The Lancashire Football Association Challenge Trophy is an

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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 senior non-league clubs who are members of the

Lancashire County Football Association The Lancashire County Football Association, also known simply as the Lancashire FA, is the governing body of football within the historical county boundaries of Lancashire, England. They are responsible for the governance and development of foot ...

. The trophy was first played for in 1885, when it was known as the Lancashire Junior Cup. It is currently sponsored by

Partners Foundation Partner, Partners, The Partner, or, The Partners may refer to: Books *The Partner (Grisham novel), ''The Partner'' (Grisham novel), by John Grisham, 1997 *The Partner (Jenaro Prieto novel), ''The Partner'' (Jenaro Prieto novel), 1928 *The Partners ...

and is known as The Partners Foundation Challenge Trophy. Although officially the junior cup to the Lancashire Senior Cup it is still regarded as just as important as other county cup competitions.

Format

The competition is open to senior non-league clubs within the historical boundaries of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

. A total of 28 clubs currently enter the competition from six different leagues. As of 2008–09 the four clubs from the Football Conference each receive byes to the second round, where they are then joined by the twelve winners from the first round. From the 2009–10 season the semi-finals have been played at the County Ground, Thurston Road in Leyland, with the final being held at the Reebok Stadium, home of

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. The 2011–12 final between Chorley FC and Kendal Town FC, played on 12 March 2012, attracted a crowd of 2,673.

History

The first Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy took place in the 1885–86 season, when Bells Temperance were the winners. The only times the trophy was not competed was 1915–18 during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, 1940–41 season during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, although it did continue for the rest of the war years, and 2020-21 due to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic.

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...

are the most successful club with eighteen wins, the first coming in 1893–94 and the last of which came in 2017–18. Former non-league clubs

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

, who now play in the

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 Engla ...

and

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

, now in League One are next with eleven wins. Morecambe's last victory coming in 2003–04 and Wigan's was in 1977–78.

Past winners

A full list of past winners -

Winners by club

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website of the Lancashire County Football Association
Football in Lancashire County Cup competitions Recurring events established in 1885