History of the FA cup
The FA Cup, also known officially as The Football Association Challenge Cup, is an annual competition in men’s professional English soccer . First played in 1871, it is the oldest soccer competition in the world. It is named after the Football Association or FA.
The competition is open to any eligible soccer club down to Level 10 of the English football system, not even sure what Level 10 is, but I do know that means a lot of teams are eligible to be part of the tournament. It would be like if in America, we had a football tournament and invited every pro team from the NFL, as well as semi-pro teams, college teams, etc. Every team who wants in, gets in! So if we do a little math, that’s 20 professional clubs in the Premier League and 72 teams from the next three levels of the English system….Championship Level, League 1 and League 2. It also includes several hundred from lower level leagues, what we call levels 5-10 of English football. Over 700 clubs have competed in previous years. There are a bunch of early rounds to weed thru some of the lower lever teams. The Premier League jumps into the tournament in the Third Round….which was just completed this weekend.
In the modern era, only one non-League (below Level 4) team has ever reached the quarter-finals, and teams below Level 2 have never reached the final. As a result, significant focus is given to the smaller teams who progress furthest, especially if they achieve an unlikely “giant-killing” victory. Winners receive the FA Cup trophy, of which there have been two designs and five actual cups; the latest is a 2014 replica of the second design, introduced in 1911. Winners also qualify for Europa League play the and a place in the Community Shield match. Manchester City are the current holders, having beaten Watford 6–0 in 2019. Arsenal are the most successful club with 13 titles.
What is so cool to me is the idea that a lower tiered team gets a chance to knock off a team from the Premier League. Imagine if a team from college, maybe even a lower tiered college program was able to play a team from the NFL or NBA…..and beat them. It would shock the world. This happens almost every year in the FA Cup! The ultimate upsets! You are an instant hero to your local town and a club legend for sure!
Third Round Update
As we started the 3rd round , there were 64 teams alive in the FA Cup. The third round is when the Top 20 teams, representing the Premier League jump into the tournament. So this is the round where we start to get the big upsets and the amazing story lines start developing. Lets see what happened this past weekend. Only 1 game remains to finish off the round.
Three Premier League Teams drew and will have to play again to determine a winner to advance. These teams narrowly escaped dropping out of the tournament and will have to play again. They are all feeling a sense of relief that they were not knocked off so quickly. Tottenham, ranked #6 in the Premier League was drawn by Middlesbrough who sit at 16th in the Championship Level. That’s 30 positions between these two teams. Wow! Watford, currently 19th in the Premier League were drawn against Tranmere. Tranmere sit in 21st in League 1, yes, two leagues down. The gap…46 spots. Uffda! Newcastle United, sitting at 13th in the Premier League tied with Rochdale. Rochdale is 18th in League 1. Yes, that’s two levels down and the gap between the two teams, 47 spots. Ouch!
But at least these three Premier League teams lived to fight another day, there were three Premier League teams that we not so fortunate….and they dropped out of the tournament in Round 3. A bit embarrassing for sure.
Championship level team Fulham, a team who has spent a lot of years in the Premier League took down Aston Villa 2-1. The gap between the two teams was only 8 spots with Fulham sitting 5th while AV is 17th in the Premier League. An upset for sure, but not earth shattering. Sheffield Wednesday, Championship level but with a long and storied history in English soccer (8th position) took down Brighton 1-0, sitting in 14th in the Premier League. A bit of a bigger upset. The gap of 14 places in the leagues makes this a little more surprising. And the big winner for upset of the weekend…Derby County currently 17th in the Championship beat Crystal Palace who sits in 9th in the Premier League. A bit amazing a Top 10 Premier League team goes down in the 3rd round. A gap of 28 places makes this the big winner for surprise of the weekend. This was an interesting game. A name you might know….Wayne Rooney…was just signed by Derby County to try and help them get promoted to the Premier League. Wayne took a little tour in the MLS this past year, and decided to give English football another go! As with most upsets, there is a story. Crystal Palace was issued a Red Card….after a VAR check….and a yellow card was upgraded to Red for violent conduct. A first in VAR history. Rooney is back and in the 4th Round of the FA Cup. Very Interesting!!
So we now have three Cinderellas….Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County and Fulham. Is it possible that Middlesbrough, Rochdale or Tranmere could join them. Good stuff! It makes for a very exciting tournament and something for every fan to cheer for….the upstart underdog against the big boy Premier Club!! 32 Teams will remain and the draw for the next round is tomorrow. Who will be the next big club to go down!! 15 Premier League teams remain (two of these lost to another Premier League team).