| Copa del Rey | |
| Season: | 2015–16 |
| Other Titles: | 114th Copa del Rey |
| Country: | Spain |
| Date: | 2 September 2015 – 22 May 2016 |
| Num Teams: | 83 |
| Winners: | Barcelona |
| Count: | 28 |
| Second: | Sevilla |
| Matches: | 111 |
| Goals: | 319 |
| Scoring Leader: | John Guidetti Lionel Messi Munir Álvaro Negredo Luis Suárez (5 goals each) |
| Prev Season: | 2014–15 |
| Next Season: | 2016–17 |
The 2015–16 Copa del Rey was the 114th staging of the Copa del Rey (including two seasons where two rival editions were played). Going into the tournament, the winners were assured a place for the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League Group stage. However, since the two finalists, Barcelona and Sevilla, both qualified for the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League, respectively by winning the 2015–16 La Liga title and the 2015–16 Europa League, the cup winner's place in the 2016–17 Europa League group stage instead passed to the fifth-place team in La Liga, Athletic Bilbao.
Barcelona entered as the defending champions after winning the 2014–15 edition. They defeated Sevilla 2–0 in the final, winning their 28th title.
| Round | Draw date | Date | Fixtures | width=50 | Clubs | Format details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First round | 21 July 2015[1] | 18 | 83 → 65 | New entries: Clubs participating in Tercera and Segunda División B gained entry. Byes: Six teams from Segunda División B (Barakaldo, UCAM Murcia, Villanovense, Racing Ferrol, UD Logroñés and Huracán Valencia) received a bye. Opponents seeding: Teams faced each other according to proximity criteria. Local team seeding: Draw of lots. Knock-out tournament type: Single match Copa Federación qualification: losers qualified for 2015–16 Copa Federación, National phase. | ||
| Second round | 9 September 2015 | 22 | 65 → 43 | New entries: Clubs participating in Segunda División gained entry. Byes: One Segunda División team (Zaragoza) received a bye. Opponents seeding: Segunda División teams faced each other. Local team seeding: Draw of lots. Knock-out tournament type: Single match | ||
| Third round | 14 October 2015 | 11 | 43 → 32 | Byes: One team from Segunda División B or Tercera División or a team from Segunda División, which previously didn't receive a bye (Huesca), received one. Opponents seeding: Segunda División teams faced each other. Local team seeding: Draw of lots. Knock-out tournament type: Single match | ||
| Round of 32 | [2] | 2 December 2015 | 16 | 32 → 16 | New entries: Clubs participating in La Liga gained entry. Opponents seeding: The seven teams from La Liga which qualified for 2015–16 UEFA competitions, faced the remaining seven teams from Segunda División B and Tercera División. The five Segunda División teams played against La Liga teams. The eight remaining La Liga teams faced each other. Local team seeding: First leg at home of team in lower division. Knock-out tournament type: Double match | |
| Round of 16 | 18 December 2015 | 6 January 2016 | 8 | 16 → 8 | Opponents seeding: First leg at home for the team in the lower division. Local team seeding: First leg at home of the team in the lower division. Knock-out tournament type: Double match | |
| 13 January 2016 | ||||||
| Quarter-finals | 15 January 2016 [3] | 4 | 8 → 4 | Opponents seeding: Draw of lots. Local team seeding: Luck of the draw. Knock-out tournament type: Double match | ||
| 27 January 2016 | ||||||
| Semifinals | 29 January 2016 | 3 February 2016 | 2 | 4 → 2 | ||
| 10 February 2016 | ||||||
| Final | 22 May 2016 | 1 | 2 → 1 | Single match, stadium TBD by RFEF. UEFA Europa League qualification: winners qualified for 2016–17 UEFA Europa League group stage. |
The following teams competed in the 2015–16 Copa del Rey.
Twenty teams of 2014–15 La Liga:
21 teams of 2014–15 Segunda División (Barcelona B was excluded for being a reserve team):
24 teams of 2014–15 Segunda División B: the top five teams of each of the four groups (excluding reserve teams) and the four with the highest number of points out of the remaining non-reserve teams:
Eighteen teams of 2014–15 Tercera División, champions of each one of the eighteen groups (or at least the ones with the highest number of points within their group since reserve teams were excluded):
The draw for First and Second round was held on 21 July 2015 at 13:00 CEST in La Ciudad del Fútbol, RFEF headquarters, in Las Rozas, Madrid.[1] In this round, 37 teams from 2015–16 Segunda División B and 5 from 2015–16 Tercera División teams gained entry. In the draw, firstly six teams from Segunda División B received a bye and then, the remaining teams in the league and teams from Tercera División faced according to proximity criteria by next groups:
In the second round teams from Segunda División played among themselves and teams from Segunda División B and Tercera played separately. Zaragoza received a bye for the third round.
The draw for the Round of 32 was held on October 16, 2015, in La Ciudad del Fútbol. In this round, all La Liga teams entered the competition.
Round of 32 pairings were as follows: the seven remaining teams participating in Segunda División B faced the La Liga teams which qualified for European competitions. The five remaining teams participating in Segunda División faced five La Liga teams which did not qualify for European competitions. The remaining eight La Liga teams faced each other. In matches involving teams from different league tiers, the team in the lower tier played the first leg at home. This rule was also applied in the Round of 16, but not for the Quarter-finals and Semi-finals, in which the order of legs was based on the luck of the draw.
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See main article: 2016 Copa del Rey final.
