The 1996–97 Russian Cup was the fifth season of the Russian Association football knockout tournament since the dissolution of Soviet Union.
[1][2][3] Russian Premier League teams Zenit Saint Petersburg and Lada-Tolyatti started at this stage.
All the other Russian Premier League teams started at this stage.
Played in the earlier stages, but not in the final game: FC Lokomotiv Moscow: Khasanbi Bidzhiyev (GK), Oleg Pashinin (DF), Oleg Elyshev (MF), Vitali Veselov (FW), Dmitri Bulykin (FW), Oleh Haras (FW), Konstantin Kamnev (FW), Valeriy Yablochkin (FW).
FC Dynamo Moscow: Aleksei Guschin (DF), Sergei Kolotovkin (DF), Yevgeni Korablyov (DF), Rolan Gusev (MF), Yuri Kuznetsov (MF), Aleksandr Grishin (MF), Vitali Kulyov (MF), Aleksei Kutsenko (FW), Yuri Tishkov (FW), Dmitri Cheryshev (FW).