FA Cup The FA Cup, better known in Portuguese-speaking countries as the FA Cup or FA Cup, also called the Emirates FA Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the oldest football competition in the world, organized by The Football Association (The FA), the highest governing body of the sport in England. Disputed in a knockout format by English football clubs, the FA Cup is the second most important competition in the sport in the country, right after the Premier League. It dictated the knockout competition model, currently followed by the Brazilian Cup, Italian Cup, German Cup, French Cup, Portuguese Cup, Spanish King's Cup, U.S. Open Cup, among others. In 1863, the newly founded Football Association (FA) published the Laws of the Game of Football, unifying the various different rules in use until then. On 20 July 1871, at the offices of The Sportsman newspaper, FA Secretary C. W. Alcock proposed to the FA Committee that "it is desirable that a Challenge Cup be established with the Association, for which all clubs belonging to the Association should be invited to compete". The inaugural FA Cup tournament began in November 1871. After thirteen games in total, Wanderers emerged victorious after defeating the Royal Engineers Association Football Club 1–0 on 16 March 1872. Wanderers went on to win the trophy again the following year. Wanderers Football Club were an English football club. They were founded as "Forest Football Club" in 1859 in Leytonstone. In 1864, they changed their name to "Wanderers", a reference to the fact that they had never had a stadium of their own, playing at various venues in and around London. Composed mainly of former pupils from leading English public schools, Wanderers were one of the dominant teams in the early years of organised football and won the first Football Association Challenge Cup (now known as the FA Cup) in 1872. The club won the competition five times in total, including three consecutive times from 1876 to 1878, a feat they have only repeated once before: Blackburn Rovers (1884, 1885 and 1886). Wanderers were disbanded in 1887. The Royal Engineers Association Football Club is a football team representing the Corps of Royal Engineers, the 'Sappers', of the British Army, based in Chatham, Kent. In the 1870s, they were one of the strongest teams in English football, winning the FA Cup in 1875 and being cup finalists in three of their first four seasons. The modern cup competition was beginning to take shape in the 1888–89 season, when qualifying rounds were introduced. After the 1914–15 season, the competition was suspended due to the First World War and did not resume until 1919–20. The 1923 FA Cup Final, Bolton Wanders 2 West Ham 0, commonly known as the "White Horse Final", was the first final to be played at the newly opened Wembley Stadium (known at the time as the Empire Stadium). Due to the outbreak of the Second World War, the competition was not played between the 1938–39 and 1945–46 editions. After some confusion over the rules in its first competition, the FA decided that any drawn match would lead to a replay, with teams competing in further replays until a game was finally won. The Alvechurch-Oxford City tie during the 1971–72 qualifying phase was played over 6 legs. Replays were removed completely from the semi-finals and finals in 2000, the quarter-finals in 2016–17, the fifth round in 2019–20 and the first round onwards from 2024 to 2025. The redevelopment of Wembley saw the final played outside England for the first time, with the 2001–06 final being played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The final returned to Wembley in 2007. Eligibility All clubs in the top four tiers (the Premier League and the three divisions of the English Football League) are automatically eligible. Clubs in Tier 5–9 (non-league football) are also eligible, provided they play in the FA Trophy or FA Vase competitions in the current season. All participating clubs must also have a suitable stadium for the competition and the Association may reject entries at its discretion. Welsh teams playing in English leagues are eligible, although since the inception of the League of Wales there are only five remaining clubs: Cardiff City (the only non-English team to win the tournament, in 1927), Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham and Merthyr Town. In the early years, other teams from Wales, Ireland and Scotland also took part in the competition, with Glasgow's Queen's Park losing the final to Blackburn Rovers in 1884 and 1885 before being barred from participating by the Scottish Football Association. In the 2013–14 season, the first club from the Channel Islands entered the competition when Guernsey FC competed. The first game played in the Channel Islands – and therefore the most southerly FA Cup match played – took place on 7 August 2021 between Jersey Bulls and Horsham YMCA. A third club, Isle of Man FC, was also eligible to play in 2022–23, but ultimately all the Crown Dependency teams either failed to appear on the entry list or subsequently withdrew. The Crown Dependencies are three offshore island territories in the British Isles that are self-governing possessions of the British Crown: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey, both located in the English Channel and together known as the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. Qualification for subsequent competitions The winners of the FA Cup qualify for the following season's UEFA Europa League (previously called the UEFA Cup); they previously entered the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup from its inception in 1960 until its final edition in 1998. This European place applies even if the team is relegated or is not in the English top flight. In the past, if the FA Cup winner also qualified for the following season's Champions League or Europa League through their league or European performance, the FA Cup losers were awarded the European place of the League Cup winners. The FA Cup winners enter the Europa League at the group stage. If the FA Cup winner has already qualified for a European competition through its position in the Premier League, the Europa League place is then given to the highest-placed team in the Premier League that has not yet qualified for a European competition. FA Community Shield The FA Cup winners also qualify for the FA Community Shield, a one-off, traditional season-opening match between the previous season’s Premier League champions (or the Premier League runners-up if the FA Cup winners also win the league – the double). The second FA Cup trophy, pictured here, is identical in design to the one won by Wanderers. The original trophy was stolen in 1895 and never recovered. Alex