The 2023 FAI Cup, known as the

Sports Direct Frasers Group plc (formerly known as Sports Direct International plc) is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser. The company is best known for trading pre ...

FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the 103rd edition of the Republic of Ireland's primary national cup competition. It featured teams from the League of Ireland Premier Division and the First Division, as well as non-league teams. The competition began with qualifying on 7 April 2023 and concluded with the final on 12 November 2023 in the

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium (also known as Lansdowne Road) is a sports stadium located in Dublin, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,700 spectators (all seated). It is built on the site of the former Lansdowne Road Stadium, which was demolished in 2007, and ...

. The winners qualified for the second qualifying round of the

2024–25 UEFA Conference League The 2024–25 UEFA Conference League will be the fourth season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, UEFA Conference League, Europe's tertiary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA. This will be the first UEFA Conferen ...

. St Patrick's Athletic won the cup on 12 November after a 3–1 win over Bohemians 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 ...

, it was their fifth FAI Cup win.

Teams

The 2023 FAI Cup is a knockout competition with 40 teams taking part. The competitors consist of the 20 teams from the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

and 20 teams from the regional leagues of the

Republic of Ireland football league system The Republic of Ireland football league system currently consists of 12 levels. Traditionally association football leagues in the Republic of Ireland have been classified as either senior, intermediate or junior. These leagues are effectively nation ...

Preliminary round

The eight preliminary round ties began over the weekend of the 9th of April with the first round proper played in July. The four non-league teams receiving byes into the first round were; Lucan United, Gorey Rangers, Avondale United and Bangor Celtic.

First round

The draw for the first round was made on June 6 and was made by FAI President Gerry McAnaney and former FAI Cup winner Derek Coughlan. All ties took place on the weekend of 23 July.

Second round

The draw for the second round was made on 25 July and was broadcast live on RTE 2FM on the 'Game On' radio programme. All ties took place on the weekend of 20 August.

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals of the FAI Cup was hosted by Shane Dawson and was made on 22 August 2023. FAI President Gerry McAnaney and former two time FAI Cup winner

Barry Ferguson Barry Ferguson (born 2 February 1978) is a Scottish football coach, former player and pundit who was most recently the manager of Alloa Athletic. Ferguson spent most of his playing career at Rangers, in two spells either side of a £7.5 mill ...

made the draw. Games were played on 15 September 2023.

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi finals was made on 19 September and was hosted by Shane Dawson at FAI Headquarters in

Abbotstown Abbotstown is a townland in the civil parish of Castleknock in Fingal, Ireland.Placenames Database of Ireland

. The draw was made by FAI President Gerry McAnaney and for FAI Cup winner Shane Robinson.

Final

The final was held on 12 November 2023 in the

References

{{2023–24 in European football (UEFA) 2023 FAI Cup FAI Cup seasons FAI Cup 2023 in Republic of Ireland association football cups