The 2023–24 FA Cup is the 143rd season of the

Football Association Challenge 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 competiti ...

, the oldest

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

tournament in the world. It is sponsored by

Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates, a Middle Eastern country * Emirate, any territory ruled by an emir ** Gulf emirates, emirates located on the Persian Gulf ** Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, the individual emirates * The Emirat ...

and known as the Emirates FA Cup for sponsorship purposes.

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

team

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

are the defending champions, having defeated

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in the previous season's

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 cont ...

for their seventh title. The winners of the cup will qualify for the

2024–25 UEFA Europa League The 2024–25 UEFA Europa League will be the 54th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 16th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. This will be the first season of UE ...

league stage, as well as earn the right to play against the winners of the

2023–24 Premier League The 2023–24 Premier League is the 32nd season of the Premier League and 125th season of English football overall. The fixtures were announced on 15 June 2023 at 09:00 BST. Manchester City are the three-time defending champions, and can beco ...

in the 2024 FA Community Shield.

Teams

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 ...

is a

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

competition with 124 teams taking part from the first round proper while all trying to reach the final at Wembley Stadium on 25 May 2024. The competition will consist of the 92 teams from the Football League system (20 teams from the

and the 72 in total from the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

EFL League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

and

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

) plus the 32 surviving teams out of 640 teams from the

National League System The National League System comprises the six levels of the English football league system immediately below the level of the English Football League. It comes under the jurisdiction of The Football Association. The National League System has a h ...

that started the competition in the qualifying rounds. All rounds will be drawn randomly, usually either at the completion of the previous round discounting any replays or on the evening of the last televised game of a round being played, depending on television broadcasting rights.

Qualifying

Teams that are not members of either the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

compete in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 32 available places in the first round proper. The six-round qualifying competition began with the extra preliminary round on 4 August 2023.

First round proper

The first round saw the 32 winners from the fourth qualifying round joined by the 48 clubs from League One and League Two. The draw was made on 15 October 2023 by Paul Parker and

Jobi McAnuff Joel Joshua Frederick Melvin "Jobi" McAnuff (born 9 November 1981) is a former footballer. He was predominantly a winger but he has also played as an occasional central midfielder. Since his retirement he has worked as a Pundit. He began his c ...

. The round included three teams from the eighth tier, Cray Valley Paper Mills,

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...

and Sheppey United. They represented the lowest-ranked teams remaining in the competition.

Second round proper

The draw was made on 5 November 2023 by

Dave Beasant David John Beasant (; born 20 March 1959) is an English football coach and former football goalkeeper. As a player, he was a goalkeeper, who notably played top-flight football for Wimbledon, Newcastle United, Chelsea, Southampton and Nottingham ...

and

Anita Asante Anita Amma Ankyewah Asante (born 27 April 1985) is an English Association football, football Coach (sports), coach and former Defender (association football), defender or midfielder who is the first-team coach at Bristol City W.F.C., Bristol Cit ...

, consisting of the 40 winners from the previous round. The round included

from the eighth tier, the lowest ranked team remaining in the competition.

Third round proper

The draw was made on 3 December 2023 by

Trevor Steven Trevor McGregor Steven (born 21 September 1963) is an English former professional footballer who played as a right-sided midfielder. He progressed through the ranks at Burnley, making his debut in 1981 and becoming a regular supplier of goals o ...

and

Jen Beattie Jennifer Patricia Beattie (born 13 May 1991) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays for Arsenal of the FA WSL and the Scotland national team. Beattie is a tall, strong, right-footed player. Although typically a defender or midfielder ...

. The round included

Maidstone United Maidstone United Football Club is a professional football club based in Maidstone, Kent, England. The team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league system. The current club filled the void left by the ol ...

from the sixth tier, the lowest-ranked team remaining in the competition.

Fourth round proper

The draw was made on 8 January 2024 by

Gary Mabbutt Gary Vincent Mabbutt (born 23 August 1961) is an English former footballer who made more than 750 professional appearances, first playing for Bristol Rovers and going on to play 619 games for Tottenham Hotspur, despite being diagnosed with type ...

and Emma Byrne. The round includes

from the sixth tier, the lowest-ranked team remaining in the competition.

Top goalscorers

Television rights

Both

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

and ITV Sport air FA Cup matches until the 2025–26 season.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2023-24 FA Cup FA Cup seasons Eng