The
Blackburn Rovers team which won the FA Cup in 1884. Team captain
James Brown (front row, centre) holds the trophy.
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the
FA Cup, is a
knockout competition in English
football, organised by and named after
The Football Association (the FA). It is the oldest existing football competition in the world,[1] having commenced in the
1871–72 season.[2] The tournament is open to all clubs in the top 10 levels of the
English football league system, although a club's home stadium must meet certain requirements prior to entering the tournament.[3] The competition culminates at the end of the league season (usually in May) with the
FA Cup Final, officially named The Football Association Challenge Cup Final Tie, which has traditionally been regarded as the showpiece finale of the English football season.[4]
The vast majority of FA Cup final matches have been in London: most of these were played at the original
Wembley Stadium, which was used from 1923 until the stadium closed in 2000. The other venues used for the final before 1923 were
Kennington Oval,
Crystal Palace,
Stamford Bridge and
Lillie Bridge, all in London,
Goodison Park in Liverpool and
Fallowfield Stadium and
Old Trafford in Manchester. The
Millennium Stadium in
Cardiff hosted the final for six years (2001–2006), while the new Wembley Stadium was under construction. Other grounds have been used for replays, which until 1999 took place if the initial match ended in a draw. The
new Wembley Stadium has been the permanent venue of the final since 2007.
Tottenham Hotspur captain
Arthur Grimsdell displays the cup to fans on the Tottenham High Road after Spurs' victory in the 1921 final, the first win by a
London-based team since the same club's win 20 years earlier.
The winners of
the first tournament were
Wanderers, a team of former
public schoolboys based in
London, who went on to win the competition five times in its first seven seasons. The early winners of the competition were all teams of wealthy amateurs from the south of England,[5] but in
1883,
Blackburn Olympic became the first team from the north to win the cup, defeating
Old Etonians. Upon his team's return to
Blackburn, Olympic captain
Albert Warburton proclaimed: "The Cup is very welcome to
Lancashire. It'll have a good home and it'll never go back to London".[6]
The competition was not held during the
First and
Second World Wars, except in the
1914–15 season, when it was completed, and the
1939–40 season, when it was abandoned during the qualifying rounds.[2]
Newcastle United enjoyed a brief spell of FA Cup dominance in the 1950s, winning the trophy three times in five years,[2] and in the 1960s,
Tottenham Hotspur enjoyed a similar spell of success, with three wins in seven seasons. This marked the start of a successful period for London-based clubs, with 11 wins in 22 seasons.[10] Teams from the second tier of English football, at the time called the
Second Division, experienced an unprecedented run of cup success between 1973 and 1980.[10]Sunderland won the cup in
1973,
Southampton repeated the feat in
1976, and
West Ham United won in
1980, the most recent victory by a team from outside the top division.[2][8]
Until 1999, a draw in the final would result in the match being replayed at a later date;[11] since then the final has always been decided on the day, with a
penalty shoot-out as required.[12] As of 2022 a penalty shoot-out has been required on only three occasions, in the 2005, 2006 and 2022 finals.
Arsenal hold the record for the highest number of FA Cup wins, having claimed the trophy 14 times, most recently in 2020.[13]
^Sheffield Wednesday's total includes two wins and one defeat under the earlier name of The Wednesday.
^Bury have reformed as a
phoenix club since their last appearance in the final.
^Wimbledon relocated in 2003 from south London to Milton Keynes before rebranding the club as
Milton Keynes Dons in 2004, but the current incarnation of the club considers that it was founded in 2004 and does not lay claim to the history or honours (including the FA Cup win) of Wimbledon.[38]
^The official attendance for the 1923 final was reported as 126,047, but the actual figure is believed to be anywhere between 150,000 and 300,000.[15][16]
^Score was 0–0 after extra time. Arsenal won the penalty shoot-out 5–4.[17]
^Score was 3–3 after 90 minutes and extra time. Liverpool won the penalty shoot-out 3–1.[18]