🪴 GoDeep
Search
← University Challenge
💡

General knowledge · Sport

The FA Cup

First contested 1871–72

Sport — the world's oldest national football competition

The knockout competition of the Football Association, first contested in 1871–72 and the oldest national football competition in the world. Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers 1–0 at Kennington Oval in the first final. It is open to hundreds of clubs, from the top division down through twelve qualifying rounds to village sides, which is why its giant-killings are part of English folklore. Arsenal have won it more often than anyone, and the final has been played at Wembley since 1923.

How to spot them

  • ▸Over 700 entrants, from the Premier League down through twelve rounds of qualifying
  • ▸Wanderers, the Royal Engineers and Kennington Oval in the first final
  • ▸The trophy stolen from a Birmingham shop window in 1895 and never recovered
  • ▸Hereford, Sutton, Wimbledon — the giant-killings

Key facts

Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers 1–0 at Kennington Oval in the first final, on 16 March 1872 (1872)

The scorer, Morton Betts, played under the pseudonym 'A. H. Chequer'

The original trophy was stolen from a Birmingham shop window while Aston Villa held it, and never recovered (1895)

A replica served until 1910; the present design by Fattorini & Sons dates from 1911

The White Horse Final of 1923, when a policeman on a grey horse cleared a pitch swamped by the crowd (1923)

Bolton Wanderers beat West Ham United in the first final at Wembley

Ronnie Radford's thirty-yard equaliser for non-league Hereford United against Newcastle United (1972)

Hereford won the replay 2–1 in extra time, the archetypal giant-killing

Fourth-tier Wimbledon beat Liverpool 1–0 in the 1988 final through a Lawrie Sanchez header (1988)

The Crazy Gang had still been a non-league club a decade earlier

Arsenal's fourteen wins, more than any other club

Their most recent came in 2020

Replays were abolished from the first round proper in 2024–25 (2024)

To make room for the expanded European competitions

Manchester City beat Chelsea 1–0 at Wembley in 2026, Antoine Semenyo scoring (2026)

City's eighth win in the competition

Quick-fire facts

  • •First contested in the 1871–72 season; Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers 1–0 at Kennington Oval
  • •It is the oldest national football competition in the world
  • •There have been four physical trophies; the first, the 'little tin idol', was stolen in 1895 and never found
  • •The present design, by Fattorini & Sons of Bradford, dates from 1911
  • •Arsenal hold the record with 14 wins
  • •Finals have been played at Wembley since 1923, apart from the Millennium Stadium years of 2001–2006 while Wembley was rebuilt
  • •Wimbledon's win over Liverpool in 1988 is the biggest upset in a final; Hereford's win over Newcastle in 1972 the most famous in an earlier round
  • •Sutton United, of the Conference, knocked out Coventry City in 1989, five years after Coventry had won the cup
  • •Replays were abolished from the first round proper in 2024–25
  • •Manchester City are the holders, having beaten Chelsea 1–0 on 16 May 2026

Drill it — 7 cards

1 / 7new card

Sources