The 2025–26 FA Cup was the 145th 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 1 August 2025, with the tournament proper starting on 31 October 2025. The final was played at Wembley Stadium, London, on 16 May 2026.
Defending champions Crystal Palace, having beaten Manchester City in the 2025 final to win their first ever title, were eliminated in the third round after an upset victory by sixth-tier National League North side Macclesfield.
Manchester City, the previous year's finalists, won their 8th FA Cup, defeating Premier League side Chelsea in what was their fourth consecutive FA Cup Final.
Teams, dates and regulations
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 16 May 2026. 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 655 teams from the National League System that started the competition in the qualifying rounds. The total 747 entrants was an increase of 2 from the previous season, and the most since 758 entrants were accepted in 2012–13.
RoundMain date(Saturdays) Number of fixtures Clubs remaining New entries this round Winner prize money Loser prize money Divisions entering this round First round 1 November 2025 40 124 → 84 48 £47,750 £15,800 24 EFL League One teams 24 EFL League Two teams Second round6 December 2025 20 84 → 64 None £79,500 £21,200 None Third round 10 January 2026 32 64 → 32 44 £121,500 £26,500 20 Premier League teams 24 EFL Championship teams Fourth round 14 February 2026 16 32 → 16 None £127,000 None None Fifth round 7 March 2026 8 16 → 8 None £238,500 None None Quarter-finals 4 April 2026 4 8 → 4 None £477,000 None None Semi-finals 25 April 2026 2 4 → 2 None £1,060,000 £530,000 None Final 16 May 2026 1 2 → 1 None £2,120,000 £1,060,000 None
Rule changes This is the second consecutive (and third overall) edition of the tournament to be played without replays in the proper rounds since 2020–21, following a six-year agreement beginning in 2024–25 between the FA and the Premier League, and the second edition of the tournament to have the final played one week before the end of the Premier League season.
Qualifying
Teams that are not members of either the Premier League or English Football League compete 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 2 August 2025, with the fourth and final qualifying round kicking off on 11 October.
The winners from the fourth qualifying round were AFC Telford United, AFC Totton, Aldershot Town, Altrincham, Boreham Wood, Brackley Town, Braintree Town, Buxton, Carlisle United, Chatham Town, Chelmsford City, Chester, Eastleigh, Ebbsfleet United, Forest Green Rovers, Gainsborough Trinity, Gateshead, Halifax Town, Hemel Hempstead Town, Macclesfield, Maldon & Tiptree, Scunthorpe United, Slough Town, South Shields, Southend United, Spennymoor Town, St Albans City, Sutton United, Tamworth, Wealdstone, Weston-super-Mare and York City.
Phoenix club Macclesfield were the only debutants in the first round, appearing in the competition proper for the first time in their own right only five years after the liquidation of predecessor outfit Macclesfield Town, with Town having last featured in the first round of the FA Cup in 2017–18. Hemel Hempstead Town, South Shields and Spennymoor Town all matched their best ever runs by reaching the competition proper, while Chatham Town featured in the FA Cup for the first time in 97 years.
First round 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 Maldon & Tiptree (Isthmian League North Division) were the lowest-ranked team in the draw.
The draw was made on 13 October 2025 by Joel Ward and Michail Antonio and took place at Woodside Road, Worthing, prior to the fourth qualifying round tie between Worthing and Forest Green Rovers.
+ Number of teams per tier still in competition Premier League Championship League One League Two Non-League Total
Second round The 40 winners from the first round played in the second round. Sixth tier sides Buxton and Macclesfield from National League North, Chelmsford City, Slough Town and Weston-super-Mare from National League South were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw.
The draw was made on 3 November 2025 by Joleon Lescott and Steve Sidwell, and took place at The Lamb Ground, Tamworth, prior to the first round tie between Tamworth and Leyton Orient.
+ Number of teams per tier still in competition Premier League Championship League One League Two Non-League Total
Third round A total of 64 clubs played in the third round: 20 winners from the second round, 20 from the Premier League (tier 1), and 24 from the Championship (tier 2). Sixth tier sides Macclesfield (National League North) and Weston-super-Mare (National League South) were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw.
The draw was made on 8 December 2025 by Joe Cole and Peter Crouch, and took place at St James Park, Brackley, prior to the second round tie between Brackley Town and Burton Albion.
+ Number of teams per tier still in competition Premier League Championship League One League Two Non-League Total
Fourth round The 32 winners from the third round played in the fourth round. National League North (tier 6) side Macclesfield was again the lowest-ranked team in the draw. In reaching this stage, Macclesfield equalled the best-ever Cup performance of Macclesfield Town, who had competed in the fourth round of the 2012–13 tournament. Elsewhere, Mansfield Town's surprise victory over Premier League outfit Burnley was the Stags' first Cup win over top-tier opponents since 1969.
The draw was made on 12 January 2026 by Joleon Lescott and Steve McManaman, and took place at Anfield, Liverpool, prior to the third round match between Liverpool and Barnsley.
+ Number of teams per tier still in competition Premier League Championship League One League Two Non-League Total
Fifth round The 16 winners from the fourth round played in the fifth round. League One sides Mansfield Town and Port Vale were the lowest-ranked teams remaining in the draw.
The draw was made on 16 February 2026 by Karen Carney and Joe Cole, and took place at Moss Rose, Macclesfield, prior to the fourth round match between Macclesfield and Brentford.
+ Number of teams per tier still in competition Premier League Championship League One League Two Non-League Total
Quarter-finals The eight winners from the fifth round played in the quarter-finals. League One side Port Vale was the lowest-ranked team remaining in the draw, featuring at this stage for the first time since reaching the semi-finals in 1953–54. The matches were played on the weekend of 4 April 2026.
The draw was made on 9 March 2026 by Joe Cole and Joe Hart, and took place at London Stadium, Stratford, prior to the fifth round match between West Ham United and Brentford.
+ Number of teams per tier still in competition Premier League Championship League One League Two Non-League Total
Semi-finals The four winners from the quarter-finals played in the semi-finals. Championship side Southampton was the lowest-ranked team in the draw.
The draw was made on 5 April 2026 by Joe Cole and Jermaine Beckford, and took place at London Stadium, Stratford, following the quarter-final match between West Ham United and Leeds United.
+ Number of teams per tier still in competition Premier League Championship League One League Two Non-League Total
Final
+ Number of teams per tier still in competition Premier League Championship League One League Two Non-League Total
Top goalscorers RankPlayerClubGoals 1 Tyrese Shade Burton Albion 5 2 Danny Elliott Macclesfield 4 Ashley Fletcher Blackpool Gabriel Martinelli Arsenal Pedro Neto Chelsea 6 14 players 3
Television rights 2025–26 marks the start of a new four-year television deal, replacing a previous one in which rights were split between the BBC and ITV. Broadcast rights were won by TNT Sports, with a guarantee of free-to-air matches being obtained by an agreement to show 14 matches on the BBC.
Broadcaster Summary BBC Sport 14 live matches per season, all to be shared with TNT Sports. BBC Sport has two matches per round up to and including the quarter-finals, plus one semi-final and the final. TNT Sports Selected matches from the first and second round, and all matches from the third round onwards (including those on the BBC) which do not kick off at 3 pm on a Saturday.