FA Cup

This article is about the English annual men's professional association football competition. For English annual women's association football competition, see Women's FA Cup. For Non League Version, see FA Trophy. For other uses, see FA Cup (disambiguation).
"Emirates FA Cup" redirects here. For the pre-season invitational tournament, see Emirates Cup.

FA Cup
Organising bodyThe Football Association
Founded1871; 153 years ago (1871)
Region
  • England
  • Wales
Number of teams745 (2024–25)
Qualifier forUEFA Europa League
FA Community Shield
Current championsManchester United
(13th title)
Most successful club(s)Arsenal (14 titles)
Television broadcastersBBC Sport
ITV Sport
Websitethefa.com
2024–25 FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competition in the world.[1] It is organised by and named after The Football Association (The FA). Since 2015, it has been known as Emirates FA Cup after its headline sponsor Emirates. A concurrent Women's FA Cup has been held since 1970.

The competition is open to all eligible clubs down to Level 9 of the English football league system with Level 10 clubs acting as stand-ins in the event of non-entries from above.[2] A record 763 clubs competed in 2011–12. The tournament consists of 12 randomly drawn rounds followed by the semi-finals and the final. Entrants are not seeded, although a system of byes based on league level ensures higher ranked teams enter in later rounds – the minimum number of games needed to win, depending on which round a team enters the competition, ranges from six to fourteen.

The first six rounds are the Qualifying Competition, and are contested by clubs in the National League System, levels 5 to 10 of the English football system, more commonly called non-League. 32 of these teams progress to the first round of the Competition Proper, meeting the first of the 48 professional teams from Leagues One and Two. The last entrants are the 20 Premier League and 24 Championship clubs, into the draw for the third round proper.[2] In the modern era, only one non-League team has ever reached the quarter-finals, and teams below Level 2 have never reached the final.[note 1] As a result, significant focus is given to the smaller teams who progress furthest, especially if they achieve an unlikely "giant-killing" victory.

Winners receive the FA Cup trophy, of which there have been two designs and five actual cups; the latest is a 2014 replica of the second design, introduced in 1911. Winners also qualify for the UEFA Europa League and a place in the upcoming FA Community Shield. Arsenal are the most successful club with fourteen titles, most recently in 2020, and their former manager Arsène Wenger is the competition's most successful, having won seven finals with the team. Manchester United are the current holders, having defeated local rivals Manchester City 2–1 in the 2024 final.

  1. ^ "Oldest football cup 'not for sale'". BBC News. 14 October 2014. Archived from the original on 5 November 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  2. ^ a b Faulkner, Bryan (13 July 2022). "Rules of the FA Challenge Cup 2022–23". The Football Association. Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2022.


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