 The match programme cover | |||||||
| Event | 2009–10 FA Cup | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Date | 15 May 2010 | ||||||
| Venue | Wembley Stadium, London | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Didier Drogba (Chelsea) | ||||||
| Referee | Chris Foy (Merseyside)[1] | ||||||
| Attendance | 88,335 | ||||||
The 2010 FA Cup final was the 129th final of the FA Cup, the world's oldest domestic football cup competition. The match took place on 15 May 2010,[2] at Wembley Stadium, London, in front of a crowd of over 88,000 and a British television audience of over 5 million.[3] The match was contested between the two most recent FA Cup winners, Chelsea (2009, also cup holders) and Portsmouth (2008), and was refereed by Chris Foy from Merseyside.[1] Chelsea won 1–0.
Chelsea entered the final looking to complete the Double for the first time in their history, having been crowned as the winners of the 2009–10 Premier League the week before. Portsmouth entered the final in a markedly different position; they faced an uncertain future, having already been relegated from the Premier League on 10 April following financial troubles, which saw them become the first ever Premier League club to enter administration, incurring an automatic nine-point deduction.
After Kevin-Prince Boateng saw his penalty saved by Petr Čech in the 54th minute, Didier Drogba scored from a free kick in the 58th minute to lead Chelsea to a 1–0 victory, and their first Double despite a later penalty miss from Frank Lampard. Chelsea's Ashley Cole won the FA Cup for a record 6th time. It was the first final in which both teams missed a penalty. Frank Lampard's penalty miss was the first penalty to completely miss the target in an FA Cup Final since Charlie Wallace in 1913; Wallace's team also won 1–0. David James was the oldest goalkeeper to play in an FA Cup final, aged nearly 40.
The UEFA Europa League qualifying place normally given to the winners of the FA Cup became irrelevant for the 2010 final, after Chelsea qualified for the Champions League and Portsmouth were refused a UEFA licence due to their financial situation. With Manchester United having won the League Cup and qualified for the Champions League, the qualifying place due to the finalists instead passed to Liverpool, the seventh-placed Premier League team.
- ^ a b "FA Cup Final for Foy". TheFA.com. The Football Association. 13 April 2010. Archived from the original on 15 April 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
- ^ "FA Cup Round Dates". TheFA.com. The Football Association. Archived from the original on 21 April 2009. Retrieved 24 December 2009.
- ^ Deans, Jason (15 May 2010). "TV ratings: FA Cup final nets 5.6m viewers". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 11 January 2012.