The 2006–07 FA Cup (known as The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON for sponsorship reasons) was the 126th staging of the world's oldest football knockout 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 ...

. This season's edition was the first to be sponsored by E.ON. The competition started on 18 August 2006 with the first of the record number of 687 teams entering in the Extra Preliminary Round and concluded on 19 May 2007 with the Final, held at the new

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 ...

. For information on the matches played from the Extra Preliminary Round to the final Qualifying Round, see

FA Cup 2006-07 Qualifying Rounds FA, Fa or fa may refer to: People * Fa of Xia, King of China 1747–1728 BC * Fa Ngum (1316–1393), founder and ruler of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang Places * Fa, Aude, a commune of the Aude ' in France * Falmouth Academy, a private colleg ...

. Chelsea claimed this season's FA Cup with a hard-fought 1–0 victory over

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 ...

, with

Didier Drogba Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (; born 11 March 1978) is an Ivorian retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He is the all-time top scorer and former captain of the Ivory Coast national team. He is best known for his career at ...

scoring the winning goal in the dying minutes of extra-time. Manchester United had played against top-flight opponents in each round, as they had when they won the Cup in

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

. This was the last FA Cup (to date) at which the semi-finals were played at neutral club venues; since 2008 all FA Cup semi-finals have been played at

Calendar

The results below detail the results from the First Round Proper onwards.

First round proper

Matches played on weekend of Saturday, 11 November 2006. The draw was made by

Will Greenwood William John Heaton Greenwood, MBE (born 20 October 1972) is an English former rugby union player who played for Leicester Tigers and Harlequins and was a member of England's 2003 World Cup-winning team and the 1997 British & Irish Lions. He ...

and Neil Back, adjudicated by

Trevor Brooking Sir Trevor David Brooking, (born 2 October 1948) is a former England international footballer, manager, pundit and football administrator; he now works as director of football development in England. He spent almost his entire career at West ...

Second round proper

Matches played on weekend of Saturday, 2 December 2006. The draw was made on 12 November by

Graham Gooch Graham Alan Gooch, (born 23 July 1953) is a former English first-class cricketer who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning from 1973 until 2000, ...

and Mike Gatting, adjudicated by

, and televised live on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

. As mentioned below, Bury defeated Chester City 3–1 at the

Deva Stadium Deva Stadium is an association football stadium which is the home of Chester F.C., the effective successor club to the liquidated Chester City. The stadium straddles the England-Wales border at Sealand, on the outskirts of Chester. The s ...

but it was soon revealed that Bury had fielded an ineligible player, resulting in them being expelled from the competition and Chester City being reinstated.

Third round proper

This round marks the entry of the top-flight teams to the competition. Matches were played on the weekend of Saturday, 6 January 2007. The draw was made on 3 December 2006 by Amir Khan and Ricky Hatton, adjudicated by

, and televised live on

. Replays were held in the week of 16 and 17 January, with the exception of the Luton – QPR replay, which was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

Fourth round proper

Matches played on weekend of Saturday, 27 January 2007. The draw was made on 8 January by

Hope Powell Hope Patricia Powell, CBE (born 8 December 1966) is an English former international footballer and former women's first-team manager of Brighton & Hove Albion. She was the coach of the England women's national football team and the Great Brit ...

and Faye White, adjudicated by

, and televised live on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...

and

Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British pay television, paid television sports news channel run by Sky Limited, Sky, a division of Comcast. History Since 1992, Sky Sports had broadcast sports news, initially a brief ''Football Update'' and lat ...

Fifth round proper

Matches played on the weekend of Saturday, 17 February 2007. The draw took place on Monday, 29 January 2007 and was made by Darren Campbell and Roger Black, adjudicated by

, and televised live on

and

Sixth round proper

Matches played on the weekend of Saturday, 10 March 2007. The draw for the round, also known as the quarter-finals, took place on Monday, 19 February 2007 at 1:30pm GMT. The draw was made by Steve McClaren and

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Qu ...

, adjudicated by

and televised live on

. This was the last round in which matches were held on the home grounds of one of the teams. The only non-Premier League team to reach the quarter-finals this season were Plymouth Argyle.

Replays

Semi-finals

Unlike earlier rounds, matches were played on neutral grounds on the weekend of Saturday, 14 April 2007. There would be no replays even if the matches were drawn; instead, extra time would decide winners immediately thereafter. Only if extra time did not decide the winners, a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

would decide winners. The draw for the semi-finals took place on Monday, 12 March 2007 at 1:30pm GMT. The draw was made by

Ray Clemence Raymond Neal Clemence, (5 August 1948 – 15 November 2020) was an England international football goalkeeper and part of the Liverpool team of the 1970s. He is one of only 31 players to have made over 1,000 career appearances, and holds the ...

, and adjudicated by

Final

The 126th

Final was played at the new

and it was the first

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official atten ...

to be played in London since

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. Similarly to the semi-finals, there would be no replay even if the match was drawn; instead, extra time would be used to decide the winners. If extra time failed to separate the two sides, the match would go to penalties. Chelsea's victory ended Manchester United's hopes of becoming the only English club to win

the double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

four times (having previously won it in 1994, 1996 and 1999), and in doing so, completed their own cup-double. *Assistant Referees: **Peter Kirkup (

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

) **Dave Bryan (

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershir ...

) *Fourth official: Howard Webb (

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

Hallamshire Hallamshire (or Hallam) is the historical name for an area of South Yorkshire, England, approximating to the current City of Sheffield local government area. The origin of the name is uncertain. The English Place-Name Society describe "Halla ...

)

Top scorers

Player of the Round

Media coverage

In the United Kingdom, the BBC were the free to air broadcasters for the six 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 nineteenth consecutive season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2006-07 Fa Cup FA Cup seasons