The 2003–04 FA Cup was the 123rd staging of England and the world's oldest football competition, the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

. The competition began on 23 August 2003, with the lowest-ranked of the entrants competing in the Extra Preliminary round. In the Third Round, the clubs from the Premiership and Division One competed in the competition for the first time. The semi-finals were staged at neutral venues and, like the final, would not be replayed in the event of a draw. The competition culminated with the

cup final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national ru ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

for a fourth year in a row, since

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

was still in the rebuilding process. The cup was won by

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

for a record 11th time, with a 3–0 victory over

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, ea ...

from Division One. The appearance in the Cup Final by Millwall, a Level 2 team, marked the first time in 12 years that a team outside Level 1 of the English football pyramid appeared in the final game.

Calendar

First round proper

This round is the first in which Football League teams from Second and Third Division compete with non-league teams. Luton's

Adrian Forbes Adrian Emmanuel Forbes (born 23 January 1979) is an English former professional footballer and Head of Coaching & Player Development at Luton Town. As a player, he was a midfielder and forward from 1996 until 2012. Having started his career wi ...

and Sheffield Wednesday's Adam Proudlock netted hat tricks. Shildon AFC, of the Arngrove Northern League (level 9 on the football league pyramid), were the lowest ranked team left in the competition in the first round. *Ties were played over the weekend of 8 November 2003.

Second round proper

Ties were played over the weekend of 6 December 2003. Mansfield's Liam Lawrence showed how interested Championship and premiership clubs were with him by netting a hat trick.

Third round proper

This round marks the first time First Division and Premier League (top-flight) teams play. Matches were played on the weekend of Saturday, 3 January 2004, with replays on 13 January and 14 January.

Fourth round proper

Ties played during the weekend of 24 January 2004, with replays on 3 February and 4 February. The match between

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

and

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

was particularly notable. Tottenham led the match 3–0 at half-time but Manchester City turned the match around in the second half to win 4–3, with

Jon Macken Jonathan Paul Macken (born 7 September 1977) is a football manager and former professional player who played as a striker. He is currently manager of Witton Albion. He began his career with Premier League side Manchester United in 1995 but was ...

scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute. This was despite Manchester City having one less player on the pitch during the second half after Joey Barton was red carded during the half-time interval.

Fifth round proper

*Matches played weekend of 14 and 15 February 2004 * Three replays played week commencing 22 and 25 February 2004. * Four non-Premiership sides (including a Division Two side) progressed to the quarter-finals.

Sixth round proper

*Matches played on the weekend of Saturday, 6 March 2004. *There was one replay between Tranmere and

, played on Tuesday 16 March. *Two Division One sides progressed to the semi-finals, while another was eliminated at this stage. In addition, a Division Two side reached the quarter-finals and were only eliminated after a replay. ---- ---- ----

Replay

Semi-finals

*Matches played on the weekend of Saturday, 3 April 2004. *Two teams from Division 1 featured in the semi-finals (

and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

) who faced each other. The other tie was an all-Premiership affair between

and

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 ...

, held at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway statio ...

. *Both games were played at neutral venues. ----

Final

Manchester United won the game and lifted the trophy for the 11th time in their history (a competition record) with a 3–0 victory over a Millwall side who were the first team from outside the top flight to reach the FA Cup final in 12 years.

Media coverage

In the United Kingdom, the BBC were the free to air broadcasters for the third consecutive season while

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It h ...

were the subscription broadcasters for the sixteenth consecutive season. The matches shown live on the BBC were:

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete histor ...

1–0

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. ...

(R1);

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home gro ...

0–1 Hartlepool United (R2);

Southampton Southampton () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire, S ...

0–3

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional Association football, football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football league system, English football. The club was ...

and Yeovil Town 0–2

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

(R3);

2–1

and

1–1

(R4);

1–1

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

and

2–1 Chelsea (R5);

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

1–5

and

0–0 Tranmere Rovers (QF);

0–1

(SF); and

3–0

(Final).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fa Cup 2003-04 2003-04 2003–04 domestic association football cups FA