The 2021–22 Women's FA Cup was the 52nd staging of the Women's FA Cup, a knockout cup competition for women's football teams in England. Chelsea were the defending champions, having beaten Arsenal 3–0 in the 2020–21 final which was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and eventually played on 5 December 2021.
The final was won by Chelsea who beat Manchester City after extra time at Wembley Stadium in front of a record attendance of 49,094.
Teams A total of 417 teams entered the 2021–22 Women's FA Cup, an increase of 41 from the previous year. Unlike previous years, there were no additional preliminary rounds prior to first round qualifying. Tier 5 teams were given an exemption for the first time, entering at the second round qualifying stage. The 50 teams that play in the FA Women's National League Division One (tier 4) are given exemption to the third round qualifying, while teams in the Northern and Southern Premier Divisions (tier 3) enter at the first round proper. Also for the first time, teams in the FA Women's Super League and FA Women's Championship (tiers 1 and 2) entered in different rounds with Championship teams exempt until the third round proper, one round earlier than in previous years, while FA WSL teams remained exempt until the fourth round proper.
Round Clubsremaining Clubsinvolved Winners fromprevious round Games played Goals scored Prize money Winner Loser First round qualifying 417 152 – 68 418 £400 £100 Second round qualifying 341 240Tier 5 regional premier division teams added 76 115 621 £450 £115 Third round qualifying 221 17050 FA Women's National League Division One teams added 120 82 402 £600 £150 First round 136 11227 FA Women's National League Premier Division teams added 85 56 272 £850 £215 Second round 80 56 56 28 115 £1,000 £250 Third round 52 4012 FA Women's Championship teams added 28 20 78 £1,250 £315 Fourth round 32 3212 FA WSL teams added 20 16 56 £2,000 £500 Fifth round 16 16 16 8 28 £3,000 £750 Quarter-final 8 8 8 4 14 £4,000 £1,000 Semi-final 4 4 4 2 7 £5,000 £1,250 Final 2 2 2 1 5 £25,000 £15,000
First round qualifying The competition started at the first round qualifying stage with 76 matches played in September 2021, made up of teams from the seventh-tier county leagues and randomly drawn tier six regional second division teams.
Tie Home team (tier) Score Away team (tier) 1 Birtley Town (7) 2–5 Hartlepool Pools Youth (7) 2 Darlington (7) 4–2 CLS Amazons (7) 3 Penrith AFC (6) 7–2 Gateshead Leam Rangers (7) 4 Stanwix (7) 2–2 (4–5 p) Bishop Auckland (6) 5 West Allotment Celtic (6) 9–0 Carlisle United (6) 6 Guisborough Town (6) 0–12 Gateshead FC (7) 7 Durham United (7) 1–4 Workington Reds (6) 8 Thornaby FC (7) 3–8 Boro Rangers (6) 9 Epworth Town Colts Belles (7) A–W St Joseph's Rockware of Worksop (6) Epworth Town Colts Belles withdrew.10 Dronfield Town (7) 2–1 Barnsley FC (6) 11 South Cave Sporting Club (7) 0–10 Altofts (6) 12 Appleby Frodingham (6) 0–7 Grimsby Borough (6) 13 Yorkshire Amateur (7) 1–4 Hull United (6) 14 Ripon City (7) 3–2 Hepworth United (6) 15 Harworth Colliery (7) 3–0 Cleethorpes Town (6) 16 Silsden AFC (7) 1–4 Farsley Celtic Juniors (6) 17 Ashton United (7) 2–3 Hindley Juniors (6) 18 Didsbury (6) 2–1 Nantwich Town (7) 19 Macclesfield Town (7) 6–4 Pilkington (7) 20 Penwortham Town (6) 1–2 Northwich Vixens (6) 21 Warrington Wolves Foundation (6) 2–4 Blackburn Community SC (6) 22 Ashton Town Lionesses (7) 3–1 West Kirby (6) 23 Sandbach United (7) 2–3 BRNESC (7) 24 Alder FC (6) 3–4 Haslingden (6) 25 Runcorn Linnets (6) 4–1 Preston North End (6) 26 Salford City Lionesses (5) 5–4 Curzon Ashton (6) 27 Wythenshawe Amateurs (6) 4–0 Egerton FC (7) 28 Hinckley (7) 0–10 Nottingham Trent University (6) 29 Bugbrooke St Michaels (7) 4–4 (5–4 p) Rugby Town (6) 30 Sherwood FC (6) 0–3 Kettering Town (6) 31 Coalville Town (6) 1–3 Leicester Road (6) 32 Anstey Nomads (6) 6–0 Ketton (7) 33 Thrapston Town (6) 2–0 Rugby Borough (6) 34 Arnold Eagles (6) 6–1 Nuneaton Borough (7) 35 Westfields (6) H–W Staffordshire Victoria (7) Staffordshire Victoria withdrew.36 Solihull Sporting (6) H–W Balls To Cancer (7) Balls To Cancer withdrew.37 Walsall (6) 1–4 Shrewsbury Town (6) 38 Droitwich Spa (6) 1–3 AFC Telford United (6)
Tie Home team (tier) Score Away team (tier) 39 Kingfisher (6) 3–1 Port Vale (6) 40 Walsall Wood (6) 6–1 Sedgley & Gornal United (6) 41 Sandwell (6) 2–1 Redditch Borough (7) 42 Shifnal Town (6) 10–1 Wyrley (6) 43 Doveridge (7) 3–1 Cookley Sports (6) 44 Knowle (6) 1–1 (7–6 p) Darlaston Town (6) 45 March Town United (7) 0–6 Haverhill Rovers (6) 46 Newmarket Town (6) 3–1 AFC Sudbury (6) 47 Wootton Blue Cross (6) 0–2 Garston (7) 48 Rayleigh Town (7) 1–5 Southend United Community SC (7) 49 Chelmsford City (7) 10–0 Houghton Athletic (7) 50 Herts Vipers (6) 9–0 Hemel Hempstead Town (7) 51 Sutton United (6) 1–0 Meridian (6) 52 Cray Valley (PM) (7) 1–3 Tunbridge Wells Foresters (7) 53 Bexhill United (6) 0–0 (3–4 p) Glebe (7) 54 Hastings United (6) 9–0 Regents Park Rangers (7) 55 Phoenix Sports (6) 1–9 Bromley (7) 56 Borough Green (6) H–W Ramsgate (7) Ramsgate FC withdrew.57 Eversley & California (6) H–W Wokingham & Emmbrook (6) Wokingham & Emmbrook withdrew.58 Caversham United (7) 3–1 Warminster Town (6) 59 AFC Acorns (6) 2–2 (4–3 p) Leatherhead FC (7) 60 Badshot Lea (7) 4–0 Burgess Hill Town (7) 61 Woking (6) 2–1 Abbey Rangers (6) 62 Steyning Town Community (7) 9–0 Eastbourne Town (7) 63 Woodingdean (7) 1–8 Seaford Town (7) 64 Chichester City (6) 2–2 (3–1 p) Montpelier Villa (7) 65 Hassocks (7) 0–4 Eastbourne United AFC (7) 66 QK Southampton (7) 4–5 Shanklin (7) 67 Fleet Town (7) H–W Shaftesbury (7) Shaftesbury withdrew.68 Bursledon (7) 0–6 AFC Stoneham (6) 69 Gloucester City (7) 3–2 Weston Super Mare (6) 70 Almondsbury (6) H–W Olveston United AFC (7) Match abandoned with Olveston United leading 3–2. Olveston United declined to replay the tie and withdrew.71 Downend Flyers (6) 3–3 (3–5 p) Paulton Rovers (6) 72 Chipping Sodbury Town (6) 2–4 AEK Boco (6) 73 Pucklechurch Sports (7) 1–1 (3–1 p) Bristol Rovers (6) 74 Ottery St Mary (6) H–W RNAS Culdrose (7) RNAS Culdrose withdrew.75 Feniton (6) 12–0 Signal Box Oak Villa (7) 76 Liskeard Athletic (6) 28–0 Callington Town (7)
Second round qualifying 120 matches were played in the second round qualifying in October 2021, made up of the 76 winning teams from the first round qualifying and included the introduction of 164 teams from the fifth-tier regional first division football leagues and the remaining sixth-tier teams.
Tie Home team (tier) Score Away team (tier) 1 Gateshead Rutherford (7) 0–2 Penrith AFC (6) 2 Wallsend BC (5) 2–2 (4–5 p) Sunderland West End (5) 3 Washington Association (6) 3–1 West Allotment Celtic (6) 4 Hartlepool Pools Youth (7) 1–3 Darlington (7) 5 Bishop Auckland (6) 2–1 Blyth Town (6) 6 Hartlepool United (5) 7–2 Workington Reds (6) 7 Gateshead FC (7) 2–1 Spennymoor Town (6) 8 South Shields (5) 3–2 Chester Le Street United (6) 9 Boro Rangers (6) A–W Redcar Town (5) Boro Rangers withdrew.10 St Joseph's Rockware of Worksop (6) 1–2 Thackley AFC (6) 11 Harworth Colliery (7) 1–6 Wakefield Trinity (5) 12 Oughtibridge War Memorial (5) 1–2 Hull United (6) 13 Ossett United (5) 5–2 Farsley Celtic Juniors (6) 14 York City (5) 9–2 Brighouse Sports (6) 15 Grimsby Borough (6) 1–3 Chesterfield (5) 16 Harrogate Town (5) 4–1 Ripon City (7) 17 Rotherham United (5) 4–2 Sheffield Wednesday (5) 18 Bradford Park Avenue (6) 1–2 Millmoor Juniors (6) 19 Dronfield Town (7) 3–2 Grimsby Town (6) 20 Altofts (6) 1–2 Farsley Celtic (5) 21 Altrincham (6) 4–2 Ashton Town Lionesses (7) 22 Sir Tom Finney FC (6) 6–1 Marine (6) 23 Merseyrail (5) 10–0 Wythenshawe Amateurs (6) 24 West Didsbury & Chorlton (5) 0–1 Tranmere Rovers (5) 25 Morecambe (5) 7–1 Macclesfield Town (7) 26 Chester (6) 4–5 Salford City Lionesses (5) 27 Blackburn Community SC (6) 5–0 Sale United (6) 28 Fleetwood Town Wrens (5) 1–0 Accrington Stanley (6) 29 Northwich Vixens (6) 1–2 Cheadle Town Stingers (5) 30 AFC Darwen (5) 11–0 Didsbury (6) 31 Hindley Juniors (6) 1–3 Mossley Hill (5) 32 BRNESC (7) 4–2 Runcorn Linnets (6) 33 Haslingden (6) 3–5 Crewe Alexandra (5) 34 Notts County (5) 2–0 Kettering Town (6) 35 Rise Park (5) 0–7 Northampton Town (5) 36 Woodlands (5) 0–5 Anstey Nomads (6) 37 Nottingham Trent University (6) 10–1 Bugbrooke St Michaels (7) 38 Leicester Road (6) 4–0 Leicester City Ladies (5) 39 Loughborough Students (5) 4–2 Arnold Eagles (6) 40 Thrapston Town (6) H–W Stewarts & Lloyds (6) Stewarts & Lloyds withdrew.41 Lincoln United (5) 5–0 Oadby & Wigston (6) 42 Allexton & New Parks (6) 0–10 Mansfield Town (5) 43 Kingfisher (6) 0–1 Lichfield City (5) 44 Sutton Coldfield Town (5) 2–0 Redditch United (5) 45 Stourbridge (5) 6–1 Kidderminster Harriers (5) 46 Tamworth Academy (6) 1–3 Lye Town (5) 47 Leamington Lions (6) 3–2 Coventry Sphinx (5) 48 Westfields (6) 1–6 Shrewsbury Town (6) 49 Coundon Court (5) 0–2 Knowle (6) 50 Worcester City (5) 1–2 Shifnal Town (6) 51 Walsall Wood (6) 0–3 AFC Telford United (6) 52 Crusaders (5) 8–0 Hereford Pegasus (6) 53 Tamworth FC (5) 7–0 Doveridge (7) 54 Sandwell (6) 3–10 Solihull Sporting (6) 55 Peterborough Northern Star (6) A–W East Bergholt United (6) Peterborough Northern Star withdrew.56 Needham Market (6) 5–1 Sprowston (6) 57 St Ives Town (5) 3–2 Newmarket Town (6) 58 Histon (7) A–W Whittlesey Athletic (6) Histon withdrew.59 Wroxham (5) H–W Bury Town (6) Bury Town withdrew.60 Netherton United (7) 5–2 Bungay Town (6)