FA Challenge Cups

FA Challenge Cups, prestigious British association football tournament, and the oldest football competition in the world, having been founded in the 1871-1872 season by Charles William Alcock, secretary of the Football Association (FA). Alcock partly modelled it on the football competition held at Harrow School, which Alcock had attended. The tournament is open to all teams affiliated to the FA and is played annually on a knock-out basis. Only 15 of a possible 50 teams entered the first year, including Barnes, Royal Engineers, Crystal Palace, and the Wanderers. The first winners were the Wanderers, who went on to win it five times in the first seven years. On the last occasion, by virtue of winning it for three consecutive years, they were awarded the Cup outright, but returned it to the FA. The only other club with three successive wins is Blackburn Rovers (1884-1886). The first FA Cup final was played at Kennington Oval (the cricket ground) but subsequent finals were played at a number of other grounds, notably Crystal Palace (not the home of the club of that name) where it was played from 1895 to 1914. From 1923 to 2000 the final was played, in May, at Wembley Stadium, London. However, due to the demolition of Wembley the final tie moved to the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, from 2001 to 2006. The final moved to the new Wembley Stadium for 2007.

Manchester United has won the FA Cup most often, followed by a range of top teams including Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, and Liverpool. Since the formation of the Football League in 1888, only once has a non-League side won the competition—Tottenham Hotspur (then in the Southern League) in 1901. The only time the Cup has left England was in 1927, when Cardiff City won it. The current cup is the fourth trophy—the first was stolen in 1895 when in the possession of Aston Villa; the second trophy was presented to Lord Kinnaird, FA president, in 1910 when it was discovered that duplicates were in use; and the third was retired in 1992.

The Scottish FA Cup, founded in 1874 at the same meeting that established the Scottish Football Association, is run along the same lines as the FA Challenge Cup. The winning team for the first three years was Queen’s Park, although the most successful clubs in the competition have been Celtic and Rangers. The venue for the final is traditionally Hampden Park, Glasgow, but it has been held elsewhere, notably Hamilton Crescent, Cathkin Park, Ibrox Park, and Celtic Park.