The1945–46 FA Cup was the 65th season of the world's oldestfootballcup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, generally known as theFA Cup, and the first to be held after theSecond World War.Derby County were the winners, beatingCharlton Athletic 4–1 afterextra time in thefinal atWembley, London. The tournament witnessed a disaster in the sixth round when, during the second leg of the Bolton–Stoke City tie, 33 people werecrushed to death in theBurnden Park disaster.^[1]

For the only time in the history of the competition, all matches from the first round proper up to and including the sixth round proper were played overtwo legs, the first leg being played at the stadium of the team named first on the date specified for each round, which was always a Saturday. In the first and second rounds proper, the second leg was played on the following Saturday; from the third round onwards, it was played during the week following the first leg. If aggregate scores were level after 90 minutes of the second leg had been played, a replay would take place at a neutral venue. These changes were made in order to give clubs additional revenue, as the Football League would not resume normal play until the autumn of 1946.

w/c = week commencing

As with the1919–20 tournament, participant numbers were down this season after many clubs from the lower echelons of the English football system did not resume after theSecond World War. Local leagues across the UK were reeling after seven seasons of competitive hiatus, while other stronger clubs such asBurton Town were unable to survive the loss of regular income streams during wartime.

Most of the clubs from outside theFootball League who did enter the tournament still competed in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 25 places available in the first round proper.

The 25 winners from the fourth qualifying round wereStockton,Willington,North Shields,Netherfield,Chorley,Marine,Stalybridge Celtic,Yorkshire Amateur,Shrewsbury Town,Gainsborough Trinity,Wellington Town,Kettering Town,Grantham,Wisbech Town,Chelmsford City,Romford,Barnet,Slough United,Walthamstow Avenue,Sutton United,Bromley,Trowbridge Town,Newport (IOW),Cheltenham Town andLovell's Athletic.

Advancing to the competition proper for the first time were Willington, Netherfield, Wisbech Town, Slough United, Sutton United, Trowbridge Town and Lovell's Athletic, while Shrewsbury Town had not done so since1909–10. Slough United's appearance in the first round was also the first by a team from that town sinceSwifts had been knocked out byThe Wednesday in1889-90.

This season's extra preliminary round contained only eight teams (four fromOxfordshire and two each fromBuckinghamshire andMiddlesex). None of those progressed past the second qualifying round. Barnet, Slough United and Sutton United were the only clubs to progress to the first round proper from the preliminary round.

At this stage 38Third Division North andThird Division South clubs, andNewport County from theSecond Division, joined the 25non-league clubs who had advanced from the qualifying rounds.Chester,Cardiff City,Crystal Palace andNorwich City received byes to the third round whileHull City andNew Brighton did not enter the competition. To make the number of matches up, non-league sidesBath City,Yeovil Town,Bishop Auckland andSouth Liverpool received byes to this stage, with Bishop Auckland being the champions from the 1938-39FA Amateur Cup.

The first leg matches were played on Saturday, 17 November 1945 and the second legs on the following Saturday, 24 November 1945. No replays were necessary.

The first leg matches were played on Saturday, 8 December 1945 and the second legs on the following Saturday, 15 December 1945. No replays were necessary.

At this stage 43Football League First andSecond Division clubs entered the competition along withChester,Cardiff City,Crystal Palace andNorwich City.

The first leg matches were played on Saturday, 5 January 1946 and the second legs in the following week commencing Monday, 7 January 1946. Two replays were necessary, both of which were played on Wednesday, 16 January 1946.Lovell's Athletic was the last non-league club left in the competition.

The first leg matches were played on Saturday, 26 January 1946 and the second legs in the following week commencing Monday, 28 January 1946. One replay was necessary, which was played on 4 February 1946.

The first leg matches were played on Saturday, 9 February 1946 and the second legs in the following week commencing Monday, 11 February 1946.

Derby County vAston Villa

9 March 1946	Derby County	1 – 1	Aston Villa	Baseball Ground,Derby
	Carter 44'	Report	Broome	Attendance: 32,000 Referee: W. E. Ross-Gower (London)

Bradford Park Avenue vBirmingham City

2 March 1946	Bradford Park Avenue	2 – 2	Birmingham City	Park Avenue,Bradford
			Dougall Jones	Attendance: 19,732

Birmingham City vBradford Park Avenue

9 March 1946	Birmingham City	6 – 0	Bradford Park Avenue	St Andrew's,Birmingham
	Dougall Bodle Mulraney			Attendance: 49,858

23 March 1946

Derby County	1 – 1	Birmingham City
Carter 4'	Report	Mulraney 59'

Hillsborough,Sheffield

Attendance: 65,013

Referee: W. H. E. Evans (Liverpool)

23 March 1946

Charlton Athletic	2 – 0	Bolton Wanderers
Duffy 36',51'

Villa Park,Birmingham

27 March 1946

Birmingham City	0 – 4 (a.e.t.)	Derby County
	Report	Doherty 96',112' Stamps 103',118'

Maine Road,Manchester

Attendance: 80,407

The final took place on Saturday, 27 April 1946 atWembley and ended in a 4–1 win forDerby County afterextra time.Charlton Athletic'sBert Turner opened the scoring with anown goal in the 85th minute, which he equalised a minute later to force extra time. A goal fromPeter Doherty and two fromJack Stamps completed Derby's victory.

Derby County

Charlton Athletic

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