2021 KNVB Cup final

The 2021 KNVB Cup final was a football match between Eredivisie clubs Ajax and Vitesse, that took place on 18 April 2021 at De Kuip, Rotterdam. It was the final match of the 2020–21 KNVB Cup, the 103rd season of the annual Dutch national football cup competition.

2021 KNVB Cup final

De Kuip in Rotterdam hosted the final.
Event	2020–21 KNVB Cup
Ajax Vitesse 2 1
Date	18 April 2021 (2021-04-18)
Venue	De Kuip, Rotterdam
Referee	Björn Kuipers[1]
Attendance	0[note 1]
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Ajax won the match 2–1 for a record twentieth title. As winners, they will compete in the 2021 Johan Cruyff Shield and earned a spot in the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League play-off round if they do not qualify for the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League.

It was announced in March 2021 that there would be no fans at the match due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2]

Route to the final

Further information: 2020–21 KNVB Cup

Ajax		Round	Vitesse
Opponent	Result		Opponent	Result
Bye		First round	Bye
FC Utrecht	5–4 (H)	Second round	Willem II	2–0 (A)
AZ	1–0 (A)	Round of 16	ADO Den Haag	2–1 (H)
PSV Eindhoven	2–1 (H)	Quarter-finals	SBV Excelsior	1–0 (A)
SC Heerenveen	3–0 (A)	Semi-finals	VVV-Venlo	2–0 (H)

Match

18 April 2021

18:00 UTC+02:00

Ajax	2–1	Vitesse
Gravenberch 23' Neres 90+1'	Report	Openda 30'

De Kuip, Rotterdam

Attendance: 0^{[note 1]}

Referee: Björn Kuipers

Ajax

Vitesse

GK 1 Maarten Stekelenburg RB 15 Devyne Rensch  75' CB 2 Jurriën Timber CB 21 Lisandro Martínez LB 31 Nicolás Tagliafico  90+5' CM 4 Edson Álvarez CM 6 Davy Klaassen  87' CM 8 Ryan Gravenberch RF 39 Antony  87' CF 22 Sébastien Haller LF 10 Dušan Tadić (c) Substitutes: GK 16 Kjell Scherpen GK 33 Dominik Kotarski DF 3 Perr Schuurs  75' DF 5 Sean Klaiber DF 12 Noussair Mazraoui MF 18 Jurgen Ekkelenkamp  87' MF 19 Zakaria Labyad MF 20 Mohammed Kudus FW 7 David Neres  87' FW 9 Oussama Idrissi FW 23 Lassina Traoré FW 30 Brian Brobbey Manager: Erik ten Hag

GK 22 Remko Pasveer (c) CB 3 Danilho Doekhi CB 10 Riechedly Bazoer CB 6 Jacob Rasmussen  86' RWB 2 Eli Dasa  46' LWB 32 Maximilian Wittek  74'  89' RM 8 Sondre Tronstad CM 14 Oussama Tannane  63'  89' LM 21 Matúš Bero  90+3' CF 7 Loïs Openda  65' CF 11 Armando Broja Substitutes: GK 23 Bilal Bayazit GK 24 Jeroen Houwen DF 16 Alois Oroz  46' DF 18 Tomáš Hájek  89' DF 39 Enzo Cornelisse DF 42 Million Manhoef MF 20 Thomas Bruns MF 27 Idrissa Touré  72'  65' MF 40 Daan Huisman FW 9 Oussama Darfalou  89' FW 17 Hilary Gong FW 19 Noah Ohio Manager: Thomas Letsch

Assistant referees:[1] Sander van Roekel Erwin Zeinstra Fourth official:[1] Allard Lindhout Video assistant referee:[1] Pol van Boekel Assistant video assistant referee:[1] Joost van Zuilen

Match rules[3] 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Maximum of twelve named substitutes. Maximum of five substitutions, with a sixth allowed in extra time.[note 2]

Notes

1. The match was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands.
2. Each team was only given three opportunities to make substitutions, with a fourth opportunity in extra time, excluding substitutions made at half-time, before the start of extra time and at half-time in extra time.