The 2009–10 FA Cup (known as the FA Cup sponsored by E.ON for sponsorship reasons) was the 129th season of the world's oldest football knockout competition; the FA Cup. As in the previous year, 762 clubs were accepted for the competition. One club, Newcastle Blue Star, folded before the fixtures were released. As they were scheduled to enter the competition in the first round qualifying, their opponents in this round received a walkover.
The competition commenced on 15 August 2009 with the Extra preliminary round and concluded on 15 May 2010 with the Final, held at Wembley Stadium. The final was contested by 2009 winners Chelsea and 2008 winners Portsmouth. Originally, the winners were to qualify for the play-off round of the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League. However, as Chelsea won the 2009–10 Premier League (and did not need the FA Cup winners' berth), and Portsmouth failed to apply for a UEFA licence for the 2010–11 season in time (making them ineligible to compete in UEFA competitions), the berth was given to Liverpool, the seventh-placed team in the Premier League. Chelsea won 1–0 in the final to retain the trophy.
Teams Round Clubsremaining Clubsinvolved Winners fromprevious round New entriesthis round Leagues entering at this round Extra preliminary round 762 406 none 406 Levels 9 and 10 in football league pyramid Preliminary round 559 334 203 131 Northern Premier League Division One NorthNorthern Premier League Division One South Southern Football League Division One MidlandsSouthern Football League Division One South & WestIsthmian League Division One NorthIsthmian League Division One South First round qualifying 392 232 167 65 Northern Premier League Premier DivisionSouthern Football League Premier DivisionIsthmian League Premier Division Second round qualifying 276 160 116 44 Conference NorthConference South Third round qualifying 196 80 80 none none Fourth round qualifying 156 64 40 24 Conference National First round proper 124 80 32 48 Football League OneFootball League Two Second round proper 84 40 40 none none Third round proper 64 64 20 44 Premier LeagueFootball League Championship Fourth round proper 32 32 32 none none Fifth round proper 16 16 16 none none Sixth round proper 8 8 8 none none Semi-finals 4 4 4 none none Final 2 2 2 none none
Calendar The calendar for the 2009–10 FA Cup, as announced by The Football Association:
Round Main date Number of fixtures Clubs New entries this round Prize money Player of the Round Extra preliminary round 15 August 2009 203 762 → 559 406: 357th–762nd £750 Preliminary round 29 August 2009 167 559 → 392 131: 226th–356th £1,500 First round qualifying 12 September 2009 116 392 → 276 65: 161st–225th £3,000 Bobby Traynor (Kingstonian) Second round qualifying 26 September 2009 80 276 → 196 44: 117th–160th £4,500 Mark Danks (Northwich Victoria) Third round qualifying 10 October 2009 40 196 → 156 none £7,500 Adam Webster (Hinckley United) Fourth round qualifying 24 October 2009 32 156 → 124 24: 93rd–116th £12,500 Danny Kedwell (AFC Wimbledon) First round proper 7 November 2009 40 124 → 84 48: 45th–92nd £18,000 Richard Brodie (York City) Second round proper 28 November 2009 20 84 → 64 none £27,000 Leon Legge (Brentford) Third round proper 2 January 2010 32 64 → 32 44: 1st–44th £67,500 Jermaine Beckford (Leeds United) Fourth round proper 23 January 2010 16 32 → 16 none £90,000 Jermaine Beckford (Leeds United) Fifth round proper 13 February 2010 8 16 → 8 none £180,000 Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur) Sixth round proper 6 March 2010 4 8 → 4 none £360,000 Frédéric Piquionne (Portsmouth) Semi-finals 10–11 April 2010 2 4 → 2 none Winners: £900,000Losers: £450,000 Didier Drogba (Chelsea) Final 15 May 2010 1 2 → 1 none Winner: £1,800,000Loser: £900,000
Qualifying rounds All teams that entered the competition, but were not members of the Premier League or The Football League, had to compete in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 32 places available in the first round proper.
The winners from the fourth qualifying round were Hinckley United, Nuneaton Town, Wrexham, Gateshead, Rushden & Diamonds, Mansfield Town, Stourbridge, AFC Telford United, Ilkeston Town, Cambridge United, Kettering Town, Northwich Victoria, Barrow, Fleetwood Town, York City, Woking, Lowestoft Town, Salisbury City, AFC Wimbledon, Forest Green Rovers, Oxford City, Bromley, Stevenage Borough, Wealdstone, Eastleigh, Staines Town, Luton Town, Oxford United, Bath City, Paulton Rovers, Tooting & Mitcham United and Sutton United.
Stourbridge, Eastleigh and Paulton Rovers were appearing in the competition proper for the first time. Of the others, Gateshead and Ilkeston Town had last featured at this stage in 2000–01, Oxford City had last done so in 1999-2000, Wealdstone had last done so in 1986-87 and Lowestoft Town and Tooting & Mitcham United had last done so in 1977-78.
First round proper Teams from Leagues One and Two entered at this stage, along with the 32 non-league clubs from the qualifying rounds. The draw was made on 25 October 2009 with ties played in the week beginning 7 November 2009.
Lowestoft Town and Paulton Rovers of the eighth tier were the lowest ranked teams left in the competition at this stage, but both failed to make it through to the second round.
Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance 1 Gillingham (3) 3–0 Southend United (3) 4,605 2 Grimsby Town (4) 0–2 Bath City (6) 2,103 3 Gateshead (5) 2–2 Brentford (3) 1,150 replay Brentford (3) 5–2 Gateshead (5) 1,960 4 Chesterfield (4) 1–3 AFC Bournemouth (4) 3,277 5 AFC Telford United (6) 1–3 Lincoln City (4) 2,809 6 Stockport County (3) 5–0 Tooting & Mitcham United (7) 3,076 7 Burton Albion (4) 3–2 Oxford City (7) 2,207 8 Barrow (5) 2–1 Eastleigh (6) 1,655 9 Oldham Athletic (3) 0–2 Leeds United (3) 5,552 10 Cambridge United (5) 4–0 Ilkeston Town (6) 2,395 11 York City (5) 3–2 Crewe Alexandra (4) 3,070 12 Wycombe Wanderers (3) 4–4 Brighton & Hove Albion (3) 2,749 replay Brighton & Hove Albion (3) 2–0 Wycombe Wanderers (3) 3,383 13 Hereford United (4) 2–0 Sutton United (7) 1,713 14 Nuneaton Town (7) 0–4 Exeter City (3) 2,452 15 Bristol Rovers (3) 2–3 Southampton (3) 6,646 16 Carlisle United (3) 2–2 Morecambe (4) 4,181 replay Morecambe (4) 0–1 Carlisle United (3) 3,307 17 Forest Green Rovers (5) 1–1 Mansfield Town (5) 1,149 replay Mansfield Town (5) 1–2 Forest Green Rovers (5) 2,496 18 Oxford United (5) 1–0 Yeovil Town (3) 6,144 19 Paulton Rovers (8) 0–7 Norwich City (3) 2,070 20 Swindon Town (3) 1–0 Woking (6) 4,805
Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance 21 Port Vale (4) 1–1 Stevenage Borough (5) 3,999 replay Stevenage Borough (5) 0–1 Port Vale (4) 2,894 22 Luton Town (5) 3–3 Rochdale (4) 3,167 replay Rochdale (4) 0–2 Luton Town (5) 1,982 23 Bromley (6) 0–4 Colchester United (3) 4,242 24 Accrington Stanley (4) 2–1 Salisbury City (5) 1,379 25 Millwall (3) 4–1 AFC Wimbledon (5) 9,453 26 Stourbridge (7) 0–1 Walsall (3) 2,014 27 Shrewsbury Town (4) 0–1 Staines Town (6) 3,359 28 Wealdstone (7) 2–3 Rotherham United (4) 1,638 29 Torquay United (4) 3–1 Cheltenham Town (4) 2,370 30 Barnet (4) 3–1 Darlington (4) 1,654 31 Notts County (4) 2–1 Bradford City (4) 4,213 32 Huddersfield Town (3) 6–1 Dagenham & Redbridge (4) 5,858 33 Milton Keynes Dons (3) 1–0 Macclesfield Town (4) 4,868 34 Rushden & Diamonds (5) 3–1 Hinckley United (6) 1,540 35 Northwich Victoria (6) 1–0 Charlton Athletic (3) 2,153 36 Aldershot Town (4) 2–0 Bury (4) 2,519 37 Wrexham (5) 1–0 Lowestoft Town (8) 2,402 38 Hartlepool United (3) 0–1 Kettering Town (5) 2,645 39 Tranmere Rovers (3) 1–1 Leyton Orient (3) 3,180 replay Leyton Orient (3) 0–1 Tranmere Rovers (3) 1,518 40 Northampton Town (4) 2–1 Fleetwood Town (6) 3,077
Second round proper The matches took place on 28 and 29 November 2009 and involved the 40 winning teams from the previous round.
Bath City and Staines Town from the Conference South, and Northwich Victoria from the Conference North (6th tier) were the lowest ranked teams left at this stage, but none made it through to the third round.
Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance 1 Northwich Victoria (6) 1–3 Lincoln City (4) 3,544 2 Northampton Town (4) 2–3 Southampton (3) 4,858 3 Hereford United (4) 0–1 Colchester United (3) 2,225 4 Tranmere Rovers (3) 0–0 Aldershot Town (4) 3,742 replay Aldershot Town (4) 1–2 Tranmere Rovers (3) 4,060 5 Kettering Town (5) 1–1 Leeds United (3) 4,837 replay Leeds United (3) 5–1† Kettering Town (5) 10,670 6 Gillingham (3) 1–0 Burton Albion (4) 4,996 7 Wrexham (5) 0–1 Swindon Town (3) 3,011 8 Brighton & Hove Albion (3) 3–2 Rushden & Diamonds (5) 3,638 9 Rotherham United (4) 2–2 Luton Town (5) 3,210 replay Luton Town (5) 3–0 Rotherham United (4) 2,518 10 Milton Keynes Dons (3) 4–3 Exeter City (3) 4,867
Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance 11 Brentford (3) 1–0 Walsall (3) 2,611 12 Carlisle United (3) 3–1 Norwich City (3) 3,946 13 Accrington Stanley (4) 2–2 Barnet (4) 1,501 replay Barnet (4) 0–1 Accrington Stanley (4) 1,288 14 Oxford United (5) 1–1 Barrow (5) 6,082 replay Barrow (5) 3–1 Oxford United (5) 2,754 15 AFC Bournemouth (4) 1–2 Notts County (4) 6,082 16 Stockport County (3) 0–4 Torquay United (4) 1,690 17 Cambridge United (5) 1–2 York City (5) 3,505 18 Bath City (6) 1–2 Forest Green Rovers (5) 3,325 19 Port Vale (4) 0–1 Huddersfield Town (3) 5,311 20 Staines Town (6) 1–1 Millwall (3) 2,753 replay Millwall (3) 4–0 Staines Town (6) 3,452
† – After extra time
Third round proper The draw was held on Sunday 29 November 2009 at Wembley Stadium. Premier League and Football League Championship teams entered at this stage, joining the winners from the previous round and completing the entrants. The majority of fixtures took place on 2 and 3 January 2010, with snow postponing several matches until mid-January.
Barrow, Forest Green Rovers, Luton Town and York City from the Conference National (5th tier) were the only non-league teams left at this stage, but none made it through to the fourth round.
Manchester United were knocked out in the third round for the first time since they lost to AFC Bournemouth in 1984, when they lost to third-tier rivals Leeds United. It was also Manchester United's first defeat to a lower league side since defeat at Bournemouth. They were joined by rivals and fellow 'Big Four' club Liverpool, who lost at home to second-flight Reading in a replay.
Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance 1 Tottenham Hotspur (1) 4–0 Peterborough United (2) 35,862 2 Brentford (3) 0–1 Doncaster Rovers (2) 2,883 3 Middlesbrough (2) 0–1 Manchester City (1) 12,474 4 Stoke City (1) 3–1 York City (5) 15,586 5 Notts County (4) 2–1 Forest Green Rovers (5) 4,389 6 Huddersfield Town (3) 0–2 West Bromwich Albion (2) 13,472 7 Sheffield United (2) 1–1 Queens Park Rangers (2) 11,461 replay Queens Park Rangers (2) 2–3 Sheffield United (2) 5,780 8 Milton Keynes Dons (3) 1–2 Burnley (1) 11,816 9 Chelsea (1) 5–0 Watford (2) 40,912 10 Nottingham Forest (2) 0–0 Birmingham City (1) 20,975 replay Birmingham City (1) 1–0 Nottingham Forest (2) 9,399 11 Preston North End (2) 7–0 Colchester United (3) 7,621 12 West Ham United (1) 1–2 Arsenal (1) 25,549 13 Aston Villa (1) 3–1 Blackburn Rovers (1) 25,453 14 Portsmouth (1) 1–1 Coventry City (2) 11,214 replay Coventry City (2) 1–2† Portsmouth (1) 7,097 15 Sunderland (1) 3–0 Barrow (5) 25,190 16 Wigan Athletic (1) 4–1 Hull City (1) 5,335 17 Everton (1) 3–1 Carlisle United (3) 31,196