2025–26 FA Cup

Football Association Challenge Cup
Wembley Stadium will host the final on 16 May 2026
Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Dates	31 October 2025 – 16 May 2026[2]
Teams	747[1] 655 (qualifying competition) 124 (main competition incl. 32 qualifiers)
Defending champions	Crystal Palace
Tournament statistics
Matches played	40
Goals scored	134 (3.35 per match)
Attendance	127,128 (3,178 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Danny Elliott (Macclesfield) Regan Linney (Carlisle United) Michael Mellon (Oldham Athletic) (3 Goals Each)
← 2024–25 2026–27 → (Note: All statistics do not include qualifying competition)

The2025–26 FA Cup is the 145th season of theFootball Association Challenge Cup, the oldestfootball tournament in the world. It is sponsored byEmirates and known as theEmirates 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 1 August 2025, with the tournament proper starting on 1 November 2025. Thefinal will be played atWembley Stadium,London, on 16 May 2026. The winners of the tournament will earn a place in the2026–27 UEFA Europa League.Crystal Palace are the defending champions.

The FA Cup is aknockout competition with 124 teams taking part from the first round proper, and all trying to reach the final at Wembley Stadium on 16 May 2026.^[1] The competition consists of the 92 teams from the Football League system (20 teams from thePremier League and the 72 in total from theEFL Championship,EFL League One andEFL League Two) plus the 32 surviving teams out of 655 teams from theNational League System that started the competition in thequalifying rounds. The total 747 entrants was an increase of 2 from the previous season,^[1] and the most since 758 entrants were accepted in2012–13.

This is the second consecutive (and third overall) edition of the tournament to be played without replays in the proper rounds since2020–21, following a six-year agreement beginning in2024–25 between the FA and thePremier League and the second edition of the tournament to have the final played one week before the end of the Premier League season.^[3]

Teams that are not members of either thePremier League orEnglish Football League compete 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 2 August 2025, with the fourth and final qualifying round kicking off on 11 October.

The winners from the fourth qualifying round wereAFC Telford United,Macclesfield,Gainsborough Trinity,Carlisle United,York City,Buxton,Chester,South Shields,Tamworth,Scunthorpe United,Gateshead,Spennymoor Town,FC Halifax Town,Altrincham,Forest Green Rovers,Maldon & Tiptree,Brackley Town,Wealdstone,Slough Town,Boreham Wood,Eastleigh,Southend United,Ebbsfleet United,Braintree Town,Chatham Town,Weston-super-Mare,Hemel Hempstead Town,St Albans City,Chelmsford City,AFC Totton,Aldershot Town andSutton United.

Phoenix club Macclesfield were the only debutants in the first round, appearing in the competition proper for the first time in their own right only five years after the liquidation of predecessor outfitMacclesfield Town, with Town having last featured in the first round of the FA Cup in2017–18.^[4] Hemel Hempstead Town, South Shields and Spennymoor Town all matched their best ever runs by reaching the competition proper, while Chatham Town featured in the FA Cup for the first time in 97 years.^[4]

A total of 80 teams played in the first round: 32 winners from the fourth qualifying round, 24 fromLeague Two (tier 4), and 24 fromLeague One (tier 3). Eighth tier sideMaldon & Tiptree (Isthmian League North Division) were the lowest-ranked team in the draw, which was made on 13 October 2025 byJoel Ward andMichail Antonio.^[5] The draw was broadcast onTNT Sports 1 andDiscovery+ in the UK, and took place atWoodside Road,Worthing, prior to the fourth qualifying round tie betweenWorthing andForest Green Rovers.

The 40 winners from the first round will play in the second round. Sixth tier sidesBuxton andMacclesfield from National League North,Chelmsford City,Slough Town andWeston-super-Mare from National League South were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw, which was made on 3 November 2025 byJoleon Lescott andSteve Sidwell.^[6] The draw was broadcast onTNT Sports 1 andDiscovery+ in the UK, and took place atThe Lamb Ground,Tamworth, prior to the first round tie betweenTamworth andLeyton Orient.

2025–26 marks the start of a new four-year television deal, replacing a previous one in which rights were split between theBBC andITV. Broadcast rights were won byTNT Sports, with a guarantee of free-to-air matches being obtained by an agreement to show 14 matches on the BBC.^[7][8]

• 2025–26 FA Cup
• FA Cup seasons
• 2025–26 in English men's football cups

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