The 1965–66 FA Cup was the 85th 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 ...

. Everton won the competition for the third time, beating

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

3–2 in the final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

. 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

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 ...

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 30 places available in the first round. The winners from the fourth qualifying round were

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...

, Crook Town,

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 ...

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 ...

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...

, South Liverpool, Hereford United, Kidderminster Harriers, Burton Albion,

Grantham Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...

, Wisbech Town, Corby Town, Wellingborough Town, Bedford Town,

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 Town, Gravesend & Northfleet,

Leytonstone Leytonstone ( ) is an area in East London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, Stratford to the south-west, Leyton to the west, and Walthamstow to the nor ...

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

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 ...

, Guildford City, Wycombe Wanderers, Corinthian-Casuals,

Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow, London, Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont, Harrow, Belmont and Kenton, London, Kenton, ...

, Yeovil Town, Bath City,

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil () is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of K ...

and Weymouth. Corinthian-Casuals was the only qualifying club appearing in the main competition for the first time, although the two predecessor outfits Corinthian and Casuals had both featured at this stage prior to their merger in 1939. Of the others, Burton Albion had last progressed through to the first round in 1956-57, Leytonstone in 1952-53, Fleetwood and Wealdstone in 1949-50, and Wellingborough Town in 1928-29.

Results

First round proper

At this stage the 48 clubs from the Football League Third and Fourth Divisions joined the 30

non-league Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

clubs who came through the qualifying rounds. The final two non-league sides in the main draw,

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...

and Barnet received byes to this round, Hendon as the champions from the previous season's

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of professionalism within footb ...

and Barnet as the best-performed non-league club in the previous FA Cup tournament. Matches were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 13 November 1965. Seven were drawn and went to replays two, four or five days later.

Second round

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 4 December 1965. Four matches were drawn, with replays taking place later the same week. The Rochdale–Altrincham game was played midweek on 8 December, however.

Third round

The 44 First and Second Division clubs entered the competition at this stage. The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 22 January 1966. Six matches were drawn and went to replays.

Fourth round

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 12 February 1966. Five matches were drawn and went to replays. The replays were all played two, three or four days later. The Shrewsbury Town–Carlisle United match went to a second replay at

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England that is the home ground of Preston North End. Built in 1875 and in use since 1878, Deepdale is recognised as being one of the oldest continuously used football stadium ...

on 21 February. Bedford Town was the last non-league club left in the competition.

Fifth round

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 5 March 1966. Two games required replays on the following Wednesday.

Sixth round

The four quarter-final ties were scheduled to be played on 26 March 1966. Three of the four matches went to replays and the Manchester City–Everton game required a second replay to settle the tie.

Semi-finals

The semi-final matches were played on Saturday, 23 April 1966 with no replays required. Everton and Sheffield Wednesday came through the semi-final round to meet at Wembley.

Final

The 1966 FA Cup final was contested by

and Everton at

on Saturday 14 May 1966. Everton were looking to become the first team since Bury won in 1903 to win the cup without conceding a goal, while Sheffield Wednesday were the second Yorkshire side in succession to reach Wembley, following Leeds United's losing appearance in the 1965 final. The match finished 3–2 to Everton.

References

;General
The FA Cup Archive
at TheFA.com
English FA Cup 1965/66
at Soccerbase

at Footballsite ;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:1965-66 FA Cup FA Cup seasons