 | |||||||
| Event | 2012–13 Hazfi Cup | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Sepahan won 4–2 onpenalties | |||||||
| Date | 5 May 2013 (2013-05-05) | ||||||
| Venue | Azadi Stadium,Tehran | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Mohammad Reza Khalatbari | ||||||
| Fans' Man of the Match | Omid Ebrahimi | ||||||
| Referee | Alireza Faghani | ||||||
| Attendance | 97,452 | ||||||
| Weather | Partly Cloudy 22 °C (72 °F) 16%humidity | ||||||
←2012 2014 → | |||||||
The2013 Hazfi Cup final was the 26th final since 1975. The match was theIran's El-classico betweenPersepolis andSepahan. This was the clubs' second meeting in the final where Sepahan won 4–2 over Persepolis in the penalties in2006. The match was also the last match of Persepolis captainMehdi Mahdavikia, a formerIran national football team andHamburg SV midfielder. Sepahan won Persepolis for another time in penalties and crowned their 4th domestic cup title. Sepahan was qualified for the group stage of the2014 AFC Champions League.
The tie was contested over one legs, simply tolast edition. If the teams could still not be separated, thenextra time would have been played with apenalty shootout (taking place if the teams were still level after that).
| Persepolis F.C. | Round | Sepahan S.C. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Result | H/A | goalscorers | Second stage | Opponent | Result | H/A | goalscorers |
| Malavan | 6–0 | H | Hadi Norouzi 2',50',Karim Ansarifard 19',75',80',Gholamreza Rezaei 83' | 1/16 Final | Foolad | 2–1 | H | Mohammad Gholami 9',Mohammad Reza Khalatbari 85' |
| Naft Tehran | 4–1 | A | Mohammad Nouri 26',58',Hossein Mahini 75',Hadi Norouzi 84' | 1/8 Final | Mes Rafsanjan | 1–0 | A | Xhevahir Sukaj 109' |
| Zob Ahan | 1–0 | A | Mohammad Nouri 102' | Quarter-Final | Sanat Naft | 2–0 | H | Ervin Bulku 27',Farshid Talebi 61' |
| Damash | 1–1 (5–3p) | A | Mohammad Nouri 83' | Semi-Final | Esteghlal | 1–1 (5–4p) | A | Mohammad Reza Khalatbari 42' |
Persepolis's head coachManuel José de Jesus was sacked ten days before Persepolis' first match in domestic cup campaign and his assistant and former captainYahya Golmohammadi was appointed as the caretaker head coach. Golmohammadi's first match in charge occurred on the Round of 32, which they facedMalavan, match ends 6–0, same with Persepolis' best win overEsteghlal inTehran derby in 1973. Persepolis also defeated anotherIran Pro League side,Naft Tehran with their technicians coachMansour Ebrahimzadeh 4–1. Persepolis facedZob Ahan in quarter-finals and won the match 1–0 with a late goal fromMohammad Nouri in extra time. Their match withDamash Gilan was also ends 1–1 after extra time and Persepolis won that match in the penalties.
Sepahan began their campaign with hostingFoolad inIsfahan. Foolad was eliminated Sepahan on the last edition at the same stadium but Sepahan won the match 2–1 with goals comes fromMohammad Gholami andMohammad Reza Khalatbari andLuciano Pereira was foolad's scorer. On the Round of 16, Sepahan faced withsecond tier side,Mes Rafsanjan, match ends 1–0 for Sepahan after extra time. Sepahan also defeatedSanat Naft 2–0 and was qualified to semi-final to face with powerhouseEsteghlal. Esteghlal wasdefending champion and match was ends 1–1 after extra time and goes to penalties. Sepahan won 5–4 on penalties and qualified to their 4th final in last 10 years.
Persepolis appeared in six Hazfi Cup Finals before this match. They won the cup in 1988, 1992, 1999, 2010 and 2011 and were runners-up in 2006. This was Sepahan's fourth appearance in a Hazfi Cup Final, having won in 2004, 2006 and 2007. The teams had met 50 times in theIranian Football League. Persepolis won 17 times, Sepahan 12 times and the other 21 games were drawn.
Ticket prices for the final started at 2,000toman and were also available at 5,000 and 10,000 with all of the incomes was awarded to a charitable foundation to spend for the people involved inBushehr andSistan earthquakes. The Cup winners received 50,000,000 from theIRIFF while the runners-up was earned 25,000,000 tomans.
Team officials met with each other on 1 April 2013 to decide on the final venue. After they failed to agree on a venue betweenGhadir Stadium inAhvaz,Samen Stadium inMashhad andSahand Stadium inTabriz, the final venue was decided with a draw which 100,000 capacityAzadi Stadium (the Persepolis F.C. home Stadium) was announced as the venue for the 2013 final.
FIFA listed referee,Alireza Faghani who also refereed the2012 editionfinal was announced as the final match referee byIRIFF's referees committee. Hassan Kamranifar, the assistant referee of2010 FIFA World Cup and Reza Sokhandan helped Faghani. Yadollah Soleimani was the fourth official.
Sepahan wore their yellow home kit for the Final. They also used the away dressing room.
| Persepolis | 2 – 2 (a.e.t.) | Sepahan |
|---|---|---|
| Ansarifard 24' Nouri 99' | Report | Sukaj 59' Gholami 106' |
| Penalties | ||
 Norouzi MahiniHaghighiNaghizadeh | 2 – 4 | BulkuKhalatbariEbrahimiHajsafi |
         Persepolis |      Sepahan |
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Man of the match
Assistant referees: | Match rules:
|
| Persepolis | Sepahan | |
|---|---|---|
| Total shots | 15 | 18 |
| Shots on target | 8 | 6 |
| Ball possession | 55% | 45% |
| Corner kicks | 5 | 5 |
| Fouls committed | 10 | 11 |
| Offsides | 3 | 0 |
| Yellow cards | 3 | 2 |
| Red cards | 0 | 0 |
Source: Varzesh3[1]
