English Soccer FA Cup History
FA Cup History - The Football Association Challenge Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup – more commonly known as the FA Cup – is the oldest soccer competition in the world, having first been contested in the 1871-72 season. It is a knockout competition open to any team that plays in the top ten levels of English football, making it the only competition where David and Goliath type match ups occur on a regular basis.
The early winners of the FA Cup were teams made up of wealthy amateurs, mainly ex public schoolboys with one team based in London, Wanderers taking five out of the first seven tournaments. The first team that is still in existence today to win the FA Cup was Blackburn Rovers in 1883.
The FA Cup is played in single leg knockout style but a leg is replayed if the first meeting results in a tie. Under the current FA system the winner of the FA Cup also receives a place in the UEFA Europa League (which used to be known as the UEFA Cup). If the victors happen to qualify for the Champions League via finishing in the top four of the Premier League then that place goes to the FA Cup runners-up (as it did in the 2008-2009 season when Chelsea beat Everton)
The FA Cup trophy itself is in its fourth incarnation. The first was stolen from a shoe shop in Birmingham while it was held by Aston Villa in 1895. The FA fined Villa £50 to replace the Cup and it was later discovered it had been melted down by thieves to make fake coinage.
The second was in use until 1910 when it was presented to the long serving FA chairman Lord Kinnard on his retirement. In 2005 after his death it was auctioned off at Christies, the winning bidder being David Gold, current West Ham co-owner.
In 1911 a much larger more ornate FA Cup trophy was introduced but it was retired from “active service”in 1992 as it was becoming too worn to be regularly handled. The current trophy is a replica of that third model.
