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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, having commenced in the 1871–72 season. 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. 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.

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.

As of 2024, 44 clubs have won the FA Cup. The record for the most wins is held by Arsenal, with 14 victories. Only one surviving club, Blackburn Rovers, have won the cup in three consecutive years, a feat that was also achieved by the now dissolved Wanderers. The cup has been won by the same team in two or more consecutive years on ten occasions, and four teams have won consecutive finals more than once: Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. The cup has been won by a non-English team once: Cardiff City in 1927. The current holders are Manchester United, who defeated local rivals Manchester City in the 2024 final.

History

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, 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".

With the advent of professionalism at around the same time, the amateur teams quickly faded from prominence in the competition. The leading professional clubs formed The Football League in 1888. Since then, one non-league team has won the cup. Tottenham Hotspur, then of the Southern League, defeated Sheffield United of The Football League to win the 1901 final. A year later Sheffield United returned to the final and won the cup, which then remained in the hands of Northern and Midland clubs until Tottenham won it again in 1921. In 1927, Cardiff City, a team which plays in the English football league system despite being based in Wales, won the cup, the only non-English club to do so. Scottish club Queens Park reached the final twice in the early years of the competition.

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.

Newcastle United enjoyed a brief spell of FA Cup dominance in the 1950s, winning the trophy three times in five years, 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. 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. 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.

Until 1999, a draw in the final would result in the match being replayed at a later date; since then the final has always been decided on the day, with a penalty shoot-out as required. 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.

Results

• The "Season" column refers to the season the competition was held, and wikilinks to the article about that season.
• The wikilinks in the "Score" column point to the article about that season's final game.

All teams are English, except where marked (Scottish) or (Welsh).

FA Cup finals

Season	Winners	Score	Runners–up	Venue	Attendance
1871–72	Wanderers (1)	1–0	Royal Engineers	Kennington Oval	2,000
1872–73	Wanderers (2)	2–0	Oxford University	Lillie Bridge	3,000
1873–74	Oxford University (1)	2–0	Royal Engineers	Kennington Oval	2,000
1874–75	Royal Engineers (1)	* 1–1 *	Old Etonians		2,000
		2–0 (R)			3,000
1875–76	Wanderers (3)	1–1	Old Etonians		3,500
		3–0 (R)			1,500
1876–77	Wanderers (4)	* 2–1 *	Oxford University		3,000
1877–78	Wanderers (5)	3–1	Royal Engineers		4,500
1878–79	Old Etonians (1)	1–0	Clapham Rovers		5,000
1879–80	Clapham Rovers (1)	1–0	Oxford University		6,000
1880–81	Old Carthusians (1)	3–0	Old Etonians		4,000
1881–82	Old Etonians (2)	1–0	Blackburn Rovers		6,500
1882–83	Blackburn Olympic (1)	* 2–1 *	Old Etonians		8,000
1883–84	Blackburn Rovers (1)	2–1	Queen's Park		4,000
1884–85	Blackburn Rovers (2)	2–0	Queen's Park		12,500
1885–86	Blackburn Rovers (3)	0–0	West Bromwich Albion		15,000
		2–0 (R)		Racecourse Ground	12,000
1886–87	Aston Villa (1)	2–0	West Bromwich Albion	Kennington Oval	15,500
1887–88	West Bromwich Albion (1)	2–1	Preston North End		19,000
1888–89	Preston North End ‡ (1)	3–0	Wolverhampton Wanderers		22,000
1889–90	Blackburn Rovers (4)	6–1	The Wednesday		20,000
1890–91	Blackburn Rovers (5)	3–1	Notts County		23,000
1891–92	West Bromwich Albion (2)	3–0	Aston Villa		32,810
1892–93	Wolverhampton Wanderers (1)	1–0	Everton	Fallowfield Stadium	45,000
1893–94	Notts County (1)	4–1	Bolton Wanderers	Goodison Park	37,000
1894–95	Aston Villa (2)	1–0	West Bromwich Albion	Crystal Palace	42,560
1895–96	The Wednesday (1)	2–1	Wolverhampton Wanderers		48,836
1896–97	Aston Villa ‡ (3)	3–2	Everton		65,891
1897–98	Nottingham Forest (1)	3–1	Derby County		62,017
1898–99	Sheffield United (1)	4–1	Derby County		73,833
1899–1900	Bury (1)	4–0	Southampton		68,945
1900–01	Tottenham Hotspur (1)	2–2	Sheffield United		110,820
		3–1 (R)		Burnden Park	20,470
1901–02	Sheffield United (2)	1–1	Southampton	Crystal Palace	76,914
		2–1 (R)			33,068
1902–03	Bury (2)	6–0	Derby County		63,102
1903–04	Manchester City (1)	1–0	Bolton Wanderers		61,374
1904–05	Aston Villa (4)	2–0	Newcastle United		101,117
1905–06	Everton (1)	1–0	Newcastle United		75,609
1906–07	The Wednesday (2)	2–1	Everton		84,594
1907–08	Wolverhampton Wanderers (2)	3–1	Newcastle United		74,697
1908–09	Manchester United (1)	1–0	Bristol City		71,401
1909–10	Newcastle United (1)	1–1	Barnsley		77,747
		2–0 (R)		Goodison Park	69,000
1910–11	Bradford City (1)	0–0	Newcastle United	Crystal Palace	69,068
		1–0 (R)		Old Trafford	58,000
1911–12	Barnsley (1)	0–0	West Bromwich Albion	Crystal Palace	54,556
		* 1–0 * (R)		Bramall Lane	38,555
1912–13	Aston Villa (5)	1–0	Sunderland	Crystal Palace	121,919
1913–14	Burnley (1)	1–0	Liverpool		72,778
1914–15	Sheffield United (3)	3–0	Chelsea	Old Trafford	49,557
1919–20	Aston Villa (6)	* 1–0 *	Huddersfield Town	Stamford Bridge	50,018
1920–21	Tottenham Hotspur (2)	1–0	Wolverhampton Wanderers		72,805
1921–22	Huddersfield Town (1)	1–0	Preston North End		53,000
1922–23	Bolton Wanderers (1)	2–0	West Ham United	Wembley Stadium (original)	126,047
1923–24	Newcastle United (2)	2–0	Aston Villa		91,695
1924–25	Sheffield United (4)	1–0	Cardiff City		91,763
1925–26	Bolton Wanderers (2)	1–0	Manchester City		91,447
1926–27	Cardiff City (1)	1–0	Arsenal		91,206
1927–28	Blackburn Rovers (6)	3–1	Huddersfield Town		92,041
1928–29	Bolton Wanderers (3)	2–0	Portsmouth		92,576
1929–30	Arsenal (1)	2–0	Huddersfield Town		92,488
1930–31	West Bromwich Albion (3)	2–1	Birmingham		92,406
1931–32	Newcastle United (3)	2–1	Arsenal		92,298
1932–33	Everton (2)	3–0	Manchester City		92,950
1933–34	Manchester City (2)	2–1	Portsmouth		93,258
1934–35	Sheffield Wednesday (3)	4–2	West Bromwich Albion		93,204
1935–36	Arsenal (2)	1–0	Sheffield United		93,384
1936–37	Sunderland (1)	3–1	Preston North End		93,495
1937–38	Preston North End (2)	* 1–0 *	Huddersfield Town		93,497
1938–39	Portsmouth (1)	4–1	Wolverhampton Wanderers		99,370
1945–46	Derby County (1)	* 4–1 *	Charlton Athletic		98,000
1946–47	Charlton Athletic (1)	* 1–0 *	Burnley		99,000
1947–48	Manchester United (2)	4–2	Blackpool		99,000
1948–49	Wolverhampton Wanderers (3)	3–1	Leicester City
1949–50	Arsenal (3)	2–0	Liverpool		100,000
1950–51	Newcastle United (4)	2–0	Blackpool
1951–52	Newcastle United (5)	1–0	Arsenal
1952–53	Blackpool (1)	4–3	Bolton Wanderers
1953–54	West Bromwich Albion (4)	3–2	Preston North End
1954–55	Newcastle United (6)	3–1	Manchester City
1955–56	Manchester City (3)	3–1	Birmingham City
1956–57	Aston Villa (7)	2–1	Manchester United
1957–58	Bolton Wanderers (4)	2–0	Manchester United
1958–59	Nottingham Forest (2)	2–1	Luton Town
1959–60	Wolverhampton Wanderers (4)	3–0	Blackburn Rovers
1960–61	Tottenham Hotspur ‡ (3)	2–0	Leicester City
1961–62	Tottenham Hotspur (4)	3–1	Burnley
1962–63	Manchester United (3)	3–1	Leicester City
1963–64	West Ham United (1)	3–2	Preston North End
1964–65	Liverpool (1)	* 2–1 *	Leeds United
1965–66	Everton (3)	3–2	Sheffield Wednesday
1966–67	Tottenham Hotspur (5)	2–1	Chelsea
1967–68	West Bromwich Albion (5)	* 1–0 *	Everton
1968–69	Manchester City (4)	1–0	Leicester City
1969–70	Chelsea (1)	* 2–2 *	Leeds United
		* 2–1 * (R)		Old Trafford	62,078
1970–71	Arsenal ‡ (4)	* 2–1 *	Liverpool	Wembley Stadium (original)	100,000
1971–72	Leeds United (1)	1–0	Arsenal
1972–73	Sunderland (2)	1–0	Leeds United
1973–74	Liverpool (2)	3–0	Newcastle United
1974–75	West Ham United (2)	2–0	Fulham
1975–76	Southampton (1)	1–0	Manchester United
1976–77	Manchester United (4)	2–1	Liverpool
1977–78	Ipswich Town (1)	1–0	Arsenal
1978–79	Arsenal (5)	3–2	Manchester United
1979–80	West Ham United (3)	1–0	Arsenal
1980–81	Tottenham Hotspur (6)	* 1–1 *	Manchester City
		3–2 (R)			92,000
1981–82	Tottenham Hotspur (7)	* 1–1 *	Queens Park Rangers		100,000
		1–0 (R)			90,000
1982–83	Manchester United (5)	* 2–2 *	Brighton & Hove Albion		100,000
		4–0 (R)
1983–84	Everton (4)	2–0	Watford
1984–85	Manchester United (6)	* 1–0 *	Everton
1985–86	Liverpool ‡ (3)	3–1	Everton		98,000
1986–87	Coventry City (1)	* 3–2 *	Tottenham Hotspur
1987–88	Wimbledon (1)	1–0	Liverpool		98,203
1988–89	Liverpool (4)	* 3–2 *	Everton		82,500
1989–90	Manchester United (7)	* 3–3 *	Crystal Palace		80,000
		1–0 (R)
1990–91	Tottenham Hotspur (8)	* 2–1 *	Nottingham Forest
1991–92	Liverpool (5)	2–0	Sunderland
1992–93	Arsenal (6)	* 1–1 *	Sheffield Wednesday		79,347
		* 2–1 * (R)			62,267
1993–94	Manchester United ‡ (8)	4–0	Chelsea		79,634
1994–95	Everton (5)	1–0	Manchester United		79,592
1995–96	Manchester United ‡ (9)	1–0	Liverpool		79,007
1996–97	Chelsea (2)	2–0	Middlesbrough		79,160
1997–98	Arsenal ‡ (7)	2–0	Newcastle United		79,183
1998–99	Manchester United # (10)	2–0	Newcastle United		79,101
1999–2000	Chelsea (3)	1–0	Aston Villa		78,217
2000–01	Liverpool (6)	2–1	Arsenal	Millennium Stadium	72,500
2001–02	Arsenal ‡ (8)	2–0	Chelsea		73,963
2002–03	Arsenal (9)	1–0	Southampton		73,726
2003–04	Manchester United (11)	3–0	Millwall		71,350
2004–05	Arsenal (10)	† 0–0 †	Manchester United		71,876
2005–06	Liverpool (7)	† 3–3 †	West Ham United		71,140
2006–07	Chelsea (4)	* 1–0 *	Manchester United	Wembley Stadium	89,826
2007–08	Portsmouth (2)	1–0	Cardiff City		89,874
2008–09	Chelsea (5)	2–1	Everton		89,391
2009–10	Chelsea ‡ (6)	1–0	Portsmouth		88,335
2010–11	Manchester City (5)	1–0	Stoke City		88,643
2011–12	Chelsea (7)	2–1	Liverpool		89,041
2012–13	Wigan Athletic (1)	1–0	Manchester City		86,254
2013–14	Arsenal (11)	* 3–2 *	Hull City		89,345
2014–15	Arsenal (12)	4–0	Aston Villa		89,283
2015–16	Manchester United (12)	* 2–1 *	Crystal Palace		88,619
2016–17	Arsenal (13)	2–1	Chelsea		89,472
2017–18	Chelsea (8)	1–0	Manchester United		87,647
2018–19	Manchester City § (6)	6–0	Watford		85,854
2019–20	Arsenal (14)	2–1	Chelsea		0
2020–21	Leicester City (1)	1–0	Chelsea		20,000
2021–22	Liverpool (8)	† 0–0 †	Chelsea		84,897
2022–23	Manchester City # (7)	2–1	Manchester United		83,179
2023–24	Manchester United (13)	2–1	Manchester City		84,814

Results by team

Teams shown in italics are no longer in existence. Additionally, Queen's Park ceased to be eligible to enter the FA Cup after a Scottish Football Association ruling in 1887.

1. Sheffield Wednesday's total includes two wins and one defeat under the earlier name of The Wednesday.
2. Bury have reformed as a phoenix club since their last appearance in the final.
3. 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.

See also

• List of association football competitions

Notes

1. 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.
2. Score was 0–0 after extra time. Arsenal won the penalty shoot-out 5–4.
3. Score was 3–3 after 90 minutes and extra time. Liverpool won the penalty shoot-out 3–1.
4. The 2020 final was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.
5. The 2021 final attendance was capped at 20,000 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.
6. Score was 0–0 after extra time. Liverpool won the penalty shoot-out 6–5.

References

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32. Hope, Christopher (14 March 2021). "Wembley Stadium to admit 20,000 fans to FA Cup final in cautious restart for spectator sport". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
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External links

• The FA Cup Archive Archived 4 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine at TheFA.com
• England FA Challenge Cup Finals Archived 13 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine at RSSSF.com

• FA Cup
• FA Cup finals
• Lists of association football matches
• Association football in England lists