The 1939–40 FA Cup was an abandoned season 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 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

, 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 ...

. The competition began as the 65th season of the competition, but was abandoned after just the first round of qualifying matches, due to the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Suspension

The 1939–40 FA Cup began on 2 September 1939, the day after Germany had

invaded Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet ...

. On 3 September the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

declared war with Germany and its allies. The FA suspended the FA Cup on 7 September, until further notice; on 21 September it was announced that all organised football was cancelled for the duration of the war, with only friendly and regional competitions permitted. All results to date in the 1939-40 season were declared null and void. The

Football League War Cup The Football League War Cup was an association football tournament held between 1939 and 1945. It aimed to fill the gap left in English football by the suspension of the FA Cup during the Second World War. Though it was often referred to in conte ...

began in October 1939. Organised by

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, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

, this was the only national-level competition during the war. Alongside this, the

Wartime League The Wartime League was a football league competition held in England during World War II, which replaced the suspended Football League. The exclusion of the FA Cup in these years saw the creation of the Football League War Cup. History The be ...

or regionalised competitions provided regular football for players and fans during the war.

Extra-Preliminary Round

62 ties were scheduled for 2 September 1939. The results of several matches are missing, but it is not known if these were simply not played, or if the results went unrecorded as it quickly became apparent that the competition would not be continued. Of the teams involved, this was the only FA Cup appearance for Holiday's Sports, Cheadle and

Esso Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (from the phon ...

. Norwich Electricity Works withdrew before playing a game, in what would have otherwise been their only appearance.

References

;General
Official site; fixtures and results service
at TheFA.com ;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:1939–40 FA Cup FA Cup seasons