FA Cup Information The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football, run by and named after The Football Association. The name "FA Cup" refers to the English men's tournament.

The FA Cup is the oldest football competition in the world, commencing in 1871–72. Because it involves clubs of all standards playing against each other there is the possibility for "minnows" from the lower divisions to become "giant-killers" by eliminating top clubs from the tournament, although lower division teams rarely reach the final. A record 762 teams have been accepted into the cup for 2008-2009, beating the previous record of 731 teams accepted into the FA Cup in 2007–08. In comparison, the League Cup can involve only the 72 members of The Football League (which organises that competition) and the 20 teams in the Premier League for a total of 92 eligible teams.

As well as being presented with the cup, the winning team also qualifies by right for the first round of the UEFA Cup, unless they have already qualified for Europe in which case the position goes to the runners-up or to the highest placed Premier League side without European qualification.

FA Cup Winners from outside the top flight

Since the foundation of the Football League, Tottenham Hotspur in 1901 have been the only non-league winners of the FA Cup. They were then playing in the Southern League and were only elected to the Football League in 1908. At that time the Football League consisted of only two 18-team divisions; Tottenham's victory would be comparable to a team playing at the third level of the English football pyramid (currently League One) winning today. In the history of the FA Cup, only eight teams who were playing outside of the top level of English football have gone on to win the whole competition, the most recent being West Ham United, who beat Arsenal in 1980. Except Tottenham in 1901, these clubs were all playing in the old Second Division, no other Third Division or lower side having so far reached the final.

Arguably, one of the most famous upsets was when Sunderland A.F.C. beat Leeds United 1–0 in 1973. Leeds were third in the First Division and Sunderland were in the Second. Three years later Second Division Southampton also achieved the same feat as Sunderland against First Division Manchester United by the same 1–0 scoreline. The only team to have won the FA Cup and promotion from the second flight is West Bromwich Albion in the 1930–31 season. The other non-top flight winners of the FA Cup were Barnsley in 1912, Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1908, and Notts County in 1894, who were the first non-top flight team to win the FA Cup since the inception of the league. Thus far the FA Cup final has never been contested by two teams from outside the top flight. Uniquely, in 2007-08, three of the four semi-finalists (Barnsley, Cardiff City and West Bromwich Albion), were from outside the top flight, although Portsmouth F.C. went on to win it.

FA Cup Giant-killers

Aside from the non-top-flight winners mentioned above, the FA Cup has a long tradition of lower-division and non-league teams becoming "giant-killers" by defeating much higher-ranked opponents during earlier rounds. There are various famous giant-killing feats, although it is comparatively rare to occur for a team to beat one more than two divisions above them. The last time a non-league team beat top-flight opposition was Sutton United's victory over Coventry City in 1988–89. Another notable result was in 1969 when in the fifth round Mansfield Town of the Third Division were drawn at home to West Ham United, who were standing sixth in the First Division and who had three World Cup winners in their side: Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst along with youngsters Billy Bonds and Trevor Brooking. The game was postponed five times before it finally went ahead on 26 February 1969, on what turned out to be one of the greatest nights in the club’s history. In front of 21,117 at Field Mill, Mansfield won 3–0 and became only the fourth team in club history to knock out clubs from five different leagues in the same competition.

Other giant killings include Hereford United shocking Newcastle United in 1972 with one of the most famous goals in the history of the cup coming from the boot of Ronnie Radford.

In 1975, Wimbledon became nationally famous during a spectacular FA Cup run. They were the first non-league team that century to beat a First Division team at its own ground, when they defeated Burnley F.C. 1-0 at Turf Moor in the third round. In the fourth round they held the reigning First Division Champions, Leeds United F.C., to a 0-0 draw at Elland Road, with goalkeeper Dickie Guy saving a penalty from Peter Lorimer, before narrowly losing to an own goal in the replay at Selhurst Park, in front of over 40,000 spectators. Wimbledon went on to win the FA Cup as a First Division side in 1988.

Blyth Spartans' 3–2 win at Second Division Stoke City in 1978 saw them progress to the fifth round, where they were beaten by Wrexham in front of over 40,000 fans at Newcastle United's St James' Park. Bristol City's giant killing replay win over Liverpool in 1994 was also notable as being the last game for Graeme Souness. Yeovil Town won more games against league opposition than any other non-league team before their promotion. This includes a famous victory over top-flight Sunderland on a sloping pitch in 1949. Chasetown are the lowest ranked team to play in the third round, playing eventual runners-up Cardiff City in the 2007–08 competition. The game took place on 5 January 2008 whilst Chasetown were playing in the Southern League Division One Midlands, the eighth tier of the English football pyramid.

Latest FA Cup News

[an error occurred while processing this directive]