2021–22 FA Cup

2021–22 FA Cup

Football Association Challenge Cup
Wembley Stadium will host the final on 14 May 2022
Country	England Wales Jersey
Dates	6 August 2021 – 14 May 2022
Teams	729 (all) 637 (qualifying competition) 124 (main competition)
Defending champions	Leicester City
Matches played	73
Goals scored	210 (2.88 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Jayden Stockley (4 goals)
← 2020–21 → (Note: All statistics do not include qualifying play-offs)

The 2021–22 FA Cup is the 141st season of the oldest football tournament in the world, the Football Association Challenge Cup. It was sponsored by Emirates and known as the Emirates FA Cup for sponsorship purposes. The winners will qualify for the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League group stage.

Premier League side Leicester City are the defending champions, having beaten Chelsea in the previous year's final.^[1]

Teams[]

The FA Cup is a knockout competition with 124 teams taking part all trying to reach the Final at Wembley in May 2022. The competition consists of the 92 teams from the Football League system (20 teams from the Premier League and the 72 in total from the EFL Championship, EFL League One and EFL League Two) plus the 32 surviving teams out of 637 teams from the National League System (levels 5–10 of the English football league system) that started the competition in qualifying rounds.^[2]

All rounds were drawn randomly usually either at the completion of the previous round or on the evening of the last televised game of a round being played depending on television broadcasting rights.

Round	Main date	Number of fixtures	Clubs remaining	New entries this round	Winner prize money	Loser prize money	Divisions entering this round
First Round Proper	Saturday 6 November 2021	40	124 → 84	48	£22,629	None	24 EFL League One teams 24 EFL League Two teams
Second Round Proper	Saturday 4 December 2021	20	84 → 64	None	£32,000	None	None
Third Round Proper	Saturday 8 January 2022	32	64 → 32	44	£82,000	None	20 Premier League teams 24 EFL Championship teams
Fourth Round Proper	Saturday 5 February 2022	16	32 → 16	None	£90,000	None	None
Fifth Round Proper	Wednesday 2 March 2022	8	16 → 8	None	£180,000	None	None
Quarter-Finals	Saturday 19 March 2022	4	8 → 4	None	£360,000	None	None
Semi-Finals	Saturday 23 April 2022	2	4 → 2	None	£900,000	£450,000	None
Final	Saturday 14 May 2022	1	2 → 1	None	£1,800,000	£900,000	None

Qualifying[]

Teams that are not members of either the Premier League or English Football League competed in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 32 available places in the First Round Proper. The six-round qualifying competition began with the Extra Preliminary Round on 6 August 2021.

First Round Proper[]

The first round saw the 32 winners from the fourth qualifying round joined by the 48 clubs from League One and League Two. The draw was held on 17 October 2021 at Wembley Stadium and was done by Kelly Smith and Wes Morgan. The lowest-ranked team in the first round were AFC Sudbury of the eighth-tier Isthmian League North Division.

Second Round Proper[]

The second round featured the 40 winners from the first round. The draw was held on 8 November 2021 at Wembley Stadium and was done by Shaun Wright-Phillips and Rachel Yankey. The lowest-ranked team in the second round were Buxton of the seventh-tier Northern Premier League Premier Division.

Third Round Proper[]

The third round will feature all 44 clubs across the Premier League and the Championship, who enter the competition in this round, along with the 20 winners from the second round. The draw was held on 6 December 2021 at Wembley Stadium and was done by David Seaman and Faye White.^[4] The lowest-ranked team in the third round are Kidderminster Harriers of the sixth-tier National League North. To avoid possible fixture congestion caused by postponements to league matches due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, matches from this round onwards will be decided on the day, with extra time and penalties used if necessary.^[5]

Television rights[]

Round	BBC	ITV	S4C
First Round Proper[7]	AFC Sudbury v Colchester United St Albans City v Forest Green Rovers Stockport County v Bolton Wanderers (replay)	Banbury United v Barrow Sheffield Wednesday v Plymouth Argyle Stratford Town v Shrewsbury Town Dagenham & Redbridge v Salford City Solihull Moors v Wigan Athletic (replay)
Second Round	Buxton v Morecambe Yeovil Town v Stevenage	Gateshead v Charlton Athletic Rochdale v Plymouth Argyle Salford City v Chesterfield Boreham Wood v St Albans City Barrow v Ipswich Town (replay)
Third Round[8]	Hull City v Everton Swansea City vs Southampton (BBC Wales) Chelsea v Chesterfield (red button) Yeovil Town v Bournemouth (red button) Manchester United v Aston Villa	Swindon Town v Manchester City Millwall v Crystal Palace West Ham United v Leeds United Nottingham Forest v Arsenal	Cardiff City vs Preston North End

References[]