The 2022–23 FA Trophy (known for sponsorship reasons as the Isuzu FA Trophy) was the 54th season of the FA Trophy, an annual football competition for teams at levels 5–8 of the English football league system.

Eligibility Applications to enter the 54th edition of the FA Trophy opened on 25 February 2022 and closed 1 April 2022.

Competition is open to the 320 clubs playing in Steps 1–4 of the National League System, equivalent to tiers 5–8 of the overall English football league system. All but Guernsey F.C. (8) appeared on the list of clubs accepted on 1 July 2022. This resulted in an odd number of teams remaining in the first round qualifying, so a bye was allocated to Leek Town.

Format The calendar was announced by The Football Association on 1 July 2022. The competition consists of three qualifying rounds and eight proper rounds. Teams enter at different stages depending on their position in the English pyramid. 8th tier teams enter into the first qualifying round and must win 11 matches to become champions. 7th tier teams enter into the third qualifying round and must win 9 matches to become champions. 6th tier teams enter into the second round proper and must win 7 matches to become champions. 5th tier teams enter into the third round proper and must win 6 matches to become champions.

All rounds are single-match knockout format, with the winner decided by penalties if the match was drawn after 90 minutes, apart from the Final where the winner was decided by extra-time and penalties if the match is drawn. This is the same format as the 2020–21 and 2021–22 season which broke from previous seasons that used replays and two-legged semi-finals. RoundMain DateNumber of FixturesClubs RemainingNew Entries This RoundLosing ClubWinning ClubFirst round qualifying13 September 202280 (incl. 1 bye)319 → 240159 (incl. 1 bye)£400£1,500Second round qualifying24 September 202240240 → 200none£575£2,250Third round qualifying8 October 202264200 → 13688£625£2,450First round proper29 October 202232136 → 104none£775£3,000Second round proper19 November 202240104 → 6448£1,000£3,750Third round proper 17 December 20223264 → 3224£1,250£4,500Fourth round proper14 January 20231632 → 16none£1,500£5,250Fifth round proper11 February 2023816 → 8£1,750£6,000Quarter-finals11 March 202348 → 4£2,000£7,500Semi-finals1 April 202324 → 2£5,000£15,000Final21 May 202312 → 1£30,000£60,000

First round qualifying The draw for the first qualifying round was made on 8 July 2022.

159 teams, all from Level 8 of the English football league system, were drawn into 79 fixtures, with the leftover team, Leek Town, receiving a bye. Ties were originally scheduled for 9–11 September, but were postponed to 12–14 September as a mark of respect following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Tie Score Monday 12 September 2022 16 0–2 30 1–2 52 3–0 Tuesday 13 September 2022 1 2–1 2 1–2 3 7–0 4 2–2 5 3–4 7 W–O Grimsby Borough withdrew from the FA Trophy citing unexpected travel obligations; Walkover for Bootle 8 2–1 9 1–1 10 1–2 12 1–2 13 1–2 14 3–1 15 1–2 17 0–1 18 0–2 19 2–3 20 1–2 22 2–0 23 2–0 24 1–0 25 3–2 26 3–1 27 4–3 28 5–2 29 3–4 31 0–1 32 0–2 33 0–3 34 4–2 35 1–3 36 1–1 37 3–1 38 1–2 39 3–3 40 1–3 41 0–1 42 2–2 43 1–2

Tie Score 44 4–1 45 A–A Match Abandoned at 0–1 due to serious injury. Tie rescheduled for Tuesday 20 September. 46 1–4 47 1–2 48 2–2 50 3–3 51 0–0 53 0–3 55 1–2 56 3–1 57 3–2 58 1–1 59 0–3 60 1–0 61 0–1 62 0–0 63 1–0 64 0–1 65 0–3 68 1–1 69 0–1 70 1–1 71 2–3 72 3–5 73 5–0 74 4–1 75 0–4 76 0–0 77 2–0 78 2–3 79 1–2 80 Bye Wednesday 14 September 2022 6 1–1 11 0–0 21 4–1 49 1–2 54 1–2 66 0–3 67 0–2 Tuesday 20 September 2022 45 1–1

Second round qualifying The draw for the second qualifying round was made on 8 July 2022, and saw the 79 winners from the first qualifying round joined by Leek Town who had received a bye. All teams were from Level 8 of the English football league system.

Tie Score Friday 23 September 2022 1 3–1 Saturday 24 September 2022 2 1–3 3 0–3 4 1–0 5 1–4 6 3–1 7 1–2 8 1–1 (2–4 p) 9 0–0 (3–0 p) 10 4–4 (2–4 p) 11 0–0 (2–4 p) 12 0–1 13 2–1 14 1–1 (4–3 p) 15 2–0 16 1–1 (4–5 p) 17 5–3 18 0–1 19 3–2 21 2–0

Tie Score 23 1–1 (3–4 p) 24 5–1 25 2–4 26 2–2 (5–3 p) 27 2–0 28 2–1 29 4–1 30 4–0 31 3–0 32 2–1 33 1–0 34 3–2 35 2–1 36 2–2 (5–4 p) 37 0–3 38 1–0 39 1–2 40 2–2 (4–5 p) Sunday 25 September 2022 20 2–3 22 4–1

Third round qualifying The draw for the third qualifying round was made on 26 September 2022, and saw 88 clubs from tier 7 joining the 40 winners from the second qualifying round.

Tie Score Saturday 8 October 2022 1 0–2 303 2 1–1 879 3 1–2 248 4 0–0 184 5 6–1 933 6 2–3 475 7 2–1 616 8 3–1 412 9 2–3 237 10 0–1 1,073 11 1–2 311 12 2–2 606 13 0–3 201 14 1–2 231 15 1–0 159 16 3–1 308 17 1–2 242 18 4–1 485 19 1–3 177 20 2–0 337 21 0–1 222 22 0–3 357 23 1–2 285 24 1–1 402 25 0–4 401 26 0–3 605 27 3–0 489 28 1–1 303 29 1–1 209 30 0–3 315 31 3–4 421 32 2–2 314

Tie Score 33 2–2 305 34 1–0 205 35 2–1 242 36 0–0 188 37 1–0 203 38 1–0 156 39 1–2 275 40 3–1 201 41 0–0 212 42 4–3 530 43 2–0 491 44 2–2 101 45 0–0 166 46 0–1 138 47 1–0 550 48 2–2 59 49 1–2 429 50 0–4 414 51 0–2 161 52 1–1 482 53 2–2 151 54 1–0 432 55 1–4 359 56 2–0 285 57 0–1 307 59 0–2 282 60 3–1 140 61 3–0 279 62 2–0 161 63 3–3 117 64 2–0 276 Sunday 9 October 2022 58 1–0 133

First round proper

The draw for the first round was made on 10 October containing the 64 winners from the previous round.

Tie Score Saturday 29 October 2022 1 0–2 805 2 3–2 626 3 1–0 566 4 2–1 504 5 3–2 222 6 3–1 577 7 0–2 241 8 1–2 229 9 4–2 504 10 5–0 169 11 1–3 219 12 0–2 375 13 1–2 281 14 0–2 334 15 0–1 130 16 4–2 103

Tie Score 17 2–2 262 18 0–4 805 19 0–1 304 20 1–3 377 21 2–1 235 22 0–1 338 23 2–0 248 24 4–2 575 25 2–0 662 26 3–1 500 28 2–1 202 29 3–1 304 30 1–2 400 31 0–5 264 32 2–0 138 Sunday 30 October 2022 27 3–2 216

Second round proper The draw for the second round was made on 31 October 2022, with eighty teams making an appearance including 32 winners from the previous round and 48 teams newly entering from Level 6.

Tie Score Saturday 19 November 2022 1 1–2 377 2 1–0 748 3 2–1 1,475 4 3–2 632 5 1–3 829 6 0–1 560 7 1–0 1,144 8 4–2 640 9 4–1 931 10 2–1 675 11 1–2 637 12 1–2 322 13 1–1 944 14 6–0 702 15 3–0 474 16 1–0 387 17 2–0 565 18 2–1 435 19 1–0 247 20 4–3 254

Tie Score 21 1–1 981 22 WO 446 23 1–2 1,028 24 3–2 186 25 2–1 661 26 0–1 580 27 1–2 254 28 1–1 132 29 1–1 176 30 1–2 708 31 0–1 829 32 4–2 1,048 33 1–1 207 34 3–2 511 35 2–4 151 36 2–2 875 37 0–3 512 38 4–0 331 39 1–3 612 40 2–4 669

Third round proper

64 teams made an appearance including 40 winners from the previous round and 24 newly entering teams from Level 5.

Tie Score Saturday 17 December 2022 8 2–1 769 17 0–0 962 19 1–1 519 28 1–1 448 32 1–2 452 Tuesday 20 December 2022 1 1–3 1,005 2 5–0 1,172 3 1–0 705 4 2-1 260 5 1–3 2,107 7 1–1 328 9 5–1 253 10 2–2 201 11 2–0 486 12 2–1 2,040 13 0–0 1,752

Tie Score 14 0–1 682 15 2–0 1,434 16 0–2 778 18 2–0 639 20 2–2 231 21 4–3 473 22 5–1 463 23 0–1 299 24 3–2 768 25 3–0 606 29 2–3 340 30 1–0 336 31 2–2 551 Wednesday 21 December 2022 6 3–1 5,080 27 1–2 211 Wednesday 4 January 2023 26 2–1 548

Fourth round proper The draw was made on 19 December 2022 containing the 32 winners from the previous round. There were six remaining teams from the seventh tier, the lowest-ranked teams left in the competition.

Tie Score Friday 13 January 2023 7 2–2 2,526 Saturday 14 January 2023 1 3–1 2,228 Match played at Oldham Athletic. 2 3–2 957 4 1–0 467 6 0–2 857 8 0–2 749 10 2–1 2,741 11 4–1 804

Tie Score 13 1–0 907 14 2–1 524 15 1–1 2,345 16 7–1 342 Sunday 15 January 2023 3 2–2 2,405 Tuesday 17 January 2023 9 4–2 1,411 Tuesday 31 January 2023 5 2–2 293 12 3–2 592

Fifth round proper

The draw was made on 16 January 2023, containing the 16 winners from the previous round. Bracknell Town of the seventh tier are the lowest-ranked team left in the competition.

Tie Score Saturday 11 February 2023 1 2–3 566 2 0–0 752 3 0–2 2,780 4 0–4 963 5 1–2 1,459 6 1–0 1,507 7 0–1 840 8 1–3 518

Quarter-finals The draw for the quarter-finals was made on 13 February 2023. Eight winners from the previous round made an appearance. Farsley Celtic of the sixth tier was the lowest-ranked club remaining.

Tie Score Saturday 11 March 2023 1 0–0 1,119 2 2–2 2,120 3 1–2 3,867 4 0–2 2,108

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals was made on 13 March 2023. Four winners from the previous round made an appearance.

Final

Notes

References