FA Cup 2009

Dates:

August 16, 2008 - May 30, 2009

Number of Teams:

762

Location:

England and Wales

Stadiums:

Home ground of one of the two teams of the tie
Final match is played at the Wembley Stadium

Official website:

http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup

Facts

1 Overview
- 1.1 Dates
2 Qualification Requirements & Process
- 2.1 Eligible Clubs
- 2.2 Rounds
3 Competition Format
4 Location and Venues
5 Ticket Availability
6 Official Sponsors
7 Important Links
8 References

Overview

The FA Cup or Football Association Challenge Cup is the world's oldest football competition. The first edition happened in 1971 with 15 clubs. The FA Cup 2009 is about to start and 762 clubs were accepted in the tournament, breaking last year's record of 731. This will be the 128th edition of the FA Cup.

Dates

The first preliminary rounds will be played on August 16, 2008. The Final at the Wembley Stadium is scheduled for May 30, 2009.

Qualification Requirements & Process

Eligible Clubs

The 20 Premier League clubs and the 24 Championship clubs from England or Wales automatically entre the FA Cup in the Third Proper Round. All the 24 League One and 24 League Two clubs from England or Wales are eligible to entre the FA Cup in the First Round Proper. Clubs who are not in the FA Premier League or The Football League Competitions must have competed in either the 2008 FA Challenge Vase or the 2008 FA Challenge Trophy and must have been accepted into a League for the 2008-2009 season which is considered to be acceptable for a entry in the 2009 FA Cup.

Rounds

203 matches - an all-time record - will be played on August 16, 2008 for the Extra Preliminary Round of the 2009 FA Cup. Two weeks later, on August 30th, 166 ties will be played on the Preliminary Round.

The Qualifying Rounds of the 2009 FA Cup will be played from September 13 to October 25. After the Fourth Qualifying Round 16 non-league clubs will move to the First Round Proper and will join the 24 League One and the 24 League Two clubs. The First Round Proper will take place on November 8th, 2008.

The winners will move to the Second Round Proper to be played on November 20th. That will represent a big milestone for the smaller clubs because the winners of the Second Round Proper will then join the 20 Premiership and the 24 Championship teams in the quest for the 2009 Football Association Challenge Cup.

The Third Round Proper, as mentioned above, will bring together the clubs from the Premiership, the Championship and the winners from the Second Round Proper which may include not only the League One and League Two teams but could also feature a surprising non-league team. Everything is possible.

The 32 teams that will move on to the Fourth Round Proper can clearly believe that they have a shot for the Cup Glory. This round is scheduled for January 24, 2009.

In the last edition of the FA Cup we saw the modest Barnsley FC, a club from The Championship, upset the giants Liverpool in the Fifth Round Proper. The 2009 FA Cup Fifth Round Proper will be played on February 14, 2009.

The Sixth Round Proper of the FA Cup is the equivalent of the quater-finals of the competition and is scheduled to happen on March 7, 2009. Who will be the "Barnsley" of the 2009 FA Cup? The small club made it past powerhouse Chelsea FC in this stage of the 2008 competition in front of more than 22,000 supporters that crowded their home ground.

The FA Cup 2008-2008 semifinals will happen on April 18 and 19 of 2009.

The big Final will take place at the Wembley Stadium on May 30th, 2009.

Competition Format

The FA Cup is a knockout competition with no seeds and with the pairing draws totally at random. The home teams are determined in the moment of the draw for each round. Matches that end in a tie will be decided by a replay (except for the semifinals and final). Drawn replays are decided by extra time and penalty shootout (if necessary).