Live FA Cup

ABOUT THE FA CUP

The FA CUP or ‘Football Association Challenge Cup' is one of the most successful football tournaments in the history of English football, the other being the champions trophy and UEFA cup. It is a knockout tournament run by and named after ‘The Football Association'. There are two formats of the cup. One is for the men commonly called the "FA CUP" and the other for women called the "FA Womens Cup". You can watch Live FA Cup football by signing up today at LivesportsTV.

The FA Cup dates back to the 1870's, making it the oldest competition in football's history. The tournament began in 1871 when the then secretary Charles Alcock proclaimed "That it is desirable that a Challenge Cup should be established in connection with the Association, for which all clubs belonging to the Association should be invited to compete". The original membership comprised of 11 teams. With a little persuasion the number slowly grew to 50. Atlcock recalled playing in an inter-house knockout tournament at Harrow School and felt that the formula could work on a bigger scale. His proposal was well received by the committee and met "with general favour" and the rules of the new competition were agreed three months later. A stimulus was required to generate excitement and spirit for the game and it was hoped that "The Cup" would provide it. The first Live FA Cup matches ever played all took place on Saturday, 11 November 1871. The first Cup goal was scored by Clapham's Jarvis Kenrick. He later went on to win the cup three years running with the Wanderers.

The format of the cup is just like the English Football League System. The tournament is a knockout tournament with pairings taking place at random. A draw takes place after the majority of fixtures have been played in each round. The qualifying rounds are within the regions only so that distant teams do not have to travel more and therefore expenditure is less. Rounds one and two were previously split into northern and southern draw sections, but this practice was abandoned after the 1997–98 cup competition, after much hue and cry. The Live FA Cup draws also decide which team is going to play at home and away.

If a match ends in a draw, it's usually followed by a replay, usually at the ground of the team who were away for the first game. The replay system paved the way for modern day penalty shootouts because once three games stretched for five replays and the public criticized the format which led to authorities changing their rules.

Non-predictability is the biggest asset of the game as sometimes two top clubs may be drawn against each other in the early rounds, removing the possibility of them meeting in the final. Lower-ranked clubs with reputations as "giant-killers" look forward to meeting a top team at home, thereby giving them a slight chance of making it to the top. Non-league clubs may also enter if they competed in the previous season's Live FA Cup. All clubs entering the competition must have a stadium, with adequate facilities. Clubs placed higher up in the league system are exempt from certain rounds.

The competition begins in August with the Extra-Preliminary Qualifying Round for the lower rank clubs in the English football league system. After this round is the Preliminary Qualifying Round, followed by four Qualifying Rounds, six proper competition Rounds, and then the Semi-Finals and Final. Byes are given for clubs playing in the Conference North or Conference South to the Second Qualifying Round and Conference National clubs to the Fourth Qualifying Round.

Matches in the Live FA Cup are usually played at the home ground of one of the two teams. Semi-finals used to be held at neutral grounds of the teams involved in the semis, but this may be redrafted so that future semis will be held at Wembley Stadium, as with Cardiff in the 2004/05 season cup. The FA Cup Final is played at the home of football, Wembley Stadium , at the end of the football season in May. Wembley has been out of action since 2001, however, due to redevelopments and a brand new stadium being built, the final has been held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The stadium has witnessed many great spectacles; Michael Owen's late show in 2001 and the two long-range efforts which sealed the trophy for Arsenal a year later; Robert Pires' solitary strike was enough for the Gunners to retain The Cup in 2003 while record holders Manchester United found their scoring touch to finish off Millwall. The 2005 final was notable for its penalty shootout - the first in Live FA Cup Final history.

Tottenham Hotspur were the only non-league winners of the FA Cup in 1901, they were then playing in the Southern League. For a comparison, Tottenham in 1901 would be roughly equivalent to a struggling League One team winning the cup today.

At the end of the final, the winning team is presented with the "FA Cup", which they hold until the following year's final and pass it on to their successors if they do not win it back. Coventry City's 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur back in 1987 was one of the greatest Cup Finals.

The Live FA Cup is envied the world over and is the most prestigious domestic cup competition anywhere. Many teams have repeatedly won The FA Cup with the most prolific winner, Manchester United, having picked it up 11 times, closely followed by Arsenal on 10.