The 2024–25 FA Cup is the 144th season of the Football Association Challenge Cup, the oldest football tournament in the world. It is sponsored by Emirates 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 will be played at Wembley Stadium, London, on 17 May 2025.
Manchester United were the defending champions, having beaten rivals Manchester City in the 2024 final to win their 13th title, but were eliminated by Fulham in the fifth round.
Teams
The FA Cup is a knockout 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 and the 72 in total from the EFL Championship, EFL League One and EFL League Two) plus the 32 surviving teams out of 653 teams from the National League System that started the competition in the qualifying rounds. The total 745 entrants was an increase of 13 from the previous season, and the most since 758 entrants were accepted in 2012–13.
All rounds will be 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 and the first edition of the tournament to have the final played one week before the end of the Premier League season. The changes were made as part of a six-year agreement between The Football Association and the Premier League due to pressure on the domestic calendar from expanded UEFA 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 Premier League grounds and at Wembley Stadium.
Qualifying
Teams that are not members of either the Premier League or English Football League 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.
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 Hednesford Town (Northern Premier League Division One West) were the lowest-ranked team in the draw, which was made on 14 October 2024 by Stuart McCall and Danny Webber at Valley Parade.
Second round
The 40 winners from the first round played in the second round. Seventh tier sides Gainsborough Trinity (Northern Premier League Premier Division), Harborough Town (Southern League Premier Division Central) and Kettering Town (Southern League Premier Division Central) were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw, which was made on 3 November 2024 by Emile Heskey and Leon Osman.
Third round
A total of 64 clubs played in the third round: 20 winners from the second round, 20 from Premier League (tier 1), and 24 from Championship (tier 2). National League (tier 5) sides Dagenham & Redbridge and Tamworth were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw, which was made on 2 December 2024 by Mark Hughes and Dion Dublin at Old Trafford.
Fourth round
The 32 winners from the third round played in the fourth round. League Two side Doncaster Rovers were the lowest-ranked team in the draw, which was made on 12 January 2025 by Martin Keown and Mark Schwarzer at Emirates Stadium.
Fifth round
The 16 winners from the fourth round played in the fifth round. Championship sides Burnley, Cardiff City, Millwall, Plymouth Argyle and Preston North End were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw, which was made on 10 February 2025 by Theo Walcott and Alex Scott.
Quarter-finals
The eight winners from the fifth round played in the quarter-finals. Championship side Preston North End were the lowest-ranked team in the draw, which was made on 2 March 2025 by Denis Irwin and Danny Murphy at Old Trafford.
Semi-finals
The four winners from the quarter-finals will play in the semi-finals. All four teams remaining were Premier League sides. The draw was made on 30 March 2025 by Joe Hart at Deepdale.
Top goalscorers
- As of 30 March 2025
Television rights
Both BBC Sport and ITV Sport air FA Cup matches until the end of this season.
References
