FA Cup

Did You Know?

• The FA Cup was first proposed by FA Secretary C. W. Alcock on 20 July 1871 in the offices of The Sportsman newspaper.
• The inaugural FA Cup tournament kicked off in November 1871, and Wanderers were crowned winners on 16 March 1872.
• The FA Cup winners qualify for the UEFA Europa League even if they are relegated or not in the English top flight.

Competition format

The competition runs from August to May as a knockout tournament with twelve rounds, a semi-final, and a final. A system of byes ensures clubs above level 9 enter at later stages; there is no seeding, and fixtures are determined by a random draw. Ties ending in a draw are replayed once only, a rule that took effect from the 2024–25 campaign for matches before the first round proper. The first six rounds are qualifiers organised regionally, while the next six rounds are the proper rounds with a single national draw.

All Level 9 entrants begin in the extra preliminary round, with Level 10 teams filling vacancies. Level 8 teams are ranked by their previous season's points per game, with newly promoted teams ranked low and newly relegated teams ranked high, and are split between the extra preliminary and preliminary rounds to balance fixtures. The number of new entries and winners from previous rounds is based on an entry list of 732 modelled on the 2022–23 English league system; from 2023–24 the list may rise to 746, meaning the extra preliminary round would have 444 teams and only 50 Level 8 clubs would enter at the preliminary round.

The qualifying rounds are regionalised to reduce travel costs for non-league sides. The first and second proper rounds were also split into Northern and Southern sections until the 1997–98 competition.

Trophy

Winners receive the FA Cup trophy but do not retain ownership; under rules from 2015–16 it must be returned by 1 March of the following year, or earlier if given seven days' notice. Traditionally holders kept the Cup until the next final, but more recently the FA has taken it on publicity tours between finals. The trophy consists of three parts: the cup, a lid, and a base. There have been two designs of trophy but five physical trophies presented.

The original, called the 'little tin idol', was 18 inches high and made by Martin, Hall & Co. It was stolen in 1895 and never recovered, replaced by an exact replica used until 1910. To preserve that original, an exact replica was introduced in 1992, but it showed wear and tear from increased handling and was replaced in 2014 by a heavier replica built to withstand more handling. The current trophy, commissioned in 2013, was handcrafted using age-old techniques including casting, hand-chasing, hand-engraving and polishing, and incorporates the base from the previous edition.

Alex Horne, then FA general secretary, said the previous trophy was too fragile to continue to repair and had to be retired.

Cup runs and giant killings

The possibility of lower-ranked teams beating higher-placed opposition, known as a 'giant killing', is much anticipated and considered integral to the competition's tradition and prestige. Almost every club in the League Pyramid has a fondly remembered giant-killing act. It is especially newsworthy when a top Premier League team suffers an upset or when the giant-killer is a non-league club. One analysis of four years of FA Cup results found a 99.85 per cent likelihood that at least one team would beat one from its next higher division in a given year; the probability drops to 48.8 per cent for a two-division gap and 39.28 per cent for a three-division gap.

Before the Football League's founding in 1888, teams from rival leagues reached the final: The Wednesday (later Sheffield Wednesday) in 1890 reached the final as a member of the Football Alliance. In 1901, Southern League members Tottenham Hotspur became the only non-League side to win the Cup, while fellow Southern League team Southampton were losing finalists in 1900 and 1902. After the Football League expanded in 1920–21 and 1921–22 to incorporate Southern League and northern clubs, the hierarchy was established in which non-League clubs face Football League teams as clear underdogs.

Media coverage

The FA Cup Final is one of ten events reserved for live broadcast on UK terrestrial television under the Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events. The BBC had exclusive radio coverage in the early years, with a picture of the pitch marked in the Radio Times with numbered squares to help listeners follow the match. The first FA Cup Final on radio was in 1926 between Bolton Wanderers and Manchester City, but only broadcast in Manchester; the first national final on BBC Radio was between Arsenal and Cardiff City in 1927.

The first final on BBC Television was in 1937, featuring Sunderland and Preston North End, but not televised in full; the following season's final between Preston and Huddersfield Town was covered in full. When ITV formed in 1955, it shared final coverage with the BBC. During the 1970s and 1980s, coverage became more elaborate, with both broadcasters starting as early as 9 a.m., six hours before kick-off. The sharing of rights between BBC and ITV continued from 1955 to 1988, when ITV lost coverage to the BBC.

From 1988 to 1997, the BBC was the exclusive terrestrial broadcaster, showing one live match per round from the third round onwards alongside highlights. In 1990, British Satellite Broadcasting obtained rights and showed a live match from rounds 1 and 2, continuing after Sky took over BSB in 1991. From 1997 to 2001, Sky owned coverage with one match per round, sublicensing free-to-air rights to ITV for an additional match from the third round. The BBC continued with highlights on Match of the Day.

From 2001 to 2008, BBC and Sky again shared coverage, with the BBC showing two or three matches per round and Sky one or two. Until the 2008–09 season, the BBC and Sky Sports shared television coverage, with the BBC showing three matches in earlier rounds.