The FA Cup: world's oldest national football tournament and its 763-club record
In July 1871, in a newspaper office, FA secretary C. W. Alcock suggested a challenge cup open to every member club. The first tournament kicked off that November. Today village sides from the ninth tier can enter in August and, in theory, meet Premier League giants by January, needing up to fourteen wins to lift the trophy.
The Football Association had only published unified laws of the game in 1863 when Alcock made his proposal on 20 July 1871 at the offices of The Sportsman. Wanderers won the first edition after thirteen matches. The competition paused during both world wars, and the 1923 final, known as the White Horse Final, was the first at the new Wembley Stadium. Singing Abide with Me before kick-off began in 1927, the same year Cardiff City became the only non-English winner.
The format is a pure knockout with no seeding and random draws. Six qualifying rounds, organised by region to spare small clubs travel costs, whittle down non-League teams; 32 survivors join the professional sides of Leagues One and Two in the first round proper, and the 20 Premier League and 24 Championship clubs arrive in the third. Early on, the FA ruled that draws meant replays, repeated until someone won; Alvechurch and Oxford City once needed six matches. Replays have since been cut back step by step and are now limited to early rounds.
Entries have swelled as non-League football reorganised. The 1921–22 total of 656 stood as a record until 2004–05, and the field reached 763 in 2011–12. Scottish side Queen's Park reached two finals in the 1880s before being barred, and in 2021 Jersey Bulls hosted the southernmost tie ever. Rarely, giants skip it: Manchester United sat out 1999–2000 to play in the first Club World Championship.
Arsenal have won it fourteen times, and former manager Arsène Wenger holds the individual record with seven. Wembley's rebuilding sent the 2001–2006 finals to Cardiff, the first played outside England.
Source: FA Cup
