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The FA Cup is the world's oldest national football competition, founded in 1871–72. With 736 clubs entering and no replays from the 2024–25 season, the format has evolved while the tradition remains compelling.
The FA Cup — formally the Football Association Challenge Cup — is the world's oldest national football competition. Founded in the 1871–72 season, it predates the Football League by 17 years and the Premier League by over a century. Despite the dramatic growth of Premier League and European football in the modern era, the FA Cup retains a cultural significance in English football that is difficult to quantify but impossible to ignore.
The first FA Cup final was held in 1872 at Kennington Oval, with Wanderers defeating Royal Engineers 1–0. The competition has been contested every season since, with the sole exception of the Second World War years (1940–1945). It is a genuine piece of living football history — a competition in which the same trophy has been contested, in essentially the same format, for over 150 years.
The competition's cultural importance is rooted in several factors: its inclusivity (any affiliated club in England can enter), its long tradition of giant-killings (lower-division clubs defeating Premier League opposition), and its status as one of the few remaining occasions when the entire breadth of English football — from amateur clubs to the country's wealthiest — shares the same competition.
The FA Cup is open to any club affiliated with the Football Association playing in the English football pyramid. For the 2024–25 season, 736 clubs entered the competition. The earliest rounds begin in August with the Extra Preliminary Round, populated by clubs from the eighth tier of English football and below.
Premier League and Championship clubs do not enter until the third round, which takes place in early January. This is the moment when the cup truly captures national attention — the moment at which the possibility of a lower-league club upsetting a Premier League giant becomes a statistical reality rather than a theoretical one. The third round draw is a significant media event, with fans of every competing club tuning in to learn which fixtures they will play.
The competition proceeds through:
One of the most significant rule changes in the competition's recent history was the abolition of replays from the 2024–25 season for all rounds before the quart
This decision was not universally popular. For smaller clubs, a home replay against a Premier League side was a financially significant event — a second chance to generate gate revenue and broadcast income from a high-profile opponent. The abolition of replays removes this opportunity, with drawn matches now decided by extra time and penalty shootout in the original tie.
The FA Cup distributes prize money to clubs at each stage, with the amounts increasing significantly as the competition progresses. The winner receives approximately £2 million in direct prize money (subject to revision — refer to The FA's official communications for current figures). However, the financial value of the FA Cup extends beyond direct prize money: it includes ticket revenue from home ties, potential television broadcast fees for selected matches, and commercial income from a deep run in the competition.
The FA Cup's most celebrated tradition is the giant-killing — the result in which a significantly lower-division club defeats a higher-division, usually Premier League, opponent. These results are not freakish outliers; they happen almost every year in the third and fourth rounds, and they are anticipated and relished by fans of the underdog and neutrals alike.
The semi-finals and final are both held at Wembley Stadium, giving both occasions the gravity appropriate to the oldest knockout competition in the world. The FA Cup final remains one of the most watched sporting events in the UK calendar, a fixture that can draw audiences well in excess of ten million on domestic television and many more internationally.
The Carabao Cup, officially known as the EFL League Cup, is English football's second domestic knockout cup competition, open to all 92 clubs in the Football League pyramid. It offers Premier League clubs a realistic shot at silverware early in the season and gives squad players vital game time. This guide explains the format, entry rounds, prize money, and where to watch it.