The 2023–24 FA Trophy (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2023–24 Isuzu FA Trophy) is the 55th edition of the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

, an annual

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 ...

competition for teams at levels 5–8 of the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...

Format and eligibility

Applications to enter the 55th edition of the

needed to be submitted by 1 April 2023. Competing clubs had to compete between step 1 and step 4 of the non-League pyramid, equivalent to levels 5 to 8 of the overall

. Furthermore, grounds had to conform to grade 4 of the FA National Ground Grading. The calendar was announced by

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

on 1 July 2023. The competition consists of three qualifying rounds and eight proper rounds. Teams enter at different stages depending on their position in the English pyramid. Teams at level 8 enter into the first qualifying round and must win 11 matches to become champions. Level 7 teams enter into the third qualifying round and must win 9 matches to become champions. Level 6 teams enter into the second round proper and must win 7 matches to become champions. Level 5 teams enter into the third round proper and must win 6 matches to become champions. All rounds are single-match

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 ...

format, with the winner decided by penalties if the match was drawn after 90 minutes, apart from the Final where the winner was decided by extra-time and penalties if the match is drawn. This is the same format as the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 2021–22 and

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

seasons which broke from previous seasons that used replays and two-legged semi-finals. The 2019–20 season was scheduled to play two-legged semi-finals but due to their delay by the

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were shifted to a single match. All other previous editions played to the same format of replays ''and'' two-legged semi-finals. FC Halifax Town were the reigning champions for the 2023–24 season, having defeated

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in the

2023 FA Trophy final The 2023 FA Trophy final was an association football match played at Wembley Stadium, London, on 21 May 2023. It was contested between FC Halifax Town and Gateshead. It was Halifax's second final following their victory in 2016 which was their on ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

First round qualifying

The draw for the first qualifying round was made on 8 July 2023. The first round of qualifying took place on the weekend of 8–10 September and involves 158 teams in 79 matches. 159 teams, all from Level 8 of the

, were drawn into 79 fixtures, with the leftover team, Hinckley LR, receiving a bye.

Second round qualifying

The draw for the second qualifying round was also made on 8 July 2023. This round consisted of the 79 winners from the previous round alongside Hinckley LR who received a bye in the previous round.

Third round qualifying

The draw for the third qualifying round was made on 25 September 2023. The 40 winners from the previous round were joined by 88 teams from the seventh level.

First round proper

The draw for the First round proper was made on 9 October 2023 consisting of the 64 winners from the previous round.

Second round proper

The draw for the second round was made on 30 October 2023, seeing the 48 teams from step two joining the 32 winners from the previous round.

Third round proper

The draw for the third round was made on 20 November 2023 and saw the 24 clubs from the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

join the 40 winners from the previous round.

Fourth round proper

The draw for the fourth round was made on 11 December 2023 containing the 32 winners from the previous round.

References

{{2023–24 in English men's football FA Trophy seasons 2023–24 in English football