 An illustration of the FA Cup trophy awarded in 1876 | |||||||
| Event | 1876–77 FA Cup | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| After extra time | |||||||
| Date | 24 March 1877 | ||||||
| Venue | Kennington Oval, London | ||||||
| Referee | Sidney Havell Wright (Great Marlow F.C.) | ||||||
| Attendance | 3,000 | ||||||
The 1877 FA Cup final was a football match between Wanderers and Oxford University on 24 March 1877 at Kennington Oval in London. It was the sixth final of the world's oldest football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (known in the modern era as the FA Cup). Wanderers were the reigning cup-holders and had won the competition three times in total. Oxford had also previously won the tournament, making this the first FA Cup final played between two former winners. Wanderers had reached the final without conceding a goal, defeating Cambridge University in the semi-finals. Oxford had only played three matches in the five rounds prior to the final due to a combination of byes and opponents withdrawing.
Oxford took the lead in the final when Arthur Kinnaird, the Wanderers goalkeeper, stepped behind his goal-line while holding the ball, thereby scoring an own goal. Wanderers equalised in the dying stages of the match and scored the winning goal in extra time. Oxford's goal was struck from the official records after the match, but reinstated over a hundred years later.