| Tournament details | |
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| Country | England Scotland Wales |
The2000–01 FA Cup qualifying rounds opened the120th season of competition inEngland for 'The Football Association Challenge Cup' (FA Cup), the world's oldestassociation football singleknockout competition. A total of 602 clubs were accepted for the competition, up 23 from the previous season’s 579.
This season saw invites extended to some teams fromLevel 10 in theEnglish football pyramid. With the larger number of clubs entering the tournament fromnon-League teams (Levels 5 through 10), a new extra preliminary round was added to the tournament. As a result, the competition started with six rounds of preliminary (2) and qualifying (4) knockouts for these non-League teams.
The 32 winning teams from fourth qualifying round progressed to theFirst round proper, whereLeague teams tiered at Levels 3 and 4 entered the competition.
| Round | Start date | Leagues entering at this round | New entries this round | Winners from previous round | Number of fixtures |
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| Extra preliminary round | 19 August 2000 | Levels 8-10 | 34 | none | 17 |
| Preliminary round | 2 September 2000 | Level 7 | 387 | 17 | 202 |
| First qualifying round | 16 September 2000 | none | none | 202 | 101 |
| Second qualifying round | 30 September 2000 | Isthmian League Northern Premier League Southern Football League (Premier divisions) | 67 | 101 | 84 |
| Third qualifying round | 14 October 2000 | none | none | 84 | 42 |
| Fourth qualifying round | 28 October 2000 | Football Conference | 22 | 42 | 32 |
Matches in the first extra preliminary round since1950–51 were played on the weekend beginning Saturday 19 August 2000. 34 clubs fromLevels 8-10 of English football, entered at this stage of the competition, while other clubs from those levels get a bye to the next round.
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Matches were played on weekend of Saturday 2 September 2000. A total of 404 clubs took part in this stage of the competition, including the 17 winners from the extra preliminary round, 300 clubs from Levels 8-10, who get a bye in the extra preliminary round and 87 clubs entering at this stage from the four divisions at Level 7 of English football (all, exceptVauxhall Motors). The round featured 40 clubs from Level 10 in the competition, being the lowest ranked clubs in this round.
Matches were played on weekend of 16 September 2000. A total of 202 clubs took part in this stage of the competition, all having progressed from the preliminary round. The round featured 15 clubs from Level 10 still in the competition, being the lowest ranked clubs in this round.
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Matches were played on weekend of 30 September 2000. A total of 168 clubs took part in this stage of the competition, including the 101 winners from the first qualifying round and 67Level 6 clubs, from Premier divisions of theIsthmian League,Northern Premier League andSouthern Football League, entering at this stage.AFC Wallingford andMerstham from theCombined Counties Football League andBeaconsfield SYCOB,St Margaretsbury andWaltham Abbey from theSpartan South Midlands Football League, which technically were the Level 10 leagues were the lowest ranked clubs in this round. Also, the round featured seven clubs from Level 9 still in the competition.
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Matches were played on weekend of 14 October 2000. A total of 84 clubs took part, all having progressed from the second qualifying round.Bracknell Town andLewes atLevel 9 of English football were the lowest-ranked clubs to qualify for this round of the competition.
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Matches were played on weekend of Saturday 28 October 2000. A total of 64 clubs took part, 42 having progressed from the third qualifying round and 22 clubs fromFootball Conference, formingLevel 5 of English football, entering at this stage. The round featuredBracknell Town from Level 9 still in the competition, being the lowest ranked club in this round.
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See2000–01 FA Cup for details of the rounds from the first round proper onwards.