The 1987–88 FA Cup was the 107th season of the world's oldest knockout

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 ...

competition, The Football Association Challenge Cup, or

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 ...

for short. The competition was won by Wimbledon F.C.'s Crazy Gang who defeated league champions

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

through a headed goal by Lawrie Sanchez, thus denying Liverpool the double. They would be one of three clubs other than

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, Chelsea and Liverpool to win the trophy in the following 20 years (the others being Everton and Tottenham Hotspur) before

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

's victory in the 2008 final. This was Wimbledon's only FA Cup title during its lifetime.

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

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham, England, Durham. M ...

, Macclesfield Town,

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay () is a town, Community (Wales), community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic counties of Wales, historic county boundaries of Denbighshire (h ...

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...

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 ca ...

, Lincoln City, Northwich Victoria, Billingham Synthonia, Atherstone United, Welling United, Chelmsford City,

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fo ...

, VS Rugby, Barnet, Aylesbury United, Hayes, Worcester City, Halesowen Town, Tamworth, Sutton United, Carshalton Athletic, 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 ...

, Farnborough Town, Bognor Regis Town, Yeovil Town, Maidstone United and Cheltenham Town. Appearing in the competition proper for the first time were Colwyn Bay and Atherstone United. Of the others, Merthyr Tydfil had last featured at this stage in 1979–80, Cheltenham Town had last done so in 1974-75, Hayes had last done so in 1973-74, Tamworth had last done so in 1970-71 and Billingham Synthonia had last done so in 1957-58. Macclesfield Town, Sutton United and Yeovil Town each played nine matches across seven rounds of this tournament, progressing from the first qualifying round to the third round proper. Yeovil Town did this from the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

at Step 6 of English football, while Macclesfield Town and Sutton United were from the

Football Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...

at Step 5. Sutton United also managed to push

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

to extra time in a replay (at Ayresome Park) before being knocked out of the competition.

First round proper

The 48 teams from the Football League Third and Fourth Divisions entered in this round along with the 28 non-league clubs from the qualifying rounds and Kidderminster Harriers, Burton Albion,

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 ...

and Telford United who were given byes. The first round of games were played over the weekend 14–15 November 1987, with the exception of the Welling United–Carshalton Athletic game. Replays were played in the midweek fixtures on 16th-17th. All other replays were played on 28 November. This round included four clubs from the various competitions at Step 8 of the English football pyramid: Bishop Auckland and Billingham Synthonia from the Northern League, Colwyn Bay from the North West Counties League and Tamworth from the

West Midlands (Regional) League The West Midlands (Regional) League is an English association football competition for semi-professional and amateur teams based in the West Midlands county, Shropshire, Worcestershire, southern Staffordshire and northern Herefordshire. It has tw ...

Second round proper

The second round of games were played over 5–6 December 1987, with replays being played at various dates afterwards (no replay was played on the same night as another). Step 6 sides Yeovil Town, from the Isthmian League Premier Division, and VS Rugby, from the Southern League Premier Division, were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw.

Third round proper

Teams from the Football League First and Second Divisions entered in this round. The third round of games in the FA Cup were played over the weekend 9–11 January 1988, with the first set of replays being played on 12–13 January. Three games went to second replays and one of these to a third replay. Yeovil Town was again the lowest-ranked team in the draw, while Macclesfield Town, Maidstone United, Sutton United, Bath City and Yeovil were the last non-league clubs left in the competition.

Fourth round proper

The fourth round of games were played over the weekend 30 January – 1 February 1988, with replays being played on 3 February. A second replay was then played on 9 February. Holders Coventry City were eliminated by Watford. Fourth Division side Leyton Orient was the lowest-ranked team in the draw.

Fifth round proper

The fifth set of games were played over the weekend 20–21 February 1988, with replays on 23–24 February. Port Vale, from the Third Division, was the lowest-ranked team in the draw and the last team from the First Round left in the competition.

Sixth round proper

The sixth round of FA Cup games were played over the weekend 12–13 March 1988. There were no replays.

Semi-finals

Luton Town's fine season in the cup competitions culminated in a semi-final clash with Wimbledon at White Hart Lane. Wimbledon emerged as 2-1 winners to reach the FA Cup final, in only their second season in the First Division and their 11th in the

. On the same day, First Division leaders Liverpool took on a resurgent Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough. Top scorer John Aldridge found the net twice in a 2–1 win. Referee:- Keith Hackett (Sheffield) ---- Referee:- George Courtney (Spennymoor)

Final

Television coverage

The right to show FA Cup games was, as with

matches, shared between the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and ITV. The stations would alternate between showing a live game and a highlights programme. No games from Rounds 1 or 2 were shown. Occasional highlights of replays would be shown on either the BBC or ITV. These matches were. ¹Footage available on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

References

External links

The FA Cup
at TheFA.com
FA Cup
at BBC.co.uk
FA Cup news
at Reuters.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:1987-88 FA Cup FA Cup seasons