The 1974–75 FA Cup was the 94th season of the world's oldest

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 ...

cup competition 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 ...

, 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 Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

won the competition, beating Second Division side

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

2–0 in 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 ...

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 the London Borou ...

, London. 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. 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 Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

would be played.

Calendar

Qualifying rounds

Most participating clubs that were not members of the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

competed in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 28 places available in the first round. The winners from the fourth qualifying round were

Blyth Spartans Blyth Spartans Association Football Club is an association football club based in Blyth, Northumberland. They are currently members of and play at Croft Park. They were founded in September 1899 by Fred Stoker, who was the club's first secre ...

, Gateshead United,

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham, England, Durham. M ...

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

, Oswestry Town,

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

, Marine, Farsley Celtic, Nuneaton Borough,

Matlock Town Matlock Town Football Club is a association football, football club based in Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock, Derbyshire, England. Nicknamed 'the Gladiators', they are currently members of the and play at Causeway Lane. History The club was esta ...

, Stafford Rangers, Boston United, AP Leamington, Kettering Town, Ashford Town (Kent),

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

, Hitchin Town,

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

, Chelmsford City, Slough Town, Tooting & Mitcham United,

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

, Maidstone United,

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon ...

, Southwick, Weymouth,

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...

and Bath City. Appearing in the competition proper for the first time were Farsley Celtic, AP Leamington, Maidstone United, Leatherhead and Southwick. Of the others, Bishop Auckland, Ashford Town (Kent) and Bath City had last featured at this stage in 1966–67, Tooting & Mitcham United had last done so in 1963-64, Oswestry Town and Matlcok Town had last done so in 1959-60, and Marine had last done so in 1947-48. Gateshead United had relocated from

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...

during the summer of 1974 following the dissolution of Gateshead AFC. Although the club had qualified for the main draw of the Cup in each of the previous six seasons under its former name, this season marked the first time a club from Gateshead would be featuring in the first round since 1965-66.

Results

First round proper

At this stage the 48 clubs from the Football League Third and Fourth Division joined the

non-league Non-League football describes association football, 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 ...

clubs who came through the qualifying rounds. To complete this round, non-league sides

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is in the London metropolitan area, London commuter belt, near the border with Essex, just west of the ...

and

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

were given byes as the finalists from the previous season's

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

and

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of professionalism within footb ...

respectively. During the 1974 close season the Football Association decided to abolish the distinction between amateur and professional clubs, resulting in the permanent cessation of the FA Amateur Cup. The annual finalists from the replacement competition for lower-level clubs, known as the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...

, would not receive byes to the first round of the FA Cup in subsequent seasons. Matches were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 23 November 1974. Twelve matches were drawn, of which one required a second replay.

Second round proper

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 14 December 1974. Five matches were drawn, with replays taking place later the same week.

Third round proper

The 44

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and Second Division clubs entered the competition at this stage. The matches were scheduled Saturday, 4 January 1975. Eleven matches were drawn, of which two required second replays. Stafford Rangers became the first non-league club to defeat three Football League opponents in one tournament since Peterborough United in 1959–60.

Fourth round proper

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 25 January 1975. Four matches were drawn, of which one, the tie between

and

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

, required three replays. Holders Liverpool were eliminated by Ipswich Town.

, Stafford Rangers and

were the last non-league clubs left in the competition.

Fifth round proper

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 15 February 1975. Two matches were drawn, of which one required a second replay.

Sixth round proper

;Replay ;Second replay ;Third replay

Semi-finals

;Replays

Final

The final took place on Saturday, 3 May 1975 at

and ended in a victory for

over

by 2–0. Both goals were scored by Alan Taylor. The attendance was 100,000.

TV coverage

The right to show FA Cup games were, as with Football League matches, shared between the BBC and ITV network. All games were shown in a highlights format, except the Final, which was shown live both on BBC1 & ITV. The BBC football highlights programme Match Of The Day would show up to three games and the various ITV regional network stations would cover up to one game and show highlights from other games covered elsewhere on the ITV network. No games from rounds 1 or 2 were shown. Highlights of replays would be shown on either the BBC or ITV. Third round ''BBC'' Orient v Derby County, Liverpool v Stoke City, Southampton v West Ham United ''ITV'' Wycombe Wanderers v Middlesbrough (LWT), Manchester City v Newcastle United (Granada & Tyne-Tees), Wolverhampton Wanderers v Ipswich Town (ATV), Southend United v Queens Park Rangers (Anglia), Leeds United v Cardiff City (Yorkshire & HTV), Brighton & Hove Albion v Leatherhead (Southern), Derby County v Orient (Midweek replay All Regions). Fourth round ''BBC'' Leatherhead v Leicester City, Plymouth Argyle v Everton, Middlesbrough v Sunderland, Arsenal v Coventry (Midweek replay), Wimbledon v Leeds United (Monday night replay) ''ITV'' Ipswich Town v Liverpool (Anglia & Granada), West Ham United v Swindon Town (LWT & HTV), Coventry City v Arsenal (ATV), Leeds United v Wimbledon (Yorkshire). Fifth round ''BBC'' Peterborough United v Middlesbrough, Arsenal v Leicester City, Mansfield Town v Carlisle United ''ITV'' West Ham United v Queens Park Rangers (LWT), Everton v Fulham (Granada),Ipswich Town v Aston Villa (Anglia), Birmingham City v Walsall (ATV), Derby County v Leeds United (Midweek All regions), Leicester City v Arsenal (Midweek 2nd replay All regions), Sixth round ''BBC'' Arsenal v West Ham United, Birmingham City v Middlesbrough ''ITV'' Carlisle United v Fulham (Granada, LWT & Tyne-Tees), Ipswich Town v Leeds United (Anglia & Yorkshire), Leeds United v Ipswich Town (Midweek 2nd replay All regions) Semi-Finals ''BBC'' Ipswich Town v West Ham United ''ITV'' Birmingham City v Fulham (All regions). ''Note neither BBC or ITV covered the replays, the goals were only shown as clips for TV news reports, with commentary over dubbed later.'' Final ''Fulham v West Ham United Shown live on both BBC & ITV''

Notes

:A. : Match played at

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. Histor ...

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

. :B. : Match played at

Filbert Street Filbert Street was a football stadium in Leicester, England, which served as the home of Leicester City F.C. from 1891 until 2002. Although officially titled the City Business Stadium in the early 1990s, it remained known almost exclusively b ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. :C. : Match played at

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst, in the London Borough of Croydon, England, which is the home ground of Premier League club Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted interna ...

, London. :D. : Match played at

The Hawthorns The Hawthorns is an All-seater stadium, all-seater association football, football stadium in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England, with a capacity of 26,688. It has been the home of EFL Championship, Championship club West Bromwich Albion F.C. ...

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ), commonly known as West Brom, is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is northwes ...

. :E. : Match played at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

, Manchester. :F. : Match played at

Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. :G. : Match played at London Road,

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

References

;General
The FA Cup Archive
at TheFA.com
English FA Cup 1974/75
at Soccerbase

at Footballsite ;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:1974-75 FA Cup FA Cup seasons