(Note: All statistics do not include qualifying competition)
The 2024–25 FA Cup was the 144th season of the Football Association Challenge Cup, the oldest football tournament in the world. It was sponsored by Emirates and known as the Emirates FA Cup for sponsorship reasons. The FA Cup is the main domestic cup competition for men's football teams in England. The qualifying competition began on 3 August 2024, with the tournament proper starting on 2 November 2024.
Defending champions Manchester United, having beaten rivals Manchester City in the 2024 final to win their 13th title, were eliminated by Fulham in the fifth round.
Teams
The FA Cup is a knockout competition with 124 teams taking part from the first round proper, and all trying to reach the final at Wembley Stadium on 17 May 2025.[1] The competition consists of the 92 teams from the Football League system (20 teams from the Premier League and the 72 in total from the EFL Championship, EFL League One and EFL League Two) plus the 32 surviving teams out of 653 teams from the National League System that started the competition in the qualifying rounds. The total 745 entrants was an increase of 13 from the previous season,[1] and the most since 758 entrants were accepted in 2012–13.
All rounds were drawn randomly, usually at the completion of the previous round (discounting any last games of a round being played), depending on television broadcasting rights.
This is the first edition of the tournament to be played without replays in the proper rounds since the 2020–21 FA Cup and the first edition of the tournament to have the final played one week before the end of the Premier League season.[3] The changes were made as part of a six-year agreement between The Football Association and the Premier League due to pressure on the domestic calendar from expanded UEFA competitions, but were criticised since replays were cited as an important source of revenue for lower league clubs.[4][5] The agreement saw all round dates return to weekends,[2] with previous editions having had some dates in midweek.
VAR will be used in all matches from the fifth round onwards (and none prior), whereas in previous seasons it was used for all matches held in Premier League grounds and at Wembley Stadium.[6]
Teams that are not members of either the Premier League or English Football League competed in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 32 available places in the first round. The six-round qualifying competition began with the extra preliminary round on 3 August 2024, with the fourth and final qualifying round kicking off on 12 October.
Rushall Olympic and Harborough Town were appearing in the competition proper for the first time. Of the others, Braintree Town had last featured at this stage in 2016–17, Wealdstone had last done so in 2015–16, Tamworth and Hednesford Town had last done so in 2013–14 and Kettering Town had last done so in 2011–12.
First round
A total of 80 teams played in the first round: 32 winners from the fourth qualifying round, 24 from League Two (tier 4), and 24 from League One (tier 3). Eighth tier side Hednesford Town (Northern Premier League Division One West) were the lowest-ranked team in the draw, which was made on 14 October 2024 by Stuart McCall and Danny Webber at Valley Parade.[7]
The 40 winners from the first round played in the second round. Seventh tier sides Gainsborough Trinity (Northern Premier League Premier Division), Harborough Town (Southern League Premier Division Central) and Kettering Town (Southern League Premier Division Central) were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw, which was made on 3 November 2024 by Emile Heskey and Leon Osman.[8]
The eight winners from the fifth round played in the quarter-finals. Championship side Preston North End were the lowest-ranked team in the draw, which was made on 2 March 2025 by Denis Irwin and Danny Murphy at Old Trafford.[13]
The four winners from the quarter-finals played in the semi-finals. All four teams remaining were Premier League sides. The draw was made on 30 March 2025 by Joe Hart at Deepdale.[14]
Following the conclusion of the competition, Ashford United player Gary Lockyer was awarded the FA Cup Golden Ball Award, commemorating him as the top scorer of the season from the extra preliminary round through to the final with 10 goals.[15]
Both BBC Sport and ITV Sport air FA Cup matches until the end of this season.
Broadcaster
Summary
BBC Sport
18 live matches per season, with highlights of the FA Community Shield.[17] BBC Sport has second and third picks of matches in the second round, fourth round and the quarter-finals, as well as first and fourth pick of matches in the first, third and fifth rounds, and first pick of the semi-finals.
ITV Sport
At least 20 live matches per season, plus live coverage of the FA Community Shield.[18] ITV has first pick and fourth pick of matches in the second round, fourth round and the quarter-finals, as well as second and third picks for the first, third and fifth rounds and second pick of the semi-finals.
