The 1872–73 Football Association Challenge Cup was the second edition of the annual

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

, the oldest national

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tournament in the world. Sixteen teams entered, one more than the previous season, although two teams never contested a match. It began on 19–26 October 1872 and ended at the final on 29 March 1873. Wanderers successfully pursued its second Cup title, on 29 March 1873 in

Lillie Bridge The Lillie Bridge Grounds was a sports ground on the Fulham side of West Brompton, London. It opened in 1866, coinciding with the opening of West Brompton station. It was named after the local landowner, Sir John Scott Lillie (1790–1868) and ...

having been accorded a bye to the final in keeping with the tournament being a "challenge" cup. They were also for the first and only time in Cup history accorded choice of venue.

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

pursued the Cup defeating in the

Fourth round Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...

, 4–0. They were to contest Queen's Park, who had been accorded a bye to the

Semi-final A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

in consideration of reducing traveling costs for the team. Queen's Park withdrew giving Oxford University a

walkover John Baxter Taylor and William Robbins (athlete)">William Robbins to refuse to race in protest. A walkover, also W.O. or w/o (originally two words: "walk over"), is awarded to the opposing team/player, etc., if there are no other players avail ...

to the final that they lost, 2–0. Either 3,000 or 150 attended. The final had the only morning kick off in Cup history and the low attendance was attributed to attendees not staying the entire match as the Oxford–Cambridge Boat Race was occurring later the same day.

Format

*First round: Fourteen teams (all except Queen's Park and defending champions Wanderers) played and the seven winners advance. *Second round: Six teams played, the winners advancing. One team would get a bye. *Third round: The four second-round winners played. The winners advanced. *Fourth round: The two third-round winners played. The winners advanced. *Semi-final: The winning team from the fourth round would face Queen's Park. (However, this match was not needed as Queen's Park withdrew.) *Final: The semi-final winners faced Wanderers, the defending champions.

Calendar

First round

Second round

;Notes

Third round

Fourth round

Semi-final

Final

The

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

was played at Lillie Bridge, and had a morning kick-off for the only time in Cup history. The attendance was considered low, and of those who did attend, not all stayed for the whole duration of the game. This was attributed to the Oxford–Cambridge Boat Race occurring later the same day.

References

Competition Results at rsssf.comCompetition Results at Soccerbase
{{DEFAULTSORT:FA Cup 1872-73 1872–73 1872–73 in English football cups