FA Cup Winners: A Historical Journey Through the Years

For over 150 years teams have competed in the world’s greatest domestic knockout competition for the right to add their names to the list of FA Cup winners.

From the first winners of the famous old trophy back in 1872 through to last year’s champions, Liverpool, a total of 44 different teams have hoisted the FA Cup in front of their adoring fans.

Where did the FA Cup start, and who were the first winners? Which team has won the trophy the most times? Has anyone ever scored an FA Cup hat-trick? We’ll cover all this and a lot more in our historical guide to the FA Cup and its winners.

What is the FA Cup?

The FA Cup is one of the biggest cup competitions in club football, and the most prestigious knockout tournament in England. In the 2022/23 season, 732 teams competed in the FA Cup, with 640 non-league clubs going through the qualifying rounds for the right to enter the First Round proper, when the clubs from Leagues One and Two joined the competition. Clubs in the Championship and Premier League entered the draw for the FA Cup at the Third-Round stage.

It all started in July 1871, when the Football Association (FA) decided that a “Challenge Cup” should be introduced to English football. In November that year, the very first FA Cup was underway, with the final taking place in March 1872.

The First FA Cup Final

London’s Wembley Stadium is the traditional home of the FA Cup final, but the very first final actually took place further south at the Kennington Oval. On 16th March, 1872, the teams of Wanderers and Royal Engineers took to the pitch to play out a 1-0 win for London-based Wanderers and give them the distinction of being the first team in history to win the FA Cup. Little did they know that over 150 years later their names would be part of a long, long list of FA Cup winners from all across the land.

FA Cup winners: key facts

Arsenal have won the FA Cup more times than any other team, with their 2020 win over Chelsea being the 14th time the Gunners have lifted the trophy. Former Arsenal defender Ashley Cole holds the record for most FA Cup wins by a single player, winning it seven times (three with Arsenal and four with Chelsea). Arsene Wenger holds the record for most FA Cup wins as manager, with seven victories.

The biggest victory in an FA Cup final is 6-0, which has been achieved two times. Bury hit Derby for six in 1903, before Pep Guardiola’s Man City repeated the trick in 2019 against Watford. Arsenal were the first team to win the FA Cup final on penalties in 2005, after the first goalless FA Cup final since 1912.

There have been three hat-tricks in FA Cup finals down the years, with the first one arriving in 1890 as William Townley hit three for Blackburn Rovers as they beat The Wednesday (now Sheffield Wednesday) 6-1. Notts County’s Jimmy Logan scored a hat-trick in 1894 as they beat Bolton 4-1, but the most recent and most famous hat-trick arrived in a classic final in 1953. Blackpool’s Stan Mortensen scored three times against Bolton to give the Tangerines a 4-3 win, although this final is famously referred to as “the Matthews final” after the heroics of Sir Stanley Matthews.

2023/24 FA Cup odds

We are at the semi-final stage in this year’s FA Cup and Wembley is set to host two intriguing clashes before the final on the 25th May.

Manchester City v Chelsea is the only all Premier League clash, with Pep Guardiola’s side the clear favourites to reach the final at 4/9. The FA Cup is Chelsea’s final hope at landing silverware this season so they will be giving their all to win this one and their odds of 11/2 to beat City might present good value.

The second semi-final features a Championship side for the second year running and Coventry will be hoping to go one better than Sheffield United did last season. Their odds of 6/1 suggest that they’re very much the underdogs, but up against an inconsistent Manchester United (2/5) side anything could happen.

Manchester City are unsurprisingly favourites to go all the way at 4/6, with Manchester United next in line at 9/4. Chelsea’s odds to lift the trophy are the same as their odds to progress past City (11/2) and, should they do so, they will certainly fancy their chances in the final. Winning the FA Cup certainly wouldn’t have been on the minds of Coventry fans at the start of the season, but at 25/1 no one could blame them for getting excited about their current chances.

FA Cup Winners List: From 1871 to 2023