The 2022–23 FA Youth Cup was the 71st edition of the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

. The competition consisted of several rounds and was preceded by a qualifying competition, starting with two preliminary rounds which was followed by three qualifying rounds for

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 ...

teams. 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 ...

teams entered the draw thereafter, with League One and League Two teams entered in the first round proper, and

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

and

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

teams entered in the third round proper. 622 teams were accepted into the FA Youth Cup.

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 ...

were the defending champions after defeating

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

3–1 in the 2022 final.

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

won their fourth Youth Cup title, their first since 1999, defeating

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 ...

5–1 in the final at

Emirates Stadium The Emirates Stadium (known as Arsenal Stadium for UEFA competitions) is a association football, football stadium in Holloway, London, England. It has been the home stadium of Arsenal F.C., Arsenal Football Club since its completion in 2006. ...

Calendar

Qualifying rounds

Extra preliminary round

120 teams took part in the extra preliminary round. Eleven teams withdrew from the tournament in this phase, and as a result, eleven walkovers occurred. The draw for the round took place on 8 July 2022.

Preliminary round

448 teams took part in the preliminary round, with 60 teams having progressed from the previous round along with 388 new teams joining in this round. 30 teams withdrew from the competition resulting in walkovers, while Woodford Town was removed from the tournament on appeal for using an ineligible player. The draw for the round took place on 8 July 2022.

First qualifying round

224 teams took part in the first qualifying round, with the all winners from the previous round participating. There were two walkovers in this round, and two teams were removed from the competition.

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...

and

Tilbury Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a Tilbury Fort, 16th century fort ...

withdrew from the competition. Reading City was removed from the competition for fielding an ineligible player, and Lancaster City was removed for an unknown appeal. The draw for this round took place on 2 September 2022. There were 28 teams from the tenth tier of the football pyramid as the lowest remaining teams in the competition.

Second qualifying round

136 teams took part in the second qualifying round, with all the winners from the previous round and 24 teams from the National League being added for this round.

Third qualifying round

68 teams took part in the third qualifying round, with all the winners from the previous round participating.

Competition proper

First round

46 League One and League Two teams entered the first round proper, with the 34 non-league winners from the qualifying rounds joining them for this round. Only

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

and

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

did not participate in the first round as they did not apply. Salford City and Barrow were originally drawn, but Barrow withdrew from the first round so Salford City won 3–0 on a walkover.

Second round

40 teams played this round with all the winners from the previous round participating.

Third round

64 teams competed in the third round with the 44 Premier League and EFL Championship clubs appearing in this round along with the 20 winners from the previous round.

Fourth round

32 teams participated in the fourth round proper with all 32 winners from the previous round participating. The draw for the fourth round was made on 9 December 2022.

Fifth round

16 teams participated in the fifth round proper with the 16 winners from the previous round participating. The fifth round draw was made on 13 January 2023.

Quarter-finals

Eight teams participated in the quarter-finals with all eight winners from the previous round participating. The draw for the quarter-finals was made on 3 February 2023.

Semi-finals

Four teams participated in the semi-finals with all four winners from the previous round participating. The draw was made on 24 February 2023.

Final

The winners of the semi-finals advanced to the final to determine the winner of the FA Youth Cup. The draw to determine the home team was made on 24 February 2023. The match was played on 25 April.

References

External links

The FA Youth Cup
at

The Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

official website {{DEFAULTSORT:2022-23 FA Youth Cup FA Youth 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 ...