The 1937–38 FA Cup was the 63rd staging of the world's oldest

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

. Preston North End won the competition for the second time, beating

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

1–0 after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

in the final at Wembley. Matches were scheduled to be played at the stadium of the team named first on the date specified for each round, which was always a Saturday. Some matches, however, might be rescheduled for other days if there were clashes with games for other competitions or the weather was inclement. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played, a replay would take place at the stadium of the second-named team later the same week. If the replayed match was drawn further replays would be held until a winner was determined. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played in a replay, a 30-minute period of

would be played.

Calendar

Qualifying rounds

Most participating clubs that were not members of the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

competed in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 25 places available in the first round. The 25 winners from this season's fourth qualifying round were

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

, Walker Celtic, Blyth Spartans,

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...

, South Liverpool,

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

, Lancaster Town, Gainsborough Trinity, Scunthorpe & Lindsey United, Kidderminster Harriers, Wellington Town, Burton Town,

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

, Ipswich Town, Kettering Town, Enfield, Tunbridge Wells Rangers,

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

, Corinthian,

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

, Guildford City, Yeovil & Petter's United, Cheltenham Town and Westbury United. Of those, Walker Celtic, Bromley and Westbury United were the only clubs appearing in the competition proper for the first time, although King's Lynn had not featured at this stage since 1905–06. Additionally, after more than a decade of receiving direct byes to various stages of the main draw, Corinthian had successfully navigated the qualifying rounds for the first time. Bromley was the most successful club from this season's extra preliminary round, defeating

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. Prior to 1965, it was part of Kent. It is situated north of Elmers End and Eden Park, east of Penge, south of Lower Sydenham and Bellingham, and west ...

, Darenth Park, Aylesford Paper Mills, London Paper Mills,

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in the Swale district of Kent, southeast England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons. The town stands next to th ...

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

and King's Lynn before going out to Scarborough in the second round proper.

First round proper

At this stage 41 clubs from the

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated t ...

and

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

joined the 25 non-league clubs that came through the qualifying rounds.

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, Millwall and Notts County were given byes to the third round. To make the number of matches up, non-league

Dulwich Hamlet Dulwich Hamlet Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in East Dulwich in south-east London, England. They are currently members of and play at Champion Hill. History The club was formed in 1893, by Lorraine 'Pa' Wilson. The ...

and Walthamstow Avenue were given byes to this round, with Dulwich Hamlet having won the previous season's FA Amateur Cup. 34 matches were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 27 November 1937. Nine were drawn and went to replays in the following midweek fixture, with one of these going to a second replay.

Second round proper

The matches were played on Saturday, 11 December 1937, with two matches postponed until the 15th. Four matches were drawn, with replays taking place in the following midweek fixture.

Third round proper

The 44 First and Second Division clubs entered the competition at this stage along with

, Millwall and Notts County. The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 8 January 1938. Seven matches were drawn and went to replays, with one of these requiring a second replay to settle the fixture.

and Yeovil & Petter's United were the last non-league clubs remaining in the competition.

Fourth round proper

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 22 January 1938. Four games were drawn and went to replays.

Fifth round proper

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 12 February 1938. There were two replays, of which one went to a second replay.

Sixth round proper

The four quarter-final ties were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 5 March 1938. There was one replay, in the Huddersfield Town–York City match.

Semi-finals

The semi-final matches were played on Saturday, 26 March 1938. Preston North End and Huddersfield Town won their matches to meet in the final at Wembley. ----

Final

The 1938 FA Cup Final was contested by Preston North End and

at Wembley. Preston, losing finalists the previous year, won by a single goal. After 29 minutes of extra time it was still 0–0 and BBC commentator Thomas Woodrooffe said "if there's a goal scored now, I'll eat my hat". Seconds later, Preston were awarded a penalty, from which George Mutch scored the winning goal; Woodrooffe kept his promise.

Match details

References

;General
Official site; fixtures and results service
at TheFA.com
1937-38 FA Cup at soccerbase.com
;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:1937–38 FA Cup FA Cup seasons