2024–25 FA Cup

2024–25 FA Cup

Football Association Cup
Wembley Stadium will host the final on 17 May 2025
Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Dates	2 November 2024 – 17 May 2025[2]
Teams	745[1] 653 (qualifying competition) 124 (main competition incl. 32 qualifiers)
Defending champions	Manchester United
← 2023–24 2025–26 →

The 2024–25 FA Cup is the 144th season of the Football Association Challenge Cup, the oldest football tournament in the world. It is sponsored by Emirates and known as the Emirates 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 3 August 2024, with the proper tournament starting on 2 November 2024. The final will be played at Wembley Stadium, London, on 17 May 2025.

The FA Cup is a knockout competition with 124 teams taking part from the first round proper, and all trying to reach the final at Wembley Stadium on 17 May 2025.^[1] 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 653 teams from the National League System that started the competition in the qualifying rounds. The total 745 entrants was an increase of 13 from the previous season,^[1] and the most since 758 entrants were accepted in 2012–13.

All rounds will be drawn randomly, usually either at the completion of the previous round discounting any last games of a round being played, depending on television broadcasting rights.

Round	Main date[2]	Number of fixtures	Clubs remaining	New entries this round	Winner prize money	Loser prize money	Divisions entering this round
First round	Saturday 2 November 2024	40	124 → 84	48	£45,000	£15,000	24 EFL League One teams 24 EFL League Two teams
Second round	Saturday 30 November 2024	20	84 → 64	None	£75,000	£20,000	None
Third round	Saturday 11 January 2025	32	64 → 32	44	£115,000	£25,000	20 Premier League teams 24 EFL Championship teams
Fourth round	Saturday 8 February 2025	16	32 → 16	None	£120,000	None	None
Fifth round	Saturday 1 March 2025	8	16 → 8	None	£225,000	None	None
Quarter-finals	Saturday 29 March 2025	4	8 → 4	None	£450,000	None	None
Semi-finals	Saturday 26 April 2025	2	4 → 2	None	£1,000,000	£500,000	None
Final	Saturday 17 May 2025	1	2 → 1	None	£2,000,000	£1,000,000	None

This is the first edition of the tournament to be played without replays in the proper rounds since the 2020–21 FA Cup and the first edition of the tournament to have the final played one week before the end of the Premier League season.^[3] The changes were made as part of a six-year agreement between The Football Association and the Premier League due to pressure on the domestic calendar from expanded UEFA competitions, but were criticised since replays were cited as an important source of revenue for lower league clubs.^[4][5] The agreement saw all round dates return to weekends,^[2] with previous editions having had some dates in midweek.

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. The six-round qualifying competition began with the extra preliminary round on 3 August 2024.

A total of 80 teams played in the first round: 32 winners from the fourth qualifying round, 24 from League Two (tier 4), and 24 from League One (tier 3). Eighth tier side Hednesford Town were the lowest-ranked team in the draw, which was made on 14 October 2024 by Stuart McCall and Danny Webber at Valley Parade.^[6]

Number of teams per tier still in competition

Premier League[a]	Championship[a]	League One	League Two	Non-League	Total
20 / 20	24 / 24	24 / 24	24 / 24	32 / 32	124 / 124

All 40 winners from the first round will play in the second round. Seventh tier sides Gainsborough Trinity, Harborough Town and Kettering Town were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw, which was made on 3 November 2024 by Emile Heskey and Leon Osman.^[7]

Number of teams per tier still in competition

Premier League[a]	Championship[a]	League One	League Two	Non-League	Total
20 / 20	24 / 24	18 / 24	13 / 24	9 / 32	84 / 124

As of 4 November 2024

Rank[8]	Player	Club	Goals
1	Josh Magennis	Exeter City	3
2	Jevani Brown	Notts County	2
	Sonny Carey	Blackpool
	Joel Colwill	Cheltenham Town
	Will Grigg	Chesterfield
	Declan Howe	Gainsborough Trinity
	Alassana Jatta	Notts County
	Ricky-Jade Jones	Peterborough United
	Luke Leahy	Wycombe Wanderers
	Matty Lund	Salford City
	Dominic McHale	Hednesford Town
	Corey Whitely	Bromley

Both BBC Sport and ITV Sport air FA Cup matches until the 2025–26 season.

Broadcaster	Summary
BBC Sport	18 live matches per season, with highlights of the FA Community Shield.[9] BBC Sport has second and third picks of matches in the second round, fourth round and the quarter-finals, as well as first and fourth pick of matches in the first, third and fifth rounds, and first pick of the semi-finals.
ITV Sport	At least 20 live matches per season, plus live coverage of the FA Community Shield.[10] ITV has first pick and fourth pick of matches in the second round, fourth round and the quarter-finals, as well as second and third picks for the first, third and fifth rounds and second pick of the semi-finals.

Round	Date	Teams	Kick-off	TV Channel
First round[11]	1 November 2024	Tamworth v Huddersfield Town	19:45	BBC Two
	2 November 2024	Northampton Town v Kettering Town	17:30	BBC Two
	3 November 2024	Sutton United v Birmingham City	12:30	ITV1
		Harrogate Town v Wrexham	15:30	ITVX
	4 November 2024	Chesham United v Lincoln City	19:15	ITV4
Second Round[12]	29 November 2024	Harrogate Town v Gainsborough Trinity	19:45	BBC Two
	30 November 2024	Wealdstone v Wycombe Wanderers	11:30	ITV1, ITVX, STV
		AFC Wimbledon v Dagenham & Redbridge	19:15	ITVX
	1 December 2024	Kettering Town v Doncaster Rovers	12:00	BBC Two
		Solihull Moors v Bromley	15:15	ITV1, ITVX, STV