Muscat, (ONA) - The Oman Football Association (OFA) decided to hold the ceremony of the His Majesty the Sultan’s Football Cup's draw for the 2020/2021 sports season on Monday, December 21, with the participation of 14 clubs from the Omantel League, namely: Dhofar, Al Seeb, Al Nahda, Al Nasr, Suhar, Al Suwaiq and Muscat Saham, Bahla, Rustaq, Oman Club, Nizwa, Al-Ittihad, Al-Musanna, and 17 first-division clubs: Ahli Sidab, Mirbat, Bousher, Salalah, Samail, Ja'lan, Sur, Al Tali’a, Masirah, Al Orouba, Al Etifaq, Majees, Al Shabab, Ibri, Al Khaboura, Al Mudhaibi and Al Bashayer.
The matches of 32 round are played with a knockout system from one match, in the event that the match ends with a draw in its original time, two additional halves of 15 minutes each are played for each half and if the tie continues, a penalty shoot-out is played to determine the winning club. In the event that less than (32) clubs participate in the competition, priority is to qualify for the 16 directly for the champion of the last competition of His Majesty's Cup.
In the 16round, a draw is held for the clubs qualified for this round, and their matches are played in the knockout system from one match. The host club is the club whose name comes first in the draw. In the event that the match ends with a draw in its original time, two additional halves of 15 minutes each are played, and if the tie continues, a penalty shoot-out is played to determine the winning club.
In the 8 and semi-final rounds, a draw is held for the clubs qualified teams to determine the matches for each round, and the matches are played in the knockout system of two matches (home and away). The club whose name appears first in the draw plays the first leg at its stadium. The qualified team for the next round is determined by the result of the first match (first-leg), the result of which depends at the end of the original time. In the event that the two clubs are equal in the number of points at the end of the original time of the second match (away), the winning club is determined according to the club that registered for a greater total of goals in the two matches. In the event that the total goals scored in the two matches are equal, then the goal scored outside the club’s stadium is counted with two goals. The rule for goals scored outside the ground is only applied at the original time of the end of the second match for two matches to be knocked out. It does not apply in extra time, and in the event when a match end with a tie), after calculating the total goals scored, two additional halves of 15 minutes duration are played in two equal halves. In the event that the two additional halves end with a draw (negative or positive), a penalty shoot-out is played to determine the winning club, so that the two teams that qualified for the final match are decided.
It is worth mentioning that Dhofar Club was the last champion of the 2019/2020 season after its victory over Al-Orouba in the final match 6/5 by penalty kicks after the original and additional times ended in a negative tie to achieve the ninth title in its history.
(ONA)