 The FA Cup on the roof terrace of Portsmouth'sSpinnaker Tower on 12 May 2008 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Country | England Wales |
| Teams | 731 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Portsmouth(2nd title) |
| Runners-up | Cardiff City |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Top goal scorer(s) | Craig Mackail-Smith (7 goals) |
The2007–08 FA Cup (known asThe FA Cup sponsored byE.ON for sponsorship reasons) was the 127th season of the world's oldestfootball knockout competition, theFA Cup. A record 731 clubs' entries were accepted for the competition.
The competition culminated with thefinal held atWembley Stadium,London on 17 May 2008. The match was contested byPortsmouth andCardiff City;Nwankwo Kanu scored the only goal of the game to give Portsmouth the title.
The appearance in the Cup Final by Cardiff City, aLevel 2 team, marked the second time in5 years that a team outside Level 1 of theEnglish football pyramid appeared in the final game.
This was the last FA Cup to be broadcast by theBBC andSky Sports in the United Kingdom, before coverage was handed over toITV andSetanta starting in August 2008.
| Round | Date | Matches | Clubs | New entries this round | Prize money | Player of the Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extra preliminary round | 18 August 2007 | 171 | 729 → 558 | 342: 388th–729th | £500 | none |
| Preliminary round | 1 September 2007 | 166 | 558 → 392 | 161: 227th–387th | £1,000 | none |
| First round qualifying | 15 September 2007 | 116 | 392 → 276 | 66: 161st–226th | £2,250 | Jack Pitcher (Gloucester City)[1] |
| Second round qualifying | 29 September 2007 | 80 | 276 → 196 | 44: 117th–160th | £3,750 | Matt Townley (Team Bath)[2] |
| Third round qualifying | 13 October 2007 | 40 | 196 → 156 | none | £5,000 | Andy Forbes (Eastleigh)[3] |
| Fourth round qualifying | 27 October 2007 | 32 | 156 → 124 | 24: 93rd–116th | £10,000 | Craig Farrell (York City)[4] |
| First round proper | 10 November 2007 | 40 | 124 → 84 | 48: 45th–92nd | £16,000 | Stuart Beavon (Weymouth)[5] |
| Second round proper | 1 December 2007 | 20 | 84 → 64 | none | £24,000 | Craig Mackail-Smith (Peterborough United)[6] |
| Third round proper | 5 January 2008 | 32 | 64 → 32 | 44: 1st–44th | £40,000 | Michael Mifsud (Coventry City)[7] |
| Fourth round proper | 26 January 2008 | 16 | 32 → 16 | none | £60,000 | Alfie Potter (Havant & Waterlooville)[8] |
| Fifth round proper | 16 February 2008 | 8 | 16 → 8 | none | £120,000 | Luke Steele (Barnsley)[9] |
| Sixth round proper | 8 March 2008 | 4 | 8 → 4 | none | £300,000 | Kayode Odejayi (Barnsley)[10] |
| Semi-finals | 5 April 2008 | 2 | 4 → 2 | none | £900,000 | Joe Ledley (Cardiff City)[11] |
| Final | 17 May 2008 | 1 | 2 → 1 | none | £1,000,000 | Nwankwo Kanu (Portsmouth) |
All participating clubs that were not members of thePremier League orFootball League entered the competition in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 32 places available in the first round proper.
The winners from the fourth qualifying round wereHalifax Town,Droylsden,Altrincham,Rushden & Diamonds,Burton Albion,Histon,Cambridge United,Northwich Victoria,Barrow,Gainsborough Trinity,Workington,York City,Kidderminster Harriers,Harrogate Railway Athletic,Chasetown,Weymouth,Team Bath,Maidenhead United,Stevenage Borough,Oxford United,Hampton & Richmond Borough,Torquay United,Aldershot Town,Horsham,Forest Green Rovers,Eastbourne Borough,Ware,Billericay Town,Lewes,Staines Town,Exeter City andHavant & Waterlooville.
For the first time since1978–79 (and for only the third time since the introduction of FA Cup qualifying rounds), all of the 32 successful clubs had appeared in the competition proper before. However, Staines Town had last featured at this stage in1984-85, Workington had last done so in1982-83, Droylsden in1978-79, Ware in1968-69, and Horsham in1966-67.
This round is the first in which Football League teams from League One and League Two compete with non-league teams.
This round marks the first time Championship and Premier League (top-flight) teams play. Matches were played on the weekend of Saturday, 5 January 2008. The draw was made on 2 December 2007 at 15:15GMT byKevin Beattie andSammy Nelson, adjudicated bySir Trevor Brooking.
Involved in the third round draw for the first time ever wereHavant & Waterlooville andChasetown. Chasetown was the first eighth-tier team ever to reach this stage of the FA Cup. The draw itself produced few major ties, with the exception ofChelsea drawing theirWest London rivals,Queens Park Rangers, andAston Villa drawingManchester United as their third round opponents for the fourth time in seven seasons, and the second time in successive years.
The draw was held at 13:30GMT on Monday, 7 January 2008. The event was hosted bySir Trevor Brooking, withAlan Cork andJohn Aldridge making the draw.[12] Fourth-round matches were played on the weekend of 26 January 2008. For the first time since 1957, there were no replays for the fourth round as all ties were settled at the first game.[13]
This wasHavant & Waterlooville's first fourth-round appearance. They lost 5–2 toLiverpool atAnfield. After Havant's elimination,Bristol Rovers andHuddersfield Town became the lowest ranked teams left in the Cup. They competed inLeague One this season.
TheBBC'sMatch of the Day broadcast live matches from two stadia that it had never broadcast live matches before; fromField Mill, Mansfield forMansfield Town's match withMiddlesbrough and fromthe JJB Stadium, Wigan forWigan Athletic's match withdefending championsChelsea.
| Tie no | Home team | Score | Away team | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal (1) | 3–0 | Newcastle United (1) | 60,046 |
| 2 | Coventry City (2) | 2–1 | Millwall (3) | 17,268 |
| 3 | Oldham Athletic (3) | 0–1 | Huddersfield Town (3) | 12,749 |
| 4 | Barnet (4) | 0–1 | Bristol Rovers (3) | 5,190 |
| 5 | Liverpool (1) | 5–2 | Havant & Waterlooville (6) | 42,566 |
| 6 | Southend United (3) | 0–1 | Barnsley (2) | 7,212 |
| 7 | Wigan Athletic (1) | 1–2 | Chelsea (1) | 14,166 |
| 8 | Derby County (1) | 1–4 | Preston North End (2) | 17,344 |
| 9 | Manchester United (1) | 3–1 | Tottenham Hotspur (1) | 75,369 |
| 10 | Portsmouth (1) | 2–1 | Plymouth Argyle (2) | 19,612 |
| 11 | Southampton (2) | 2–0 | Bury (4) | 25,449 |
| 12 | Hereford United (4) | 1–2 | Cardiff City (2) | 6,885 |
| 13 | Peterborough United (4) | 0–3 | West Bromwich Albion (2) | 12,701 |
| 14 | Mansfield Town (4) | 0–2 | Middlesbrough (1) | 6,258 |
| 15 | Sheffield United (2) | 2–1 | Manchester City (1) | 20,800 |
| 16 | Watford (2) | 1–4 | Wolverhampton Wanderers (2) | 12,719 |
The draw was held at 13:25GMT on Monday, 28 January 2008.Sir Trevor Brooking hosted the event held at FA premises atSoho Square, where he was joined byJimmy Case andRay Wilkins, who conducted the draw. The matches were held over the weekend of 16 February 2008.[14]
|
The draw was held on 18 February 2008 at 13:25GMT atSoho Square. The draw was conducted byGeoff Thomas andMark Bright, overseen bySir Trevor Brooking.[15]
For the second round in a row, the only all-Premier League tie of the round involvedManchester United, who were defeated at home byPortsmouth. This was Portsmouth's first win in an official match atOld Trafford for 50 years.Barnsley, who had already knocked outLiverpool in the previous round, produced a similar result in the sixth round, beatingChelsea 1–0 atOakwell. West Bromwich Albion defeatedBristol Rovers away at theMemorial Stadium, whilstCardiff City caused a third shock of the weekend by beating Premier League teamMiddlesbrough. There were no replays. The sixth-round matches were played on the weekend of 8 March 2008.[15]
| Manchester United (1) | 0–1 | Portsmouth (1) |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Muntari 78' (pen.) |
| Middlesbrough (1) | 0–2 | Cardiff City (2) |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Whittingham9' Johnson 23' |
| Bristol Rovers (3) | 1–5 | West Bromwich Albion (2) |
|---|---|---|
| Coles31' | Report | Morrison16' Miller 30',69',85'Phillips 73' |
The draw was held on 10 March 2008 at 13:25GMT atSoho Square withBryan Robson making the draw. Both semi-finals were played atWembley Stadium and held on 5 April and 6 April 2008.[16] There was only one club from the top flight (Portsmouth) in the draw for the first time since 1908.[17]
| West Bromwich Albion (2) | 0–1 | Portsmouth (1) |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Kanu54' |
| Barnsley (2) | 0–1 | Cardiff City (2) |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Ledley9' |
The final was held atWembley Stadium on 17 May 2008, and Portsmouth's 1–0 victory gave them their first major trophy for 58 years and their first FA Cup for 69 years. It was also the first time that the winning team's manager (Harry Redknapp) was an Englishman sinceJoe Royle guided Everton to FA Cup glory 13 years earlier as well as being the first time a club from outside theBig Four of English football won the Cup since the aforementioned Everton side in 1995.
| Cardiff City (2) | 0–1 | Portsmouth (1) |
|---|---|---|
| Report | Kanu37' |
        Cardiff City |    Portsmouth |
In the United Kingdom, theBBC were the free to air broadcasters for the seventh consecutive season whileSky Sports were the subscription broadcasters for the twentieth consecutive season.[citation needed]
| Round | Date | Teams | Kick-off | Channels | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital | TV | ||||
| First Round | 11 November | Torquay United v Yeovil Town | 3:20pm | — | BBC One |
| Second Round | 2 December | Harrogate Railway v Mansfield Town | 1:10pm | — | BBC One |
| Sixth Round | 8 March | Manchester United v Portsmouth | 12:45pm | — | Sky Sports 1 |
| Barnsley vs Chelsea | 5:15pm | BBC iPlayer | BBC One | ||
| 9 March | Middlesbrough vs Cardiff City | 2:00pm | BBC iPlayer | BBC One | |
| Bristol Rovers v West Bromwich Albion | 6:00pm | BBC iPlayer | BBC One | ||
| Semi-finals | 5 April | West Bromwich Albion v Portsmouth | 12:15pm | BBC iPlayer | BBC One |
| 6 April | Barnsley v Cardiff City | 4:00pm | — | Sky Sports 1 | |
| Final | 17 May | Cardiff City v Portsmouth | 3:00pm | BBC iPlayer | BBC One |
| — | Sky Sports 1 | ||||
The matches shown live on theBBC were:
The matches shown live onSky Sports were:
