The 2021–22 Women's FA Cup was the 52nd staging of the

Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup, and now Women's FA Cup (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...

, a knockout cup competition for women's football teams in England. Chelsea were the defending champions, having beaten

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 ...

3–0 in the 2020–21 final which was delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and eventually played on 5 December 2021. The final was won by Chelsea who beat

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

after

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 ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

in front of a record attendance of 49,094.

Teams

A total of 417 teams entered the 2021–22 Women's FA Cup, an increase of 41 from the previous year. Unlike previous years, there were no additional preliminary rounds prior to first round qualifying. Tier 5 teams were given an exemption for the first time, entering at the second round qualifying stage. The 50 teams that play in the

FA Women's National League The FA Women's National League is a group of six football divisions which sit at the third and fourth tiers of women's football in England. Founded in 1991 as the WFA National League, the league was run by the Women's Football Association, before ...

Division One (tier 4) are given exemption to the third round qualifying, while teams in the Northern and Southern Premier Divisions (tier 3) enter at the first round proper. Also for the first time, teams in the

FA Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

and

FA Women's Championship The Women's Super League 2, also known as Barclays Women's Super League 2 for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in England, operated by WSL Football. It is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The div ...

(tiers 1 and 2) entered in different rounds with Championship teams exempt until the third round proper, one round earlier than in previous years, while FA WSL teams remained exempt until the fourth round proper.

First round qualifying

The competition started at the first round qualifying stage with 76 matches played in September 2021, made up of teams from the seventh-tier county leagues and randomly drawn tier six regional second division teams.

Second round qualifying

120 matches were played in the second round qualifying in October 2021, made up of the 76 winning teams from the first round qualifying and included the introduction of 164 teams from the fifth-tier regional first division football leagues and the remaining sixth-tier teams.

Third round qualifying

85 matches were played in the third round qualifying in October 2021, made up of the 120 winning teams from the second round qualifying and including the introduction of 50 teams from the fourth-tier FA Women's National League Division One.

First round proper

56 matches were played in the first round proper in November 2021, made up of the 85 winning teams from the third round qualifying and included the introduction of 27 from teams the third-tier FA Women's National League Premier Division.

Second round proper

28 matches were played in the second round proper in November 2021, made up of the 56 winning teams from the first round proper and did not include the introduction of any new teams.

Third round proper

20 matches were played in the third round proper in December 2021, made up of the 28 winning teams from the second round proper and included the introduction of 12 teams from the second-tier

Fourth round proper

16 matches were played in the fourth round proper on 29 and 30 January 2022, made up of the 20 winning teams from the third round proper and included the introduction of 12 teams from the first-tier

. The fourth round proper was the final round to introduce new teams.

Fifth round proper

Eight matches were played in the fifth round proper on 26 and 27 February 2022, made up of the 16 winning teams from the fourth round proper.

Quarter-finals

Four matches were played in the quarter-finals on 18 and 20 March 2022, made up of the eight winning teams from the fifth round proper.

Semi-finals

Two matches were played in the semi-finals on 16 and 17 April 2022, made up of the four winning teams from the quarter-finals.

Final

The final was played at

on Sunday 15 May 2022.

Television rights

References

For the BBC match Attendances, look under the Line ups section {{DEFAULTSORT:2021-22 FA Women's Cup Women's FA Cup seasons

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...