1998–99 FA Cup

Manchester United lifting the trophy
Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Teams	558
Final positions
Champions	Manchester United(10th title)
Runners-up	Newcastle United
Tournament statistics
Top goal scorer(s)	Jason Roberts (7 goals)
← 1997–98 1999–2000 →

The1998–99 FA Cup (known asTheAXA-sponsored FA Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 118th season of theFA Cup. The title defenders wereArsenal, who wereeliminated in a semi-final replay by eventual winnersManchester United, who beatNewcastle United 2–0 in thefinal at theold Wembley Stadium. The goals were scored byTeddy Sheringham after 11 minutes, less than two minutes after coming on as a substitute forRoy Keane, andPaul Scholes on 53 minutes. It was the second leg of a historictreble for Manchester United; having already won thePremier League title the previous weekend, they went on to win theChampions League the following Wednesday.

Following the reformatting of the qualifying rounds for this season, all participating clubs that were not members of thePremier League orFootball League entered the competition at various preliminary stages of the tournament to secure one of 32 places available in the first round proper.

The winners from the fourth qualifying round wereRuncorn,West Auckland Town,Tamworth,Leigh RMI,Southport,Lancaster City,Telford United,Doncaster Rovers,Burton Albion,Gresley Rovers,Hednesford Town,Emley,Bedlington Terriers,Woking,Kingstonian,Enfield,Hayes,Stevenage Borough,Ford United,Hendon,Slough Town,Worcester City,Basingstoke Town,Camberley Town,Welling United,Boreham Wood,Rushden & Diamonds,Kidderminster Harriers,Yeovil Town,Salisbury City,Dulwich Hamlet andCheltenham Town.

Bedlington Terriers, Ford United and Camberley Town were appearing in the competition proper for the first time (although Terriers were emulating the achievement of predecessor clubBedlington United in1926-27). Of the others, Tamworth had not featured in the first round since1990-91, Worcester City had not done so since1987-88, Leigh RMI had not done so since1982-83 (when the club was still based in Horwich), Lancaster City had not done so since1972-73, West Auckland Town since1961-62 and Dulwich Hamlet since1948-49. Additionally, Emley was appearing in the first round for the last time before relocating to Wakefield in 2000.

The first round featured the 32 non-league teams from the qualifying rounds and the 48 teams from the third and fourth tiers of theFootball League. Ford United and Camberley Town, from theIsthmian League Third Division at Step 9 of English football, were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw.

The matches were played on 14 November 1998. There were ten replays, with three ties requiring a penalty shoot-out to settle.

The second round of the competition featured the winners of the first round ties. The matches were scheduled to be played on 5 December 1998, with eight replays and two penalty shoot-outs required, each of which featured a team who won on penalties in the previous round.

Step 8 side Bedlington Terriers, from theNorthern League First Division, was the lowest-ranked team in the draw courtesy of their stunning upset victory over Second Division (Step 3) strugglers Colchester United in the previous round.

The third round of the season's FA Cup was scheduled for 2 January 1999. This round marked the point at which the teams in the two highest divisions in the English league system, thePremier League and theFootball League First Division entered the competition. The round featured three teams from theFootball Conference at Step 5 who were the last non-league clubs left in the tournament: Yeovil Town, Southport and Rushden & Diamonds.

There were six replays, with none of these games requiring a penalty shoot-out.

The fourth-round ties were played with the thirty-two winners of the previous round. The matches were originally scheduled for 23 January 1999. There were three replays. Third Division sides Cardiff City and Leyton Orient were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw.

The fifth-round matches were scheduled for 13 February 1999. There were three replays but, in one game replayed, Arsenal had beaten Sheffield United in the original tie. However, both sides felt that Arsenal's winning goal had been gained unfairly after Marc Overmars scored followingNwankwo Kanu's failure to return the ball to the Blades after an injury. Arsenal's boss Arsene Wenger wrote himself into FA Cup folklore with an act of sportsmanship that saw him offer to play the game again.

Bristol Rovers and Fulham, from the Second Division, were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw and the last teams from the First Round left in the competition.

The four quarter-final games were scheduled for 6 March 1999, although only the match between Arsenal and Derby County was played on this date. One of the ties, Manchester United–Chelsea, resulted in a draw and went to a replay, which United won.

Barnsley, who lost 1–0 at home to Tottenham Hotspur, was the last team left in the competition from outside the Premier League.

6 March 1999

15:00

Arsenal (1)	1–0	Derby County (1)
Kanu 89'	Details

Arsenal Stadium,Highbury,London

Attendance: 38,046

Referee:Steve Dunn

7 March 1999

16:00

Newcastle United (1)	4–1	Everton (1)
Ketsbaia 21',73' Georgiadis 61' Shearer 81'	Details	Unsworth 57'

St. James' Park,Newcastle

Attendance: 36,504

Referee:Graham Barber

Replay

10 March 1999

19:45

Chelsea (1)	0–2	Manchester United (1)
	Details	Yorke 4',59'

Stamford Bridge,London

Attendance: 33,075

Referee:Paul Durkin

16 March 1999

19:45

Barnsley (2)	0–1	Tottenham Hotspur (1)
	Details	Ginola 68'

Oakwell,Barnsley

Attendance: 18,793

Referee: Mike Reed

The semi-finals were played on 11 April 1999. The original match between Manchester United and Arsenal finished as a goalless draw, asRoy Keane's goal for Manchester United was ruled out for offside, and the tie went to a replay;^[1] it was to be the last replay of a drawn semi-final, with all future ties decided by extra time and penalties.^[2]

In the replay,David Beckham opened the scoring for Manchester United in the 17th minute with a strike from 30 yards.Dennis Bergkamp equalised via a deflected shot from the same distance midway through the second half, before Arsenal had a second goal disallowed for offside againstNicolas Anelka. In the immediate aftermath, Keane was sent off for a foul on Overmars that earned him a second yellow card. In the final minutes of normal time,Phil Neville conceded a penalty with a foul onRay Parlour, only for Manchester United goalkeeperPeter Schmeichel to correctly guess which way Bergkamp would shoot and save the kick. In extra time,Ryan Giggs intercepted a wayward pass fromPatrick Vieira just inside the Manchester United half, before dribbling past Vieira,Lee Dixon (twice),Martin Keown andTony Adams, and beating Arsenal goalkeeperDavid Seaman with a left-footed strike into the roof of the net.^[3] It was hailed almost immediately as one of the greatest goals ever scored in the history of the competition.

The other semi-final between Newcastle and Tottenham was goalless after 90 minutes, but two extra-time goals from Newcastle'sAlan Shearer (one from the penalty spot) put the Magpies into their second consecutive FA Cup final and ended Spurs' hopes of adding to the League Cup title they had earned earlier in the season.^[4]

Replay

14 April 1999

19:45

Arsenal (1)	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Manchester United (1)
Bergkamp 69'	Report	Beckham 17' Giggs 109'

Villa Park,Birmingham

Attendance: 30,223

Referee:David Elleray

11 April 1999

15:00

Newcastle United (1)	2–0 (a.e.t.)	Tottenham Hotspur (1)
Shearer 109' (pen.),118'	Report

Old Trafford,Manchester

Attendance: 53,609

Referee:Paul Durkin

The final took place on 22 May 1999 and was played at the oldWembley Stadium, betweenManchester United andNewcastle United. Manchester United had finished as champions and Newcastle 13th in thePremier League that season. The final was a slightly one-sided affair, Manchester United claiming a record 10th success with a 2–0 win. Goals fromTeddy Sheringham andPaul Scholes were scored in the 11th and 53rd minutes respectively. It was the buildup to Manchester United'sTreble. Manchester United also became the first team to winthe double three times.

22 May 1999

15:00BST

Manchester United	2–0	Newcastle United
Sheringham 11' Scholes 53'	Report

Wembley,London

Attendance: 79,101

Referee:Peter Jones (Leicestershire)

In the United Kingdom,ITV were the free-to-air broadcasters for the second consecutive season, whileSky Sports were the subscription broadcasters for the eleventh consecutive season.^{[citation needed]}

The matches shown live onITV Sport were:

•Port Vale 0-3Liverpool (R3)

•Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2Arsenal (R4)

•Manchester United 1-0Fulham (R5)

•Newcastle United 4-1Everton (QF)

•Newcastle United 2-0Tottenham Hotspur (SF)

•Manchester United 2-0Newcastle United (Final)

The matches shown live onSky Sports were:

•Manchester City 3-0Halifax Town (R1)

•Boreham Wood 2-3Luton Town (R1)

•Leigh RMI 0-2Fulham (R1 Replay)

•Darlington 1-1Manchester City (R2)

•Kingstonian 0-0Leyton Orient (R2)

•Brentford 2-2Oldham Athletic (R2 Replay)

•Manchester United 3-1Middlesbrough (R3)

•Preston North End 2-4Arsenal (R3)

•Fulham 1-0Southampton (R3 Replay)

•Manchester United 2-1Liverpool (R4)

•Oxford United 1-1Chelsea (R4)

•Tottenham Hotspur 3-0Wimbledon (R4 Replay)

•Newcastle United 0-0Blackburn Rovers (R5)

•Tottenham Hotspur 2-0Leeds United (R5 Replay)

•Manchester United 0-0Chelsea (QF)

•Chelsea 0-2Manchester United (QF Replay)

•Manchester United 0-0Arsenal (SF)

•Arsenal 1-2Manchester United (SF Replay)

•Manchester United 2-0Newcastle United (Final)

Wikimedia Commons has media related toFA Cup 1998-1999.

• FA Cup Results at The FA Official site

• 1998–99 FA Cup
• FA Cup seasons
• 1998–99 in English football cups

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