2007–08 FA Cup


The 2007–08 FA Cup was the 127th season of the world's oldest football knockout competition, the FA Cup. A record 731 clubs' entries were accepted for the competition.
The competition culminated with the final held at Wembley Stadium, London on 17 May 2008. The match was contested by Portsmouth and Cardiff City; Nwankwo Kanu scored the only goal of the game to give Portsmouth the title.
The appearance in the Cup Final by Cardiff City, a football league system#The system|Level 2] team, marked the second time in 5 years that a team outside Level 1 of the English football pyramid appeared in the final game.
This was the last FA Cup to be broadcast by the BBC and Sky Sports in the United Kingdom, before coverage was handed over to ITV and Setanta starting in August 2008.

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 Halifax Town, Droylsden, Altrincham, Rushden & Diamonds, Burton Albion, Histon, Cambridge United, Northwich Victoria, Barrow, Gainsborough Trinity, Workington, York City, Kidderminster Harriers, Harrogate Railway Athletic, Chasetown, Weymouth, Team Bath, Maidenhead United, Stevenage Borough, Oxford United, Hampton & Richmond Borough, Torquay United, Aldershot Town, Horsham, Forest Green Rovers, Eastbourne Borough, Ware, Billericay Town, Lewes, Staines Town, Exeter City and Havant & Waterlooville.
For the first time since 1985–86, all of the 32 successful clubs had appeared in the competition proper before. However, Staines Town had last featured at this stage in 1984-85, Workington had last done so in 1982-83, Droylsden in 1978-79, Ware in 1968-69, and Horsham in 1966-67.

First round proper

This round is the first in which Football League teams from League One and League Two compete with non-league teams.

Second round proper

  • The draw was made on 11 November 2007.
  • Ties were played over the weekend of 1 December 2007.
  • Chasetown and Harrogate Railway Athletic were again the lowest-ranked teams in the round.
Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance
1Oxford United 0–0Southend United 5,163
replaySouthend United 3–0Oxford United 2,740
2Swindon Town 3–2Forest Green Rovers 7,588
3Oldham Athletic 1–0Crewe Alexandra 3,900
4Northampton Town 1–1Walsall 3,887
replayWalsall 1–0Northampton Town 3,066
5Cambridge United 1–0Weymouth 4,552
6Millwall 2–1AFC Bournemouth 4,495
7Staines Town 0–5Peterborough United 2,460
8Bradford City 0–3Tranmere Rovers 6,379
9Torquay United 0–2Brighton & Hove Albion 4,010
10Notts County 0–1Havant & Waterlooville 3,810
11Dagenham & Redbridge 3–1Kidderminster Harriers 1,493
12Port Vale 1–1Chasetown 5,875
replayChasetown 1–0Port Vale 1,986
13Bristol Rovers 5–1Rushden & Diamonds 4,816
14Huddersfield Town 3–0Grimsby Town 6,729
15Burton Albion 1–1Barnet 2,769
replayBarnet 1–0Burton Albion 1,379
16Bury 1–0Exeter City 2,725
17Luton Town 1–0Nottingham Forest 5,758
18Horsham 1–1Swansea City 2,731
replaySwansea City 6–2Horsham 5,911
19Hereford United 2–0Hartlepool United 3,801
20Harrogate Railway Athletic 2–3Mansfield Town 1,486

Third round proper

This round marks the first time Championship and Premier League teams play. Matches were played on the weekend of Saturday, 5 January 2008. The draw was made on 2 December 2007 at 15:15 GMT by Kevin Beattie and Sammy Nelson, adjudicated by Sir Trevor Brooking.
Involved in the third round draw for the first time ever were Havant & Waterlooville and Chasetown. Chasetown was the first eighth-tier team ever to reach this stage of the FA Cup. The draw itself produced few major ties, with the exception of Chelsea drawing their West London rivals, Queens Park Rangers, and Aston Villa drawing Manchester United as their third round opponents for the fourth time in seven seasons, and the second time in successive years.

Fourth round proper

The draw was held at 13:30 GMT on Monday, 7 January 2008. The event was hosted by Sir Trevor Brooking, with Alan Cork and John Aldridge making the draw. Fourth-round matches were played on the weekend of 26 January 2008. For the first time since 1957, there were no replays for the fourth round as all ties were settled at the first game.
This was Havant & Waterlooville's first fourth-round appearance. They lost 5–2 to Liverpool at Anfield. After Havant's elimination, Bristol Rovers and Huddersfield Town became the lowest ranked teams left in the Cup. They competed in League One this season.
The BBC's Match of the Day broadcast live matches from two stadia that it had never broadcast live matches before; from Field Mill, Mansfield for Mansfield Town's match with Middlesbrough and from the JJB Stadium, Wigan for Wigan Athletic's match with defending champions Chelsea.
Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance
1Arsenal Newcastle United 60,046
2Coventry City Millwall 17,268
3Oldham Athletic 0–1Huddersfield Town 12,749
4Barnet 0–1Bristol Rovers 5,190
5Liverpool Havant & Waterlooville 42,566
6Southend United 0–1Barnsley 7,212
7Wigan Athletic 1–2Chelsea 14,166
8Derby County 1–4Preston North End 17,344
9Manchester United 3–1Tottenham Hotspur 75,369
10Portsmouth 2–1Plymouth Argyle 19,612
11Southampton 2–0Bury 25,449
12Hereford United 1–2Cardiff City 6,885
13Peterborough United 0–3West Bromwich Albion 12,701
14Mansfield Town 0–2Middlesbrough 6,258
15Sheffield United 2–1Manchester City 20,800
16Watford 1–4Wolverhampton Wanderers 12,719

Fifth round proper

The draw was held at 13:25 GMT on Monday, 28 January 2008. Sir Trevor Brooking hosted the event held at FA premises at Soho Square, where he was joined by Jimmy Case and Ray Wilkins, who conducted the draw. The matches were held over the weekend of 16 February 2008.
Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamAttendance
1Bristol Rovers Southampton 11,920
2Cardiff City Wolverhampton Wanderers 15,339
3Sheffield United Middlesbrough 22,210
replayMiddlesbrough 'Sheffield United 28,108
4Liverpool Barnsley 42,449
5Manchester United Arsenal 75,550
6Preston North End Portsmouth 11,840
7Coventry City West Bromwich Albion 28,163
8Chelsea '''Huddersfield Town 41,324

Sixth round proper

The draw was held on 18 February 2008 at 13:25 GMT at Soho Square. The draw was conducted by Geoff Thomas and Mark Bright, overseen by Sir Trevor Brooking.
For the second round in a row, the only all-Premier League tie of the round involved Manchester United, who were defeated at home by Portsmouth. This was Portsmouth's first win in an official match at Old Trafford for 50 years. Barnsley, who had already knocked out Liverpool in the previous round, produced a similar result in the sixth round, beating Chelsea 1–0 at Oakwell. West Bromwich Albion defeated Bristol Rovers away at the Memorial Stadium, whilst Cardiff City caused a third shock of the weekend by beating Premier League team Middlesbrough. There were no replays. The sixth-round matches were played on the weekend of 8 March 2008.
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Semi-finals

The draw was held on 10 March 2008 at 13:25 GMT at Soho Square with Bryan Robson making the draw. Both semi-finals were played at Wembley Stadium and held on 5 April and 6 April 2008. There was only one club from the top flight in the draw for the first time since 1908.
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Final

The final was held at Wembley Stadium on 17 May 2008, and Portsmouth's 1–0 victory gave them their first major trophy for 58 years and their first FA Cup for 69 years. It was also the first time that the winning team's manager was an Englishman since Joe Royle guided Everton to FA Cup glory 13 years earlier as well as being the first time a club from outside the Big Four of English football won the Cup since the aforementioned Everton side in 1995.

Media coverage

In the United Kingdom, the BBC were the free to air broadcasters for the seventh consecutive season while Sky Sports were the subscription broadcasters for the twentieth consecutive season.
The matches shown live on the BBC were:
The matches shown live on Sky Sports were: