier League The Iraq Stars League (), is the highest level of the Iraqi football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Iraqi Premier Division League. It is governed by the Iraqi Pro League Asso ...

and 41 teams from the

Iraqi First Division League The Iraqi First Division League is a Association football, football league that is the third tier of the Iraqi football league system, which was founded in 1974. The league consists of 20 teams split into two groups in the first stage. The top fou ...

participated. It started on 2 December 2016 and the final was played at

Al-Sinaa Stadium Al-Sinaa Stadium () is a multi-use stadium in Baghdad, Iraq. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Al-Sinaa SC. The stadium holds up to 6,000 people. The stadium hosted the 2017 Iraq FA Cup Final on 22Augus ...

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

on 22 August 2017 (the usual venue,

Al-Shaab Stadium Al-Sha'ab International Stadium () is an all-seater multi-purpose stadium in Baghdad, Iraq. The 35,700-seater was the home stadium of the Iraq national football team, as well as the largest stadium in Iraq, from its opening on 6 November 1966 un ...

, was closed for renovation). It was the second Iraq FA Cup final to be held outside Al-Shaab Stadium, with the first being in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. The winners of the competition were

Al-Zawraa Al-Zawra'a Sports Club () is an Iraqi professional sports club based in Utayfia, Karkh District (near Tigris River), Baghdad. Their football team competes in the Iraq Stars League, the top-flight of Iraqi football. Al-Zawra'a have won the most ...

, who extended their record number of cup wins to 15 with a 1–0 victory over Naft Al-Wasat in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

thanks to a stoppage time goal by

Alaa Abdul-Zahra Alaa Abdul-Zahra Khashen Al-Azzawi ( , born 22 December 1987), is an Iraqi football player who plays as a forward for Iraq Stars League club Al-Minaa and for the Iraq national team. He can be deployed as an attacking midfielder or a second st ...

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Format

Participation

The cup started with the first round, consisting of the 41 teams from the

, 40 of which played against each other and 1 of which automatically proceeded to the next round. The second round consisted of the 21 qualified teams from the first round, 18 of which played against each other and 3 of which automatically proceeded to the Round of 32. The 20

clubs were to join the 12 qualified teams from the second round to form the Round of 32, but

Erbil Erbil (, ; , ), also called Hawler (, ), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is the capital of the Erbil Governorate. Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the h ...

withdrew from the tournament and therefore First Division League side Al-Jinsiya were admitted into the Round of 32 to replace them despite already being knocked out. The last cup competition saw almost half of the Premier League clubs withdraw from the tournament. To avoid this happening again, the Iraq FA announced that any Premier League team that withdrew would be fined and also deducted three points in the league. However, the Premier League had already finished by the time the Round of 16 came around, so teams who withdrew from that stage onwards faced no sanctions.

Cards

If a player received a second yellow card, they would be banned from the next cup match. If a player received a red card, they would be banned a minimum of one match, but more could be added by the Iraq Football Association.

No extra-time

The

Iraq Football Association The Iraq Football Association (IFA) () is the governing body of football in Iraq, controlling the Iraq national football team, Iraqi national team and the Iraqi football league system. The Iraqi Football Association was founded in 1948 and has be ...

decided that from the Round of 16 onwards, there would not be an extra time period for matches that end in a draw; instead the game would go straight to a penalty shootout.

Participating clubs

The following 60 teams participated in the competition: *Bold indicates the team is still in the competition.

Schedule

The rounds of the 2016–17 competition were scheduled as follows:

First round

40 teams from the

compete in this round, and 1 First Division League team ( Badr Al-Iraq) is automatically placed into the second round.

Second round

18 of the 21 qualified teams from the previous round compete in this round, while 4 teams ( Al-Siyaha, Al-Kadhimiya, Al-Maslaha and Al-Jinsiya) are automatically placed into the Round of 32. Although Al-Jinsiya were knocked out in the first round, they were chosen to replace

who withdrew from the tournament.

Final phase

Bracket

Round of 32

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

References

External links

Iraq Football Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 Iraq FA Cup

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

Iraq FA Cup