The 2024–25 FA Cup was the 144th season of the Football Association Challenge Cup, the oldest

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 ...

tournament in the world. It was sponsored by

Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective ...

and known as the Emirates FA Cup for sponsorship reasons. The FA Cup is the main domestic cup competition for men's football teams in England. The qualifying competition began on 3 August 2024, with the tournament proper starting on 2 November 2024. The

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

was played at

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 ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, on 17 May 2025.

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

won the tournament for the first time, defeating

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 ...

in the final and winning their first ever major trophy. As the winners, Crystal Palace qualified for the

2025–26 UEFA Europa League The 2025–26 UEFA Europa League will be the 55th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 17th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final will be played on 20 Ma ...

league phase, as well as earning the right to play against the 2024–25 Premier 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 ...

, in the

2025 FA Community Shield The 2025 FA Community Shield is scheduled to be the 103rd FA Community Shield, an annual association football match contested by the winners of the previous season's Premier League and FA Cup competitions. It will be played at Wembley Stadium in Lo ...

. For City, this was their third consecutive FA Cup final appearance, and second consecutive defeat. Defending champions

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 ...

, having beaten

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

Manchester City in the 2024 final to win their 13th title, were eliminated by

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

in the fifth round.

Teams

The FA Cup is a

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

competition with 124 teams taking part from the first round proper, and all trying to reach the final at Wembley Stadium on 17 May 2025. The competition consists of the 92 teams from the Football League system (20 teams from the

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 the 72 in total from the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

EFL League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

and

EFL League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English ...

) plus the 32 surviving teams out of 653 teams from the

National League System The National League System comprises the six levels of the English football league system immediately below the level of the English Football League. It comes under the jurisdiction of the Football Association. The National League System has a ...

that started the competition in the

qualifying rounds Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

. The total 745 entrants was an increase of 13 from the previous season, and the most since 758 entrants were accepted in

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

. All rounds were drawn randomly, usually at the completion of the previous round (discounting any last games of a round being played), depending on television broadcasting rights.

Rule changes

This is the first edition of the tournament to be played without replays in the proper rounds since the

2020–21 FA Cup The 2020–21 FA Cup was the 140th edition of the oldest football tournament in the world, the Football Association Challenge Cup. It was sponsored by Emirates and known as the Emirates FA Cup for sponsorship purposes. The winners qualified for ...

and the first edition of the tournament to have the final played one week before the end of the

season. The changes were made as part of a six-year agreement between

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 ...

and the Premier League due to pressure on the domestic calendar from expanded

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

competitions, but were criticised since replays were cited as an important source of revenue for lower league clubs. The agreement saw all round dates return to weekends, with previous editions having had some dates in midweek. VAR will be used in all matches from the fifth round onwards (and none prior), whereas in previous seasons it was used for all matches held in

grounds and at

Qualifying

Teams that are not members of either the

English 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 32 available places in the first round. The six-round qualifying competition began with the extra preliminary round on 3 August 2024, with the fourth and final qualifying round kicking off on 12 October. The winners from the fourth qualifying round were Rushall Olympic, Tamworth,

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

Brackley Town Brackley Town Football Club is a Association football, football club in Brackley, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at St James Park. The club won the FA Trophy in 2018. History Established in 1890, the club sp ...

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Latimer Park. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in 1976, and have ...

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional association football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the Na ...

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

, Scarborough Athletic,

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

, Harborough Town,

Curzon Ashton Curzon Ashton Football Club is an association football club based in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. Founded in 1963 and nicknamed "The Nash", the club is affiliated to the Manchester Football Association and currently compete ...

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a Association football, football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the English Football League, Football League i ...

Hednesford Town Hednesford Town Football Club is a football club based in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Keys Park. They won the FA Trophy in 2004. History The club was established in 1880 as a merger of t ...

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alf ...

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is an area in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-west ...

Maidenhead United Maidenhead United Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. Affiliated to the Berks & Bucks FA, they are currently members of the . The club were established in October 1870 and have played at ...

Horsham Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spr ...

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

, Boreham Wood,

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the North Somerset unitary district, in the county of Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. Its population ...

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional association football club from Sutton, South London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Sutton started out playing in junior, ...

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club (), often known simply as Dagenham and abbreviated when written to Dag & Red, is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England that play in the , the sixth level of the En ...

Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow, London, Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont, Harrow, Belmont and Kenton, London, Kenton, ...

, Barnet, Chesham United,

Tonbridge Angels Tonbridge Angels Football Club is a professional association football club based in Tonbridge, Kent, England. The team competes in the National League South, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded as Tonb ...

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Formed in October 188 ...

, Maidstone United,

Worthing Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...

and Braintree Town. Rushall Olympic and Harborough Town were appearing in the competition proper for the first time. Of the others, Braintree Town had last featured at this stage in 2016–17, Wealdstone had last done so in 2015–16, Tamworth and Hednesford Town had last done so in 2013–14 and Kettering Town had last done so in 2011–12.

First round

A total of 80 teams played in the first round: 32 winners from the fourth qualifying round, 24 from League Two (tier 4), and 24 from League One (tier 3). Eighth tier side

(Northern Premier League Division One West) were the lowest-ranked team in the draw, which was made on 14 October 2024 by

Stuart McCall Andrew Stuart Murray McCall (born 10 June 1964) is a professional football coach and former player. He is currently assistant manager of Preston North End. McCall played in a total of 763 league games and in 40 full international matche ...

and Danny Webber at

Valley Parade Valley Parade, currently known as University of Bradford Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is an all-seater association football, football stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The stadium was built in 1886 as the home of Manningham F.C. ...

Second round

The 40 winners from the first round played in the second round. Seventh tier sides

(Northern Premier League Premier Division), Harborough Town (Southern League Premier Division Central) and

(Southern League Premier Division Central) were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw, which was made on 3 November 2024 by

Emile Heskey Emile William Ivanhoe Heskey (born 11 January 1978) is an English former professional footballer who currently serves as head of football development of Leicester City Women. Playing as a striker, he made more than 500 appearances in the Foo ...

and

Leon Osman Leon Osman (born 17 May 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent almost all of his career at Everton, making 433 appearances and scoring 57 goals. Earlier in his career he spent time on loan at Foo ...

Third round

A total of 64 clubs played in the third round: 20 winners from the second round, 20 from

(tier 1), and 24 from

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 ...

(tier 2). National League (tier 5) sides

and Tamworth were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw, which was made on 2 December 2024 by

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player who is the head coach of club Carlisle United F.C., Carlisle United. During his playing career he usually operated as a Forward (asso ...

and

Dion Dublin Dion Dublin (born 22 April 1969) is an English former professional footballer, television presenter and pundit. He is a club director of Cambridge United. As a player he was a centre-forward, notably playing in the Premier League for Manches ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

Fourth round

The 32 winners from the third round played in the fourth round. League Two side

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

were the lowest-ranked team in the draw, which was made on 12 January 2025 by

Martin Keown Martin Raymond Keown ( ; born 24 July 1966) is an English football pundit and former professional footballer. A defender, he played from 1984 to 2005, notably in the Premier League for Arsenal, where he made over 400 appearances for the club an ...

and

Mark Schwarzer Mark Schwarzer ( , ; born 6 October 1972) is an Australian former professional football player who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He represented Australia men's national soccer team, Australia at international level ...

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. ...

Fifth round

The 16 winners from the fourth round played in the fifth round. Championship sides

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

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 Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

and

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw, which was made on 10 February 2025 by

Theo Walcott Theo James Walcott (born 16 March 1989) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He represented England at the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2012 and won 47 caps, scoring eight goals. Walcott currently appears as a cl ...

and Alex Scott.

Quarter-finals

The eight winners from the fifth round played in the quarter-finals. Championship side

were the lowest-ranked team in the draw, which was made on 2 March 2025 by

Denis Irwin Joseph Denis Irwin (born 31 October 1965) is an Irish former professional footballer and sports television presenter. Irwin is the joint most successful Irish footballer in history, a record he shares with Ronnie Whelan and fellow Manchester U ...

and Danny Murphy at

Semi-finals

The four winners from the quarter-finals played in the semi-finals. All four teams remaining were Premier League sides. The draw was made on 30 March 2025 by

Joe Hart Charles Joseph John Hart (born 19 April 1987) is an English football pundit and former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He began his career at his hometown club Shrewsbury Town in the Football Conference and League Two. In ...

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England that is the home ground of Preston North End. Built in 1875 and in use since 1878, Deepdale is recognised as being one of the oldest continuously used football stadium ...

Final

Top goalscorers

Following the conclusion of the competition, Ashford United player Gary Lockyer was awarded the FA Cup Golden Ball Award, commemorating him as the top scorer of the season from the extra preliminary round through to the final with 10 goals.

Television rights

Both

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

and

ITV Sport ITV Sport is the Broadcasting of sports events, sports department of ITV plc, which produces and presents sports programming for the ITV (TV network), ITV network and ITVX. The branding was originally introduced in 1985 as an umbrella title fo ...

air FA Cup matches until the end of this season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2024-25 FA Cup FA Cup seasons FA

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...