The Sussex Senior Cup is an annual

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

knock-out cup competition for men's football clubs in the English county of

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

and is the county senior cup of the Sussex FA. Its official name is the Sussex Senior Challenge Cup. For sponsorship purposes, from 2012 to 2018 it is also known as the Parafix Sussex Senior Cup after a new three-year sponsorship deal was agreed in 2015. First played in the 1882–83 season, shortly after the founding of the

Sussex County Football Association The Sussex County Football Association, also simply known as ''Sussex County FA'' or ''Sussex FA'', is the governing body of football in the county of Sussex, England. The Sussex County FA was founded on 23 September 1882 and run a number of Count ...

in 1882, the first winners of the cup were Brighton Rangers. Other teams who won the cup in its early history are

Burgess Hill Burgess Hill is a town and civil parish in West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs National Park, south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town, Chichester. It ...

Lancing College Lancing College is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in southern England, UK. The school is located in West Sussex, east of Worthing near the village of Lancing, on the south coast of England. ...

and

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

. The team with most title wins in the competition's history are

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...

but Sussex's sole

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,

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

, have been most successful in recent years.

Bognor Regis Town Bognor Regis Town Football Club is an English football club based in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. Nicknamed 'The Rocks',the club is an FA Chartered Standard Community club affiliated to the Sussex County Football Association. They currently compet ...

won the competition a record five times in succession between 1980 and 1984. Winners also qualify for a place in the Sussex FA Community Shield match, traditionally the opening match each season in Sussex football.

are the current holders of the Sussex Senior Cup, having beaten

4-2 in the 2022 final.

History

Shortly after the

was founded in 1882 the inaugural competition of the Sussex Senior Club took place for the 1882–83 season. Brighton Rangers won the final of the first competition 3–0. Founder members of Sussex County FA include the public schools of

Brighton College Brighton College is an independent, co-educational boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18 in Brighton, England. The school has three sites: Brighton College (the senior school, ages 11 to 18); Brighton College Preparatory Sc ...

and Ardingly College and their old-boy teams dominated the cup early on, along with clubs such as

and

, whose teams were made up of upper and middle class players. The cup was initially contested only by amateur clubs. At the time Sussex's only professional club,

tried to enter the competition in 1905 but had to withdraw because of clashing dates. Albion won the Sussex Wartime Cup in 1943 but only entered the normal competition in 1946. Albion entered the competition again in 1975-76 following the abolition of the distinction between amateur and professional clubs in the English game. Following the 1913–14 competition, the cup was suspended due to the

First World War 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 ...

, and resumed in 1919–20. During the Second World War the winners of the Sussex Wartime Cup were awarded the Sussex Senior Cup. The Sussex Wartime Cup took place on a league basis and a competition was held in every year during the Second World War except for 1940-41 when no competition for the Sussex Senior Cup was held. Under Jack Pearce,

dominated the Sussex Senior Cup in the 1980s, winning the cup six times, including a record five times in succession, and finishing runners-up once. From 1950 to 1951 the cup final took place at the

Goldstone Ground The Goldstone Ground (or The Goldstone) was a football stadium in Hove, East Sussex that was the home ground of Brighton & Hove Albion between 1902 and 1997. History The Goldstone Ground stood on Old Shoreham Road, Hove, opposite Hove Park ...

every year until 1995 when Brighton sold their ground to developers. A crowd of over 7,000, the cup's highest attendance in recent years, saw the 2010–11 season final take place at Brighton's new

Falmer Stadium The Falmer Stadium, known for sponsorship purposes as the American Express Community Stadium and also referred to as the Amex, is a football stadium in the village of Falmer, in the City of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. With a capacity of 31, ...

on 16 July 2011. It was the first competitive match to be played there. Brighton won the game 2–0 with Gary Hart scoring the first ever goal at the new ground. The cup final has taken place there every year since 2011.

Eligibility

The Sussex Senior Cup is open to all men's senior clubs in the historic county of

that are affiliated to the

. In 2016–17 this was 50 clubs that play in the top ten tiers 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 ...

(Premier League, English Football League, National League, National League South, Isthmian League, Southern Combination Football League Premier Division, Southern Combination Football League Division One and Southern Counties East Premier Division).

Competition format

Overview

Beginning in September, the competition proceeds as a

knockout tournament 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 ...

throughout its duration, consisting of three rounds, then quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, usually in May. A system of byes ensures that the highest placed 14 clubs in Sussex enter the competition in the second round. For reasons of fairness to other clubs, the Brighton & Hove Albion's and Crawley Town's under-21 teams compete in the Sussex Senior Cup since, as full time professional squads, their first teams play many levels of the football league pyramid ahead of other teams.

Distribution

The tournament is organised so that 32 clubs remain by the second round. 31 clubs in the Southern Combination League Premier Division and Division One (tiers 9 and 10 of the

) and one club from the Wessex Premier Division (tier 9) enter in the first round. In the second round,

, Burgess Hill Town, Chichester City,

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

East Grinstead Town East Grinstead Town Football Club is a association football, football club based in East Grinstead, West Sussex, England. They are currently members of the and play at East Court. History The club was established on 8 May 1890 as East Grinstea ...

, Eastbourne Borough, Hastings United, Haywards Heath Town, Horsham, Lancing,

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

, Littlehampton Town, Three Bridges,

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was original ...

and

, all receive a bye to the second round. * Professional clubs from the

and 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 ...

can only enter an Under-21 or an Under-23 team to keep fairness to non-professional clubs.

Qualification for subsequent competitions

Sussex Community Shield

The winners of the Sussex Senior Cup traditionally play the winners of the

Sussex County Football League The Macron Southern Combination Football League is a football league broadly covering the counties of East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey and South West London, England. The league consists of eight divisions – three for first teams (Premier Di ...

(since 2015-2016 the Southern Combination Football League) for the Sussex Community Shield (also known as the Sussex County FA Community Shield. The 2019 competition saw Chichester City, the winners of the 2018−19 SCFL play

, the winners of the 2018−19 Sussex Senior Cup. Bognor won the 2019 Sussex Community Shield 1−0 with a goal from Dan Smith.

Winners and finalists

1883-1900

1901-1945

Post-1945 winners

Venues

For rounds before the semi-final stage, the venue of each match is determined when the fixtures are drawn; the first club drawn in a fixture is usually the home team and matches are played at the club's home ground. The semi-finals are played at a neutral venue, usually at the Sussex FA at Culver Road in Lancing. The final of the Sussex Senior Cup was held at Preston Park in Brighton for the first four competitions, from 1883 to 1886. It was then held at the County Cricket Ground in Hove for 18 editions of the cup, with the exception of the 1891 season, which was held on a league basis. In 1906 the first cup final took place to have been played at the

in Hove. At the time the Goldstone Ground was the home stadium of Brighton and Hove Albion, which for some time was Sussex's only professional football club. The Goldstone Ground was known to have hosted the final of the Sussex Senior Cup a record 55 times between 1906 and 1995. Other stadiums to have hosted the Susssex Senior Cup include

The Dripping Pan The Dripping Pan is a football stadium in Lewes, England. It has been home to Lewes F.C. since their foundation in 1885. It had previously been used by Lewes Priory Cricket Club, though the ground itself had been used by the people of Lewes a ...

in Lewes (held 14 times between 1920 and 1947), The Trafalgar Ground in Newhaven (held twice in 1931 and 1932),

Woodside Road Worthing Football Club is a semi-professional English association football club based in Worthing, West Sussex, currently playing in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club plays at Woodside Road. History The c ...

in Worthing (held 7 times between 1934 and 1997),

The Saffrons The Saffrons is a multi-purpose sports ground in Eastbourne, East Sussex. The ground is home to Eastbourne Cricket Club, Eastbourne Town Football Club, Eastbourne Hockey Club and Compton Croquet Club. There is also a sand dressed astroturf pitch ...

in Eastbourne (held once in 1936), Queen Street in Horsham (held once in 1949),

Broadfield Stadium The Broadfield Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Crawley, England. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Crawley Town F.C. The stadium has a capacity of 6,134 people, and is owned by Crawley Borough Cou ...

Crawley Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...

(held twice in 1998 and 1999) and

Priory Lane 170px, River End Stand 170px, Scoreboard 170px, Plan of Priory Lane The SO Legal Stadium at Priory Lane is an association football stadium located in Langney, an eastern suburb of Eastbourne, East Sussex, England. It is the home of Eastb ...

(held 11 times between 2000 and 2010). Since 2011 the final of the Sussex Senior Cup has been played at the

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

Records

* Most wins: 21: **

(1893, 1904, 1908, 1914, 1920, 1923, 1927, 1929, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1952, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1999) * Most consecutive wins: 5 **

(1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984) * Most appearances in a final: 31 **

* Most consecutive appearances in a final: 6 **

(1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) * Most defeats in a final: 13 **

* Biggest win: 7 goals: **

7-0 Hastings and St Leonards (1903) * Most goals in final: 11: ** Southwick 8-3 Haywards Heath (1937)

Statistics

Performance by club

Total cups won by town or city

34 different clubs have won the cup, and the majority of cups have been won by clubs from

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...

and

References

External links

The Senior Cup page on the Sussex FA's official website
{{English Senior Cups County Cup competitions Football in Sussex Recurring sporting events established in 1883