Hazfi Cup (Jām-e Hazfi; lit. 'knockout cup') is the Iranian football knockout cup competition, run by the Iranian Football Federation. The Iranian football league was not held during the 1980s, hence the winner of Hazfi Cup represented Iran in the Asian Club Championship. After the revive of the league system, the champion of Iranian league qualified for Asian Club Championship and the winner of Hazfi Cup ran for Asian Cup Winners' Cup. However, the Asian Cup Winners' Cup merged with the Asian Champions Cup in 2002–03 to form the AFC Champions League and Iran had been initially given two (and later four) slots in this competitions. The IRIFF decided to award one of Iran's AFC Champions League spots to the winner of the Hazfi Cup, and since then, the winners of Hazfi Cup have always been al