Nigerian Striker Olanrewaju Kayode Plays Key Role in Sivasspor First Ever Turkish Cup Title

 

Olanrewaju Kayode provided the assist for the winning goal as Sivasspor beat Kayserispor 3-2 after real-time to land a first ever Turkish Cup title

In Thursday’s final, Kayode who came on nine minutes into extra-time, set up Moussa Konate for Sivasspor’s third goal with seven minutes left to play.

Kayserispor opened scoring in the 33rd minute through Ramazan Civelek before Aaron Appindangoye equalised for Sivasspor on 60 minutes.

Cote d’Ivoire forward Max Gradel put Sivasspor 2-1 five minutes into extra-time but Ilhan Parlak drew Kayserispor level in the 107th minute

To get to the Turkish Cup final Kayode’s Sivasspor edged Chidozie Awaziem’s Alanyaspor in the semi-finals.

Kayode ended the 2021/22 campaign with eight goals, three assists in 44 appearances for Sivasspor.

The 29-year-old joined likes of Leon Balogun, Joe Aribo, Calvin Bassey and Zaidu Sanusi who won domestic Cup titles in Scotland and Portugal.

The Turkish cup was created in 1962 and has taken place every year since then.

Many different formats, including a pure knockout competition and group stages, have been tried and finally for the 2012–13season, an expanded tournament format has been adopted.

A record 156 teams compete in the tournament. After five knockout rounds, a round-robin group stage is contested. Group winners and runners-up play in semi-finals and finals.

The current format of the Turkish Cup consists of 156 clubs from the top four leagues of the Turkish football league system and the Turkish Regional Amateur League.

The first round consists of 86 clubs from the TFF Third League and Turkish Regional Amateur League.

The second round consists of winners from the first round alongside clubs from the Süper Lig, TFF First League and TFF Second League.

Teams playing in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League enter at the fourth round. After the fifth round, eight winners are drawn into two groups of four teams and play in a round-robin tournament.

Winners and runners-up of the groups play in semi-finals as two-legged ties. Winners of the semi-finals play the final match in a neutral ground.