The history of the FA Cup in association football dates back to 1871–72. Aside from suspensions during the First and Second World Wars, the competition has been played every year since.

For a complete listing of FA Cup winners, see the list of FA Cup finals.

19th century

On 20 July 1871, in the offices of The Sportsman newspaper, C. W. Alcock proposed to The Football Association committee 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 other committee members were: A. Stair (F.A. Treasurer) (Upton Park) C.W. Stephenson (Westminster School) J.H. Gifford (Civil Service) D. Allport (Crystal Palace) M.P. Betts (Harrow School) Capt. Francis Marindin (Royal Engineers)

The proposition was carried.

The inaugural FA Cup tournament kicked off in November 1871. After thirteen games in all, Wanderers were crowned the winners in the final at Kennington Oval, on 16 March 1872. The following year, Wanderers retained the title after receiving a bye to the final, the 'Challenge Round', where they beat Oxford University to retain the Cup. The rules were changed for the following season, to help inspire teams to try to get to the final, instead of knowing who their opponents would be before they reached it.

1875 saw the first final to be replayed, between Royal Engineers and Old Etonians, on Saturday 13 March (score 1–1 after extra time, in the first drawn final) and on Tuesday 16 March (score 2-0 between the respective teams), both times at Kennington Oval.

The modern cup was beginning to be established by the 1888–89 season, when qualifying rounds were introduced, with clubs competing on regional basis until only one was left for the fourth qualifying round, and in the same season, the 'magic of the cup' began when Warwick County became the first non-league side to beat a First Division club on 6 October 1888, winning 2–1 away at Stoke.

20th century

The 1901 FA Cup final was won by London club Tottenham Hotspur, which became the only non-League club to have ever won the FA Cup final after the formation of the Football League in 1888 (Tottenham were then in the Southern League). The final between Tottenham and Sheffield United held at Crystal Palace was attended by 110,820 fans, then the largest crowd ever for a football match. The game ended in a 2–2 draw, with both Spurs goals from Sandy Brown, and a disputed goal from Sheffield United – the final was the first to be filmed and it would be the first referee decision demonstrated to be wrong by film footage as it showed that the ball did not cross the line. The replay was held at Burnden Park, Bolton on 27 April 1901, which Spurs won 3–1.

In the 1915 final, Sheffield United beat Chelsea 3–0 at Old Trafford. The final became known as "The Khaki Cup Final" owing to the large number of uniformed soldiers in attendance. This year the FA Cup competition was controversial as the First World War had started, and concerns were raised about the appropriateness of football competition continuing in the midst of a world war. The Football Association however argued that it would be better to carry on to provide relief for the workers and soldiers. In the following year the competition was suspended.

The 1923 final was the first FA Cup final to be played at Wembley Stadium, which was known at the time as the Empire Stadium. Over 200,000 people squeezed into a stadium meant for 127,000 and many spilt out onto the pitch. It took three-quarter of an hour for mounted police to clear the field before the game could start. Bolton Wanderers beat West Ham 2–0 in the match.

The practice of teams from the top two divisions receiving exemption to the third round of the competition began in the 1925/26 season. The 1926 final is the first to be played under a change to the offside rule.

The 1945–1946 FA Cup was the first played since the competition was suspended during World War II. For one season only, as the intermediate Football League North and Football League South were of variable quality, to boost clubs' income each tie was played over two legs (one home, one away with the scores being added together to decide who went through) to increase the number of matches in the season. Matches that were level at the end of both legs were replayed at the stadium of whichever team had played the second leg away. The final, played at a neutral venue, remained a single match affair, decided by extra time if teams were level after 90 minutes. The final was won by Derby County 4–1.

In the 1966–67 FA Cup the first substitutes were allowed after many years of finals proving unbalanced due to injuries which forced players into leaving the field early. Players had suffered broken bones in the 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1965 finals. They were not, however, used in the final until the next year in the 1968 FA Cup final, when Dennis Clarke replaced John Kaye for West Bromwich Albion.

1970 saw the first Wembley final to go to a replay. The replayed final was played at Old Trafford due to the damaged state of the Wembley pitch caused by the Horse of the Year Show and was contested between Chelsea and Leeds United. 1970 also saw the first third-place play-off with Manchester United beating Watford 2–0. This play-off proved short-lived, and the 1973–74 competition saw the last 3rd place play-off match, contested by Leicester City and Burnley, with Burnley winning 1–0 at Filbert Street.

In 1972 the FA Cup celebrated its centenary (though this was not its 100th season, due to interruptions for the two world wars). Leeds United won the final against holders Arsenal. The 1973 FA Cup final was the 50th anniversary of Wembley as a venue for the cup final.

In 1981, The 100th FA Cup final took place between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City. It finished 1–1 after extra time. For the first time, the replay was held again at Wembley – previously replayed finals had been held at other neutral grounds. Tottenham won 3–2.

In the 1990–91 FA Cup, the Arsenal v Leeds United fourth round tie had to be replayed three times. After the third replay, The FA decided that from the first round onwards, one replay, then extra time, then a penalty shootout would be a suitable alternative to a fixtures backlog. The semi-final of this year was the first to be played at Wembley, with Tottenham beating Arsenal 3–1, including a 30-yard free kick from Paul Gascoigne.

After the change in replay rule starting with the season 1991–92 FA Cup where multiple replays were replaced by one replay and penalty kicks after extra time, the first penalty takers in the competition proper were Rotherham United and Scunthorpe United, with Rotherham winning 7–6 in a first round replay. In the qualifying rounds, multiple replays lasted until 1996/97, with the game between Morecambe and Lancaster City on 4 November 1996 being the last second replay.1996–1997 competition results, FA.com

In 1993, both semi-finals were played at Wembley Stadium for the first time ever, one between Arsenal and Tottenham, the other between Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United. In 1993, the last ever FA Cup final replay took place, with Arsenal beating Sheffield Wednesday 2–1. Arsenal became the first team to win both the FA Cup and the League Cup in the same season, beating Sheffield Wednesday in both finals, the first time the same teams contested the two cup finals in the same season.

In 1999, the last ever FA Cup semi-final replay took place. From 2000 onwards, it was decided that any semi-finals and finals would go first to extra time then penalties, rather than be replayed. In 1999, under pressure from The FA, Manchester United became the first FA Cup holders not to defend their title when they withdrew from the FA Cup, instead electing to take part in the inaugural FIFA Club World Championship played in Brazil. To decide who took their place, a "lucky losers" draw was held containing the 20 teams knocked out in the second round; Darlington were selected.

21st century

Redevelopment of Wembley saw the final played outside of England for the first time ever, with the 2001–2006 finals being played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Upon the opening of the new Wembley Stadium, the final returned to Wembley, but the semi-finals were played at neutral grounds. However, in 2003, it was announced that all future semi-finals would be played at the new Wembley Stadium once it had opened, and this took effect in 2008.

Beginning with the 2016–17 competition, all quarter-final matches were played to a result on the day (with draws followed by extra time, with a penalty shootout if level after extra time) instead of being replayed in the event of a draw.

Beginning with the 2024–25 competition, replays were scrapped from the first round onwards in attempt to reduce fixtures congestion. The decision to scrap replays was made via a consultation between the Football Association and the Premier League only. Clubs of the EFL and below were not consulted, and upon learning of the changes, a large number of clubs released statements openenly criticising the FA for their decision. Criticism also came from government officials, with the Prime Minister's deputy spokesman saying "David and Goliath fixtures are a part of the magic of the cup and we know that replays have been a welcome source of income for smaller clubs throughout the years.", and Opposition Leader Keir Starmer saying it was the "wrong decision" with replays "part of the tradition of the FA Cup".

Broadcasting The 1927 final was the first ever Cup Final to be broadcast by the BBC, who produced a numbered grid of the pitch for Radio Times readers to follow the ball. This gave rise to the popular myth of the origin of the phrase, "Back to square one" (i.e. a back-pass to the goalkeeper).

In 1938, after 29 minutes of extra time, it was still 0–0 between Preston and Huddersfield. BBC Radio commentator Thomas Woodrooffe declared: "If there's a goal scored now, I'll eat my hat." Seconds later Preston was awarded a penalty from which George Mutch scored. Woodrooffe kept his promise. This was also the first FA Cup Final to be broadcast live by BBC Television.

Notable events

Inaugural tournament The inaugural FA Cup tournament kicked off in November 1871. Four first-round matches were the first FA Cup games ever played – on 11 November 1871. The first Cup goal was scored by Clapham Rovers player Jarvis Kenrick in a 3–0 win over Upton Park (Kenrick scoring twice in the process). The following year, on 16 March 1872, Wanderers became the first winners of the FA Cup, beating Royal Engineers 1–0 at The Oval. Fifteen clubs had entered, only twelve actually played, and there were thirteen games in total. The winning goal was scored by Morton Peto Betts, who played under the pseudonym of 'A.H. Chequer'.

White Horse Final

The first Wembley FA Cup Final, played on 28 April 1923, was marked by disorderly scenes unparalleled in the history of football. Before the match a massive crowd outside the stadium rushed the gates, burst the barriers and swarmed on to the pitch. Kick-off was delayed for 45 minutes as mounted police, with PC George Scorey on his white charger "Billy" – hence the "White Horse Final" – particularly visible, encouraged people to move behind the touchlines. Bolton beat West Ham 2–0 and the first Wembley goal was scored after just two minutes by David Jack. It was estimated that 200,000 fans had squeezed into Wembley and Cup Finals were made "all ticket" after that.

Burnden Park disaster

During a Sixth Round second-leg tie between Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City on 9 March 1946, a human crush killed 33 spectators. Despite the disaster, the match continued, causing Stoke player Stanley Matthews to later say that he was sickened that the game was allowed to continue.

The Matthews Final