Football

History of the FA Cup

The FA Cup, also known as the Football Association Challenge Cup, is one of the prestigious football competitions in England, second only to the Football World Cup in terms of importance. The FA Cup is held annually among soccer clubs from all divisions, and has been organized by the Football Association since its inception during the 1871-1872 season. The idea for a competition, which would enable all the soccer clubs associated with the Football Association to compete on a common platform, shaped up during a meeting on July 20, 1871, in London. Three months later the FA Cup was born and is still going strong. During the first season of the FA Cup, a total of fifteen football teams registered to participate in the tournament. The first title was eventually won by Wanderers after they defeated Royal Engineers 2-1 in the final held at Kennington Oval. Morton Betts holds the honor of scoring the first goal in the first FA Cup final. This soccer match was witnessed by an audience of 2,000 fans.

Almost fifty years later, in 1922, the then Duke of York initiated the construction of the Wembley Stadium, which was completed within a year at an estimated expense of £750,000. Following its completion, in 1923, the Wembley Stadium hosted its first football match, which was the FA Cup final between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United in front of a crowd of 200,000 soccer fans. The Wembley Stadium was then chosen to host the FA Cup final every year till 2000, except for the war years. From 2000 to 2007, Wembley Stadium has been under renovation, and the new Stadium hosted its first final in the 2007-2008 season. The FA Cup is played as a knockout format with a total of fourteen rounds, which include 6 qualifying rounds, 6 additional rounds, followed by the semi finals and the final. A total of 64 teams participate in this tournament. All the top football clubs have competed and 43 clubs have won the title at least once. Some of the famous soccer clubs that fans place their bets on include Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Everton, and Newcastle United. Among all these clubs, Man United holds the distinction of winning the most number of titles when compared to other football clubs. ManU has won eleven FA Cup titles followed by Arsenal with ten and Tottenham Hotspur with eight.

Previous FA Cup season(s)

The 2007 FA Cup was a season for underdogs with all the less favored teams making it through to the latter stages of the tournament. The final match up was between Portsmouth and Cardiff City. Pompey won the tie 1-0; courtesy the goal by Kanu. The 2008-09 edition of the FA Cup was even more exciting as all the big guns made it through to the knock out phase. Manchester United and Everton went head to head in one semi-final, while, London rivals Chelsea and Arsenal clashed in the other. Chelsea and Everton eventually made the finals. With the odds in their favour Chelsea finished on top of the podium, winning the game 2-1 with Frank Lampard scoring the winning goal.