The 1962–63 FA Cup was the 82nd staging of the world's oldest
football cup competition
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
.
Manchester United won the competition for only the third time, beating
Leicester City
Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...
3–1 in the
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
* Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...
at
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
.
Matches were scheduled to be played at the stadium of the team named first on the date specified for each round, which was always a Saturday. Some matches, however, might be rescheduled for other days if there were clashes with games for other competitions or the weather was inclement. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played, a replay would take place at the stadium of the second-named team later the same week. If the replayed match was drawn further replays would be held until a winner was determined. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played in a replay, a 30-minute period of
extra time would be played.
Calendar
Results
First round proper
At this stage clubs from the
Football League Third and
Fourth Divisions joined those
non-league
Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...
clubs having come through the qualifying rounds with the exception of
Crook Town and
Hounslow Town, who given byes to this round. Matches were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 3 November 1962. Nine were drawn and went to replays.
Second round
The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 24 November 1962. Two matches were drawn, with replays taking place later the same week.
Third round
The 44
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
Second Division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
clubs entered the competition at this stage. The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 5 January 1963, but due to the
Big Freeze of 1963
Big or BIG may refer to:
* Big, of great size or degree
Film and television
* ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks
* '' Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show
* ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show present ...
, only three games were completed at this date. The bulk of matches were not completable until February and March, with the final non-replay tie being played on the 7 March. There were nine replays in total, of which the earliest possible playing date was 30 January, and the latest the 11 March.
Fourth round
The matches were originally scheduled for Saturday, 26 January 1963, but due to the earlier, ongoing problems with the
winter of 1963, most of the third-round games had still not been played and only one tie, the Burnley – Liverpool match, was able to be played on that day. This and three other games went to a replay, with the Portsmouth – Coventry City match requiring a second replay, which was the last match of the round.
Fifth round
The matches were originally scheduled for Saturday, 16 February 1963, but the delays of the matches in the third and fourth rounds prevented the fifth round ties from being played until much later. On 28 January, the FA announced that the draw for the fifth round would be put back a week, and that the
league season would be extended until 19 May. Faced with the problem of wishing all the ties to take place on the same date, the FA decided on 4 February 1963 that the fifth and sixth rounds would each be postponed by a week to 23 February and 16 March respectively The following week, on 12 February, the FA again decided, due to the lack of completion of many games, that the fifth and sixth rounds should be postponed The agreed dates, Saturday 16 March and Saturday 30 March respectively, were the final postponements of these two rounds. There were no replays, but the Nottingham Forest and Leeds United match did not take place until the following Tuesday, while the Coventry City – Sunderland game was played on the 25th.
Sixth round
The four quarter-final ties were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 9 March 1963, but as explained above, were postponed until the 30 March. The Nottingham Forest–Southampton match went to two replays before the tie was settled, in Southampton's favour.
Semi-finals
The semi-final matches were originally scheduled to be played on Saturday, 30 March 1963. However, due to the problems of completing the earlier rounds due to the particularly inclement weather, on 18 February 1963 the FA Challenge Cup committee announced that the semi finals would be put back by four weeks to 27 April, and that the final would not be played until three weeks after its original date, on 25 May.
Leicester City and Manchester United came through the semi final round to meet at Wembley.
Final
The 1963 FA Cup final was a
football match played on 25 May 1963 at
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
. The final was contested by
Manchester United and
Leicester City
Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...
. United won 3–1, with goals by
Denis Law and
David Herd (2).
Ken Keyworth scored the Foxes' goal.
Match details
References
;General
The FA Cup Archiveat TheFA.com
English FA Cup 1962/63at Soccerbase
at Footballsite
;Specific
{{DEFAULTSORT:1962-63 FA Cup
FA Cup seasons
Fa
Eng