The 2002–03 FA Cup was the 122nd staging of the world's oldest cup competition, the FA Cup. The competition was won by Arsenal with a 1–0 victory in the final at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff against Southampton, courtesy of a Robert Pires goal.
Calendar Round Date (weekend of) Extra preliminary round Preliminary round First round qualifying Second round qualifying Third round qualifying Saturday 12 October 2002 Fourth round qualifying Saturday 26 October 2002 First round proper Saturday 16 November 2002 Second round Saturday 7 December 2002 Third round Saturday 4 January 2003 Fourth round Saturday 25 January 2003 Fifth round Saturday 15 February 2003 Sixth round Saturday 8 March 2003 Semi-finals Sunday 13 April 2003 Final Saturday 17 May 2003
Qualifying rounds All participating clubs that were not members of the Premier League or Football League entered the competition in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 32 places available in the first round proper.
The winners from the fourth qualifying round were Runcorn Halton, Morecambe, Southport, Harrogate Railway Athletic, Doncaster Rovers, Barrow, Chester City, Scarborough, Burton Albion, Northwich Victoria, Vauxhall Motors, Harrogate Town, Guiseley, Moor Green, Stafford Rangers, Hereford United, St Albans City, Boreham Wood, Slough Town, Hastings United, Stevenage Borough, Crawley Town, Farnborough Town, Havant & Waterlooville, Margate, Dover Athletic, Tiverton Town, Dagenham & Redbridge, Heybridge Swifts, Forest Green Rovers, Team Bath and Yeovil Town.
Harrogate Railway Athletic, Harrogate Town and Team Bath were appearing in the competition proper for the first time. Additionally, Hastings United (formerly Hastings Town) and Dover Athletic were appearing at this stage for the first time in their own right after the original Hastings United and the original Dover FC had last qualified for the first round in 1981-82. The Ellesmere Port-based Vauxhall Motors was also featuring in the main draw for the first time in their own right after their now-defunct corporate rivals Vauxhall Motors (Luton) had reached the first round in 1947-48.
Of the others, Crawley Town had last appeared at this stage in 1994–95, Stafford Rangers had last done so in 1992-93, and Moor Green had last done so in 1979-80.
First round proper At this stage the 48 Second and Third Division clubs joined the 32 non-league clubs who came through the qualifying rounds. Step 8 sides Harrogate Railway Athletic, from the Northern Counties East League, and Team Bath, from the Western League, were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw.
The matches were scheduled to be played on the weekend of Saturday, 16 November 2002, with replays in the week commencing 25 November.
Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamDateAttendanceSummary1Chesterfield (3)1–2Morecambe (5)16 November 20023,703 2AFC Bournemouth (4)2–1Doncaster Rovers (5)16 November 20025,371 3Barrow (6)2–0Moor Green (6)16 November 20022,650 4Bury (4)0–3Plymouth Argyle (3)16 November 20022,987 5Rochdale (4)3–2Peterborough United (3)16 November 20022,566 6Yeovil Town (5)0–2Cheltenham Town (3) 16 November 20026,455 7Vauxhall Motors (6)0–0Queens Park Rangers (3)16 November 20023,507 ReplayQueens Park Rangers (3)1 – 1Vauxhall Motors (6)26 November 20025,336 Vauxhall Motors won 4 – 3 on penalties8Northwich Victoria (5)0–3Scunthorpe United (4)16 November 20021,724 9Luton Town (3)4–0Guiseley (7)16 November 20025,248 10Swindon Town (3)1–0Huddersfield Town (3)16 November 20024,210 11Scarborough (5)0–0Cambridge United (4)16 November 20022,084 ReplayCambridge United (4)2 – 1Scarborough (5)26 November 20023,373 12Shrewsbury Town (4)4–0Stafford Rangers (6)16 November 20025,114 13Wrexham (4)0–2Darlington (4)16 November 20023,442 14Tranmere Rovers (3)2–2Cardiff City (3)16 November 20025,592 ReplayCardiff City (3)2 – 1Tranmere Rovers (3)26 November 20026,853 15Stockport County (3)4–1St Albans City (6)16 November 20023,303 16Wycombe Wanderers (3)2–4Brentford (3)16 November 20025,673 17Kidderminster Harriers (4)2–2Rushden & Diamonds (4)16 November 20023,079 ReplayRushden & Diamonds (4)2 – 1Kidderminster Harriers (4)26 November 20023,391 18Barnsley (3)1–4Blackpool (3)16 November 20026,857 19Bristol Rovers (4)0–0Runcorn Halton (6)16 November 20024,135 ReplayRuncorn Halton (6)1 – 3Bristol Rovers (4)26 November 20022,444 20Northampton Town (3)3–2Boston United (4)16 November 20024,373 21Hull City (4)0–3Macclesfield Town (4)16 November 20027,803 22Carlisle United (4)2–1Lincoln City (4)16 November 20024,388 23Oldham Athletic (3)2–2Burton Albion (5)16 November 20025,802 ReplayBurton Albion (5)2 – 2Oldham Athletic (3)27 November 20023,416 Oldham Athletic won 5 – 4 on penalties24Southend United (4)1–1Hartlepool United (4)16 November 20024,984 ReplayHartlepool United (4)1 – 2Southend United (4)26 November 20024,080 25Port Vale (3)0–1Crewe Alexandra (3)16 November 20025,507 26Southport (5)4–2Notts County (3)16 November 20023,519 27Torquay United (4)5–0Boreham Wood (6)16 November 20022,739 28York City (4)2–1Swansea City (4)26 November 2002Postponed due to waterlogged pitch2,948 29Hereford United (5)0–1Wigan Athletic (3)16 November 20024,005 30Tiverton Town (6)1–1Crawley Town (6)16 November 20021,840 ReplayCrawley Town (6)3 – 2Tiverton Town (6)26 November 20023,907 31Colchester United (3)0–1Chester City (5)16 November 20022,901 32Leyton Orient (4)1–1Margate (5)16 November 20023,605 ReplayMargate (5)1 – 0Leyton Orient (4)26 November 20022,048 33Slough Town (7)1–2Harrogate Railway Athletic (8)16 November 20021,687 34Farnborough Town (5)5–1Harrogate Town (6)16 November 20021,090 35Forest Green Rovers (5)0–0Exeter City (4)17 November 20022,147 ReplayExeter City (4)2 – 1Forest Green Rovers (5)26 November 20022,951 36Heybridge Swifts (6)0–7Bristol City (3)16 November 20022,046 37Stevenage Borough (5)1–0Hastings United (6)16 November 20021,821 38Dover Athletic (6)0–1Oxford United (4)16 November 20024,186 39Dagenham & Redbridge (5)3–2Havant & Waterlooville (6)16 November 20021,546 40Team Bath (8)2–4Mansfield Town (3)16 November 20025,469
Second round proper The matches were scheduled to be played on the weekend of Saturday, 7 December 2002, with replays in the week commencing 16 December. Harrogate Railway Athletic was again the lowest-ranked team in the draw.
Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamDateAttendanceSummary1Blackpool (3)3–1Torquay United (4)7 December 20025,014 2Darlington (4)4–1Stevenage Borough (5)7 December 20023,351 3Macclesfield Town (4)2–0Vauxhall Motors (6)7 December 20022,972 4Crewe Alexandra (3)3–0Mansfield Town (3)7 December 20024,563 5Shrewsbury Town (4)3–1Barrow (6)7 December 20024,210 6Stockport County (3)0–3Plymouth Argyle (3)7 December 20023,571 7Bristol Rovers (4)1–1Rochdale (4)7 December 20024,369 ReplayRochdale (4)3 – 2Bristol Rovers (4)17 December 20022,206 8Oldham Athletic (3)1–2Cheltenham Town (3)7 December 20024,416 9Southend United (4)1–1AFC Bournemouth (4)7 December 20025,721 ReplayAFC Bournemouth (4)3 – 2Southend United (4)17 December 20025,456 10Exeter City (4)3–1Rushden & Diamonds (4)7 December 20022,277 11Scunthorpe United (4)0–0Carlisle United (4)7 December 20023,590 ReplayCarlisle United (4)0 – 1Scunthorpe United (4)23 December 2002Match postponed due to frozen pitch6,809 12Margate (5)0–3Cardiff City (3)7 December 20021,362 13Southport (5)0–3Farnborough Town (5)7 December 20022,534 14Morecambe (5)3–2Chester City (5)7 December 20024,293 15York City (4)1–2Brentford (3)7 December 20023,517 16Wigan Athletic (3)3–0Luton Town (3)7 December 20024,544 17Cambridge United (4)2–2Northampton Town (3)7 December 20025,076 ReplayNorthampton Town (3)0 – 1Cambridge United (4)17 December 20024,591 18Harrogate Railway Athletic (8)1–3Bristol City (3)8 December 20023,500 19Crawley Town (6)1–2Dagenham & Redbridge (5)7 December 20024,516 20Oxford United (4)1–0Swindon Town (3)8 December 200211,645
Third round proper This round was the first in which Division 1 and Premier League (top-flight) teams entered the competition. The matches were scheduled to be played on the weekend of Saturday, 4 January 2003, with replays in the week commencing 13 January. The round featured three clubs from the Football Conference (Step 5): Farnborough Town, Morecambe and Dagenham & Redbridge.
Shrewsbury, who ended the season with relegation from the Football League, achieved the biggest upset of the round (if not the whole competition), with a surprise 2–1 win over an Everton side who were pushing for a place in Europe and featuring a 17-year-old striker called Wayne Rooney – one of the most promising young players in the game.
Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamDateAttendanceSummary1Blackpool (3)1–2Crystal Palace (2)4 January 20039,062 2Darlington (4)2–3Farnborough Town (5)4 January 20034,260 3AFC Bournemouth (4)0–0Crewe Alexandra (3)4 January 20037,252 ReplayCrewe Alexandra (3)2 – 2AFC Bournemouth (4)14 January 20034,540 AFC Bournemouth won 3 – 1 on penalties4Preston North End (2)1–2Rochdale (4)4 January 20038,762 5Southampton (1)4–0Tottenham Hotspur (1)4 January 200325,589 6Walsall (2)0–0Reading (2)4 January 2003 5,987 ReplayReading (2)1 – 1Walsall (2)14 January 20038,767Walsall won 4 – 1 on penalties7Gillingham (2)4–1Sheffield Wednesday (2)7 January 20036,434 8Leicester City (2)2–0Bristol City (3)4 January 200325,868 9Aston Villa (1)1–4Blackburn Rovers (1)4 January 200323,884 10Bolton Wanderers (1)1–1Sunderland (1)4 January 200310,123 ReplaySunderland (1)2 – 0Bolton Wanderers (1)14 January 200314,550 11Grimsby Town (2)2–2Burnley (2)4 January 20035,350 ReplayBurnley (2)4 – 0Grimsby Town (2)14 January 20035,436 12Macclesfield Town (4)0–2Watford (2)4 January 20034,244 13Wolverhampton Wanderers (2)3–2Newcastle United (1)5 January 200327,316 14West Bromwich Albion (1)3–1Bradford City (2)4 January 200319,909 15Shrewsbury Town (4)2–1Everton (1)4 January 20037,800 16Sheffield United (2)4–0Cheltenham Town (3)4 January 20039,166 17Ipswich Town (2)4–0Morecambe (5)4 January 200318,529 18Manchester City (1)0–1Liverpool (1)5 January 200328,586 19Fulham (1)3–1Birmingham City (1)5 January 20039,203 20Brentford (3)1–0Derby County (2)4 January 20038,709 21West Ham United (1)3–2Nottingham Forest (2)4 January 200329,612 22Manchester United (1)4–1Portsmouth (2)4 January 200367,222 23Norwich City (2)3–1Brighton & Hove Albion (2)14 January 2003Original match postponed because of power failure17,205 24Plymouth Argyle (3)2–2Dagenham & Redbridge (5)4 January 200311,885 ReplayDagenham & Redbridge (5)2 – 0Plymouth Argyle (3)14 January 20034,530 25Chelsea (1)1–0Middlesbrough (1)4 January 200329,796 26Scunthorpe United (4)0–2Leeds United (1)4 January 20038,329 27Cardiff City (3)2–2Coventry City (2)4 January 200316,013 ReplayCoventry City (2)3 – 0Cardiff City (3)15 January 200311,997 28Charlton Athletic (1)3–1Exeter City (4)4 January 200318,107 29Arsenal (1)2–0Oxford United (4)4 January 200335,432 30Stoke City (2)3–0Wigan Athletic (3)4 January 20039,618 31Rotherham United (2)0–3Wimbledon (2)4 January 20034,527 32Cambridge United (4)1–1Millwall (2)4 January 20036,864 ReplayMillwall (2)3 – 2Cambridge United (4)14 January 20037,031
Fourth round proper Matches played weekend of 25 January 2003 Four replays played week commencing 3 February 2003 Farnborough Town and Dagenham & Redbridge were again the lowest-ranked teams in the draw. By this stage, they were also the last non-league teams left in the competition.