2016 Israel State Cup Final

2016 Israel State Cup Final

Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem hosted the final
Event	2015–16 Israel State Cup
Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Haifa
Date	May 2016
Venue	Teddy, Jerisalem

The 2016 Israel State Cup Final decided the winner of the 2015–16 Israel State Cup, the 81th season of Israel's main football cup. It will be played on May 2016 at the Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem, between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa.

Background

Maccabi Tel Aviv had previously played 34 Israel cup Finals, had won the competition a record 23 times. Their most recent appearance in the final was the previous year's edition, in which they won 6–2 to Hapoel Beer Sheva at Sammy Ofer in Haifa.

Maccabi Haifa had previously played in 15 finals, winning 5. Their most recent appearance in the final was the previous year's edition, in which they lost 2–1 to Hapoel Tel Aviv, and their most recent victory in the tournament was in 1998, beating Beitar Jerusalem 2–0.

Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa had played each other in four previous finals of the tournament. Maccabi Tel Aviv won in 2002 and 1987,and Maccabi Haifa won in 1962 and 1993.

The two teams played each other twice during the 2015–16 Israeli premier league season. In the first instance, at the Sammy Ofer on 26 September 2015, Tel Aviv won 2–0, Eden Ben Basat and Dor Peretz scoring. On 10 January 2016 at Bloomfield Maccabi Tel Aviv won 2–1. Eran Zahavi and Tal Ben Haim gave them a 2–0 half-time lead. Yossi Benayoun shrinking down 2-1.

Road to the final

Maccabi Tel Aviv		Round	Maccabi Haifa
Opponent	Result	2015–16 Israel State Cup	Opponent	Result
Hapoel Ramat HaSahron	3–1	Eighth round	Beitar Jerusalem	2–1
Hapoel Rishon LeZion	2–1	Round of 16	Hapoel Haifa	1-0
Hapoel Kfar Saba	2–2	Quarter-finals first leg	Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv	3–0
Hapoel Kfar Saba	2–0	Quarter-finals second leg	Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv	1–4
Bnei Sakhnin F.C.	3–2	Semi-finals	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	3–1