2000–01 FA Cup

The 2000–01 FA Cup was the 120th season of the world's oldest knockout football competition, the FA Cup. The competition was won by Liverpool, who came from 1–0 behind against Arsenal to eventually win 2–1 in the final. The final was played outside England for the first time, at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, because Wembley Stadium was being knocked down to be replaced with a new stadium.

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 Gateshead, Chester City, Barrow, Northwich Victoria, Radcliffe Borough, Leigh RMI, Morecambe, Southport, Frickley Athletic, Burton Albion, Telford United, Nuneaton Borough, Ilkeston Town, Rushden & Diamonds, Harrow Borough, Canvey Island, Dagenham & Redbridge, AFC Sudbury, Grays Athletic, Hednesford Town, Kettering Town, Forest Green Rovers, Waterlooville F.C.|Havant & Waterlooville], Bracknell Town, Hayes, Gravesend & Northfleet, Dorchester Town, Yeovil Town, Aldershot Town, Hampton & Richmond Borough, Kingstonian and Woking.
Radcliffe Borough, Bracknell Town and Hampton & Richmond Borough were appearing in the competition proper for the first time. Following recent amalgamations, AFC Sudbury and Havant & Waterlooville were also qualifying for the main draw for the first time in their own right, although predecessor clubs Sudbury Town and Waterlooville had reached the first round in previous seasons. Of the others, Frickley Athletic and Grays Athletic were also featuring at this stage for the first time since 1988-89 while Harrow Borough had last qualififed for the first round in 1983-84.

First round proper

This round is the first in which teams from the Second Division and Third Division compete with non-League teams. Most of the initial matches were played on the weekend of 17-19 November 2000, except for the Gravesend & Northfleet-Notts County fixture which was played at Gillingham's Priestfield Stadium on 8 December. As was the case in the fourth qualifying round, Bracknell Town, from the Isthmian League Third Division at Step 9 of English football, was the lowest-ranked team in the draw.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team
1	Blackpool	3-1	Telford United
2	Chester City	1-1	Plymouth Argyle
replay	Plymouth Argyle	1-2	Chester City
3	Chesterfield	0-1	Bristol City
4	Darlington	6-1	AFC Sudbury
5	AFC Bournemouth	2-0	Swansea City
6	Barnet	2-1	Hampton & Richmond Borough
7	Barrow	0-2	Leyton Orient
8	Bury	1-1	Northwich Victoria
replay	Northwich Victoria	1-0	Bury
9	Canvey Island	4-4	Port Vale
replay	Port Vale	1-2	Canvey Island
10	Yeovil Town	5-1	Colchester United
11	Reading	4-0	Grays Athletic
12	Walsall	4-0	Exeter City
13	Macclesfield Town	0-1	Oxford United
14	Lincoln City	4-0	Bracknell Town
15	Luton Town	1-0	Rushden & Diamonds
16	Swindon Town	4-1	Ilkeston Town
17	Wrexham	0-1	Rotherham United
18	Hednesford Town	2-4	Oldham Athletic
19	Wycombe Wanderers	3-0	Harrow Borough
20	Kidderminster Harriers	0-0	Burton Albion
replay	Burton Albion	2-4	Kidderminster Harriers
21	Brentford	1-3	Kingstonian
22	Northampton Town	4-0	Frickley Athletic
23	Leigh RMI	0-3	Millwall
24	Carlisle United	5-1	Woking
25	Scunthorpe United	3-1	Hartlepool United
26	Mansfield Town	1-1	Peterborough United
replay	Peterborough United	4-0	Mansfield Town
27	Cardiff City	5-1	Bristol Rovers
28	Halifax Town	0-2	Gateshead
29	Cheltenham Town	4-1	Shrewsbury Town
30	Torquay United	1-1	Southend United
replay	Southend United	2-1	Torquay United
31	Kettering Town	0-0	Hull City
replay	Hull City	0-1	Kettering Town
32	Stoke City	0-0	Nuneaton Borough
replay	Nuneaton Borough	1-0	Stoke City
33	Wigan Athletic	3-1	Dorchester Town
34	Gravesend & Northfleet	1-2	Notts County
35	Cambridge United	2-1	Rochdale
36	Radcliffe Borough	1-4	York City
37	Forest Green Rovers	0-3	Morecambe
38	Dagenham & Redbridge	3-1	Hayes
39	Aldershot Town	2-6	Brighton & Hove Albion
40	Havant & Waterooville	1-2	Southport

Second round proper

The initial matches were scheduled for the weekend of 8-10 December 2000, although the Wigan Athletic-Notts County match was played on the following Tuesday due to the late completion of Notts County's first round tie. Step 6 sides Gateshead, from the Northern Premier League, and Canvey Island, from the Isthmian League, were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team
1	Blackpool	0-1	Yeovil Town
2	Chester City	3-2	Oxford United
3	Darlington	0-0	Luton Town
replay	Luton Town	2-0	Darlington
4	AFC Bournemouth	3-0	Nuneaton Borough
5	Bristol City	3-1	Kettering Town
6	Walsall	2-1	Barnet
7	Northwich Victoria	3-3	Leyton Orient
replay	Leyton Orient	3-2	Northwich Victoria
8	Lincoln City	0-1	Dagenham & Redbridge
9	Swindon Town	5-0	Gateshead
10	Kidderminster Harriers	0-2	Carlisle United
11	Millwall	0-0	Wycombe Wanderers
replay	Wycombe Wanderers	2-1	Millwall
12	Southend United	2-1	Canvey Island
13	Scunthorpe United	2-1	Brighton & Hove Albion
14	Cardiff City	3-1	Cheltenham Town
15	Southport	1-2	Kingstonian
16	Morecambe	2-1	Cambridge United
17	York City	2-2	Reading
replay	Reading	1-3	York City
18	Rotherham United	1-0	Northampton Town
19	Wigan Athletic	1-1	Notts County
replay	Notts County	2-1	Wigan Athletic
20	Peterborough United	1-1	Oldham Athletic
replay	Oldham Athletic	0-1	Peterborough United

Third round proper

This round marked the first time First Division and Premier League teams played. The draw for the 3rd round of the FA Cup was taken on Sunday 10 December 2000. Football Conference sides Morecambe, Chester City, Kingstonian, Dagenham & Redbridge and Yeovil Town were the lowest-ranked teams in the round.

Fourth round proper

Matches played the weekend of 27 January, with replays during the week of 6 February. Kingstonian was again the lowest-ranked team in the round and, by this stage, was also the last non-league club left in the competition.

Fifth round proper

Matches played weekend of 17 February, with replays on 20 February and 7 March.
The biggest surprises of the round saw Tranmere Rovers complete one of the greatest FA Cup comebacks ever when they beat Southampton 4–3 in a replay after they had been trailing 3–0 at half time., while Wycombe Wanderers reached the quarter-finals for the first time in their history with a penalty shoot-out win over Wimbledon that follow two 2–2 draws.

Sixth round proper

Matches were played on 10 & 11 March.
The most significant result of the round was Premier League side Leicester City's 2–1 home defeat to Division Two underdogs Wycombe Wanderers, who had only been in the Football League for eight seasons.
Blackburn Rovers and Tranmere Rovers, the last remaining Division One sides in the competition, were eliminated at this stage by Arsenal and Liverpool respectively.
----
----
----
----
----

Semi-finals

Unlike earlier rounds, matches were played on neutral grounds on Sunday, 8 April 2001.
----

Final

A 72nd-minute goal by Freddie Ljungberg looked to have won the trophy for Arsenal and ended their three-year trophy drought, but two late goals from Michael Owen gave the trophy to a Liverpool side who had already won the League Cup and would then go on to win the UEFA Cup as well. This success made Liverpool only the second side to win the FA Cup and League Cup in the same season - the first being Arsenal in 1993. This was the beginning of a streak in which Arsenal reached the final four times out of five, winning three of those.

Media coverage

In the United Kingdom, ITV were the free to air broadcasters for the fourth consecutive and final season before the BBC regained it while Sky Sports were the subscription broadcasters for the thirteenth consecutive season.
The matches shown live on ITV Sport were:

The matches shown live on Sky Sports were:

The third round replay between Dagenham & Redbridge vs. Charlton Athletic was originally scheduled to be on Sky Sports on 17 January 2001, but because of a frozen pitch, the game was postponed.