FA Cup

The FA Cup, is officially 'The football Association Challenge Cup',and is run by the Football Association for English football. Founded in 1871/2, it is the oldest football competition in the world, and involves all clubs of different levels playing against one another on a knock out format.

There are no seedings in this competition and opponents are randomly drawn, as to who plays who, and who has home town advantage. This allows teams in the lower leagues to play against teams from the premier league, and possibly cause a 'David and Goliath effect. All games must have a result, therefore if any game is drawn after normal time, they will play extra time, and thereafter go to a penalty shoot out.

The competition runs from August through to May the following year, with a total of 14 rounds being played. At the start of the third round there are a total of 64 teams remaining in the competition. Semi-finals are normally played at neutral venues,with the finals traditionally played at Wembley Stadium in London.