Country Spain Dates 27 Aug 2015 – 21 May 2016 Goals scored 319 | Teams 83 Matches played 111 | |
 | ||
Similar 2016–17 Copa del Rey, 2014–15 Copa del Rey, 2015–16 La Liga, 2016 Supercopa de España, 2016–17 La Liga | ||
The 2015–16 Copa del Rey was the 114th staging of the Copa del Rey. 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.
Contents
Barcelona entered as the defending champions after winning the 2014–15 edition. They defeated Sevilla 2–0 in the final, winning their 28th title.
Schedule and format
Qualified teams
The following teams competed in the 2015–16 Copa del Rey.
20 teams of 2014–15 La Liga
21 teams of 2014–15 Segunda División (Barcelona B is excluded for being a reserve team):
24 teams of 2014–15 Segunda División B: the top five teams of each of the 4 groups (excluding reserve teams) and the four with the highest number of points out of the remaining non-reserve teams:
18 teams of 2014–15 Tercera División, champions of each one of the 18 groups (or at least the ones with the highest number of points within their group since reserve teams are excluded):
First round
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. 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:
Second round
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.
Third round
Final phase
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.