2023–24 FA Cup

Football Association Challenge Cup
Wembley Stadium will host the final on 25 May 2024
Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Dates	3 November 2023 – 25 May 2024
Teams	732 [1] (all) 640 (qualifying competition) 124 (main competition incl. 32 qualifiers)
Defending champions	Manchester City
Tournament statistics
Matches played	147
Goals scored	509 (3.46 per match)
Attendance	2,167,257 (14,743 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Sammie Szmodics Ellis Simms (6 goals each)
(Note: All statistics do not include qualifying play-offs)
←  2022–23 2024–25 →

The 2023–24 FA Cup is the 143rd 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 purposes.

The final is scheduled to be played on 25 May 2024 and will be contested between the defending champions, Premier League side Manchester City, and local rivals Manchester United, in a repeat of the previous final, which Manchester City won 2–1. ^[2] This is the first final to feature the same teams in consecutive seasons since the 1884–85 season. The winners of the cup will qualify for the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League league stage, as well as earn the right to play against the winners of the 2023–24 Premier League in the 2024 FA Community Shield.

The 2023–24 competition will be the last one to feature replays in the non-qualifying rounds, and in future the final will be played 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 have been criticised as replays can be an important source of revenue for lower league clubs. ^{[4] [5]}

Teams

The FA Cup is a knockout competition with 124 teams taking part from the first round proper while all trying to reach the final at Wembley Stadium on 25 May 2024. ^[6] The competition will consist 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 640 teams from the National League System that started the competition in the qualifying rounds.

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

The total prize fund for the competition is £5,508,000. ^[7]

Round	Main date	Number of fixtures	Clubs remaining	New entries this round	Winner prize money [7]	Loser prize money [7]	Divisions entering this round
First round	Saturday 4 November 2023	40	80 → 40	48	£41,000	None	24 EFL League One teams 24 EFL League Two teams
Second round	Saturday 2 December 2023	20	40 → 20	None	£67,000	None	None
Third round	Saturday 6 January 2024	32	64 → 32	44	£105,000	None	20 Premier League teams 24 EFL Championship teams
Fourth round	Saturday 27 January 2024	16	32 → 16	None	£120,000	None	None
Fifth round	Wednesday 28 February 2024	8	16 → 8	None	£225,000	None	None
Quarter-finals	Saturday 16 March 2024	4	8 → 4	None	£450,000	None	None
Semi-finals	Saturday 20 April 2024	2	4 → 2	None	£1,000,000	£500,000	None
Final	Saturday 25 May 2024	1	2 → 1	None	£2,000,000	£1,000,000	None

Qualifying

Teams that were 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 4 August 2023.

First round

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 made on 15 October 2023 by Paul Parker and Jobi McAnuff. ^[8] The round included three teams from the eighth tier, Cray Valley Paper Mills, Ramsgate and Sheppey United, the lowest-ranked teams remaining in the competition.

Number of teams per tier still in competition

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

Second round

The draw was made on 5 November 2023 by Dave Beasant and Anita Asante, consisting of the 40 winners from the previous round. ^[11] The round included Ramsgate from the eighth tier, the lowest ranked team remaining in the competition.

Number of teams per tier still in competition

Premier League [a]	EFL Championship [a]	EFL League One	EFL League Two	Non-League	Total
20 / 20	24 / 24	15 / 24	15 / 24	10 / 32	84 / 124

Third round

The third round saw the 20 winners from the second round joined by the 44 clubs from the Premier League and the Championship. The draw was made on 3 December 2023 by Trevor Steven and Jen Beattie. ^[12] The round included Maidstone United from the sixth tier, the lowest-ranked team remaining in the competition.

Number of teams per tier still in competition

Premier League	EFL Championship	EFL League One	EFL League Two	Non-League	Total
20 / 20	24 / 24	9 / 24	7 / 24	4 / 32	64 / 124

Fourth round

The draw was made on 8 January 2024 by Gary Mabbutt and Emma Byrne. The round included Maidstone United from the sixth tier, the lowest-ranked team remaining in the competition. ^[13]

Number of teams per tier still in competition

Premier League	EFL Championship	EFL League One	EFL League Two	Non-League	Total
15 / 20	14 / 24	0 / 24	2 / 24	1 / 32	32 / 124

Fifth round

The draw was made on 28 January 2024 by Glen Johnson. ^[14] The round included Maidstone United from the sixth tier, the lowest-ranked team remaining in the competition, and the first side outside of the top five divisions to reach the last 16 since Blyth Spartans in 1977–78.

Number of teams per tier still in competition

Premier League	EFL Championship	EFL League One	EFL League Two	Non-League	Total
10 / 20	5 / 24	0 / 24	0 / 24	1 / 32	16 / 124

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was made on 28 February 2024 by Seema Jaswal and David Seaman on ITV4. ^[15] The round included Championship sides Coventry City and Leicester City, the lowest-ranked teams left in the competition.

Number of teams per tier still in competition

Premier League	EFL Championship	EFL League One	EFL League Two	Non-League	Total
6 / 20	2 / 24	0 / 24	0 / 24	0 / 32	8 / 124

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals was made on 17 March 2024 by Ian Wright on ITV1, following the quarter-final match between Manchester United and Liverpool. ^[16] The round included Championship club Coventry City, the only remaining non-top flight team in the competition.

Manchester United extended their English record of a 32nd overall FA Cup semi-final appearance and their second consecutive season, after advancing past Brighton & Hove Albion on penalties last season. Manchester City made a sixth consecutive FA Cup semi-final appearance, also an English record; the club had won two and lost three of the previous five encounters. ^[17]

Number of teams per tier still in competition

Premier League	EFL Championship	EFL League One	EFL League Two	Non-League	Total
3 / 20	1 / 24	0 / 24	0 / 24	0 / 32	4 / 124

Final

Number of teams per tier still in competition

Premier League	EFL Championship	EFL League One	EFL League Two	Non-League	Total
2 / 20	0 / 24	0 / 24	0 / 24	0 / 32	2 / 124

Top goalscorers

As of 21 April 2024

Rank [18]	Player	Club	Goals
1	Ellis Simms	Coventry City	6
	Sammie Szmodics	Blackburn Rovers
3	Erling Haaland	Manchester City	5
	João Pedro	Brighton & Hove Albion
5	Callum O'Hare	Coventry City	4
	Kyle Wootton	Stockport County
7	Ali Al-Hamadi	AFC Wimbledon	3
	Jack Barham	Aldershot Town
	Billy Bodin	Oxford United
	Jón Daði Böðvarsson	Bolton Wanderers
	Ryan Bowman	Shrewsbury Town
	Sam Corne	Maidstone United
	Bruno Fernandes	Manchester United
	Chris Maguire	Eastleigh
	Sékou Mara	Southampton
	Paul McCallum	Eastleigh
	Shane McLoughlin	Newport County
	William Osula	Sheffield United
	Jamie Reid	Stevenage
	Aaron Rowe	Crewe Alexandra
	Bernardo Silva	Manchester City
	Josh Stokes	Aldershot Town
	Haji Wright	Coventry City

Television rights

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. [19] 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. [20] 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 [21]	3 November	Sheppey United v Walsall	7:45pm	ITV4
	4 November	Bromley v Blackpool	5:45pm	BBC Two
		Mansfield Town v Wrexham	7:45pm	S4C
	5 November	Chesterfield v Portsmouth	12:15pm	ITV1
		Crewe Alexandra v Derby County	2:45pm	ITVX
		Charlton Athletic v Cray Valley Paper Mills	5:30pm	BBC Two
First round (Replay)	14 November	Horsham v Barnsley	7:30pm	ITV4
	15 November	Cray Valley Paper Mills v Charlton Athletic	7:45pm	BBC Two
Second round	1 December	York City v Wigan Athletic	7:45pm	BBC Two
	3 December	Eastleigh v Reading	1:30pm	ITV1
		Wrexham v Yeovil Town	3:45pm	ITVX
	4 December	AFC Wimbledon v Ramsgate	7:45pm	ITV4
	5 December	Alfreton Town v Walsall	7:45pm	BBC iPlayer
Second round (Replay)	12 December	Barnet v Newport County	7:45pm	ITV4
	13 December	Stockport County v Aldershot Town	7:45pm	BBC Two
Third round	4 January	Crystal Palace v Everton	8:00pm	ITV4
	5 January	Tottenham Hotspur v Burnley	8:00pm	ITV1
	6 January	Sunderland v Newcastle United	12:45pm	ITV1
		Chelsea v Preston North End	5:30pm	BBC iPlayer
		Middlesbrough v Aston Villa	5:30pm	BBC One
	7 January	Manchester City v Huddersfield Town	2:00pm	BBC iPlayer
		Shrewsbury Town v Wrexham	2:00pm	S4C
		Arsenal v Liverpool	4:30pm	BBC One
	8 January	Wigan Athletic v Manchester United	8:15pm	ITV1
Third round (Replay)	16 January	Bristol City v West Ham United	7:45pm	BBC One
	17 January	Blackpool v Nottingham Forest	7:45pm	ITV4
Fourth round	25 January	Bournemouth v Swansea City	7:45pm	S4C
	26 January	Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City	8:00pm	ITV1
	27 January	Ipswich Town v Maidstone United	12:30pm	BBC One
		Fulham v Newcastle United	7:00pm	ITV4
	28 January	West Bromwich Albion v Wolverhampton Wanderers	11:45am	ITV1
		Liverpool v Norwich City	2:30pm	ITV1
		Newport County v Manchester United	4:30pm	BBC One
	29 January	Blackburn Rovers v Wrexham	7:30pm	BBC Wales
Fourth round (Replay)	6 February	Plymouth Argyle v Leeds United	7:45pm	BBC One
	7 February	Aston Villa v Chelsea	8:00pm	ITV1
Fifth round [22]	26 February	Coventry City v Maidstone United	7:45pm	ITV4
	27 February	AFC Bournemouth v Leicester City	7:30pm	BBC iPlayer
		Blackburn Rovers v Newcastle United	7:45pm	BBC One
		Luton Town v Manchester City	8:00pm	ITV1
	28 February	Chelsea v Leeds United	7:30pm	ITV4
		Wolverhampton Wanderers v Brighton and Hove Albion	7:45pm	BBC iPlayer
		Nottingham Forest v Manchester United	7:45pm	BBC One
		Liverpool v Southampton	8:00pm	ITV1
Quarter Final [23]	16 March	Wolverhampton Wanderers v Coventry City	12:15pm	ITV1
		Manchester City v Newcastle United	5:30pm	BBC One
	17 March	Chelsea v Leicester City	12:45pm	BBC One
		Manchester United v Liverpool	3:30pm	ITV1 [24]
Semi Final	20 April	Manchester City v Chelsea	5:15pm	BBC One
	21 April	Coventry City v Manchester United	3:30pm	ITV1

References