Cup (Turkey)

The Turkish Cup (Ziraat Turkish Cup, Ziraat Türkiye Kupası) is Turkey’s national cup competition, organised by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. Regulations: under the current format the competition consists of four qualifying rounds, a group stage and a final stage, with 155 teams taking part; the qualifying and final-stage rounds are single-match knockouts, and if level after 90 minutes two 15-minute extra-time periods are played and, if still level, a penalty shoot-out decides the winner; the group stage features 24 teams in three groups of eight, teams are seeded into four pots and each team plays four matches (two home and two away), with the top two in each group plus the two best third-placed teams advancing; if teams are level on points in a group, the tie is broken by goal difference, goals scored, away goals, number of wins, number of away wins, lower disciplinary points (red card 3, yellow card 1), then higher seeding; the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final are single matches, with the final played at a neutral venue set by the federation, and the winners qualify for the UEFA Europa League subject to UEFA eligibility and licensing, while if the cup winners have already qualified for the UEFA Europa League via their league position, the berth reserved for the domestic cup winner is reassigned to the next highest league finisher immediately below the cup winner.