Esteghlal, as a خلیج فارس سوپر لیگی club, started in the Round of 32 against another Pro League side Paykan and won 2–1 with goals from Cheick Diabaté from penalty mark and محمد دانشگر at Shohadaye Shahr-e Qods Stadium. In the next round, they faced another Pro League team ZobAhan at Azadi Stadium and they won 2–1 with goals from فرشید اسماعیلی. In the quarter final round they were drawn with Persepolis to play the 96th Tehran Derby. Like previous season, Esteghlal won this derby match at آزادی ایستادیومو 4–3 in penalty shoot-outs after the 0–0 draw during 120 minutes. وریا غفوری, فرشید اسماعیلی, Babak Moradi and امیرارسلان مطهری scored and مهدی قائدی missed their penalties, while Hossein Hosseini saved one penalty as the goalkeeper. In the semi-final at آزادی ایستادیومو, Esteghlal played with Gol Gohar. Esteghlal won semi-final match 2-1 and وریا غفوری scored both goals from penalty mark. Esteghlal played all of the matches before final against the teams from خلیج فارس سوپر لیگی. Except the quarter final match, which tied 0-0, they won all other matches with 2–1 score. Also, after the first match in round of 32, which was played at Shohadaye Shahr-e Qods Stadium, Esteghlal played their matches at آزادی ایستادیومو. This means Esteghlal did not exit from تهران اوستانی before the Final.