1948–49 FA Cup

The 1948–49 FA Cup was the 68th staging of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup. Wolverhampton Wanderers won the competition for the third time, beating Leicester City 3–1 in the final at Wembley.

Matches were scheduled to be played at the stadium of the team named first on the date specified for each round, which was always a Saturday. Some matches, however, might be rescheduled for other days if there were clashes with games for other competitions or the weather was inclement. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played, a replay would take place at the stadium of the second-named team later the same week. If the replayed match was drawn further replays would be held until a winner was determined. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played in a replay, a 30-minute period of extra time would be played.

Most participating clubs that were not members of the Football League competed in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 25 places available in the first round.

The 25 winners from the fourth qualifying round were Billingham Synthonia, Scarborough, Horden Colliery Welfare, Workington, Netherfield, Rhyl, Witton Albion, Runcorn, Hereford United, Wellington Town, Scunthorpe & Lindsey United, Gainsborough Trinity, Peterborough United, Kidderminster Harriers, Cambridge Town, Walthamstow Avenue, Romford, Barnet, Tooting & Mitcham United, Dartford, Chelmsford City, Dulwich Hamlet, Weymouth, Gloucester City and Yeovil Town.

Those appearing in the competition proper for the first time were Billingham Synthonia, Witton Albion, Tooting & Mitcham United and Gloucester City, while Hereford United had not reached this stage since 1932–33 and Weymouth had not done so since 1926-27.

Weymouth was the most successful club from this season's extra preliminary round, progressing to the second round proper after defeating Bournemouth, Andover, Newport (IOW), Longfleet St Mary's, Poole Town, Trowbridge Town and Chelmsford City. Horden Colliery Welfare, Romford and Gloucester City also progressed from the extra preliminary round to the first round proper.

At this stage 41 clubs from the Football League Third Division North and South joined the 25 non-league clubs that came through the qualifying rounds. Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, Rotherham United and Swindon Town were given byes to the third round. To make the number of matches up, non-league sides Leytonstone and Colchester United were given byes to this round, with Leytonstone being the champions from the previous season's FA Amateur Cup and Colchester being the best-performed non-league club from the previous season's FA Cup.

34 matches were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 27 November 1948, with eight of these postponed until the following Saturday. Two were drawn and went to replays.

The matches were played on Saturday, 11 December 1948. Four matches were drawn, with replays taking place the following Saturday.

The 44 First and Second Division clubs entered the competition at this stage along with Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, Rotherham United and Swindon Town.

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 8 January 1949. Four matches were drawn and went to replays on the following Saturday, with two of these going to a second replay.

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 29 January 1949. Three games were drawn and went to replays, which were all played on the following Saturday. Manchester United and Bradford Park Avenue went to a second replay on the following Monday, with Manchester United easily winning the tie to go through.

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 12 February 1949. There was one replay, taking place the following Saturday. Yeovil Town was the last non-league club left in the competition, emulating the achievement of Colchester United from the previous season in reaching this stage.

The draw for the sixth round was made on Monday, 14 February 1949. All matches were played on Saturday, 26 February 1949.

26 February 1949

15:00 GMT

Brentford	0–2	Leicester City
		Lee Griffiths 75'

Griffin Park, London

Attendance: 38,678

26 February 1949

15:00 GMT

Portsmouth	2–1	Derby County
Clarke 44', 87'		Stamps 41'

Fratton Park, Portsmouth

Attendance: 51,385

26 February 1949

15:00 GMT

Hull City	0–1	Manchester United
		Pearson 74'

Boothferry Park, Hull

Attendance: 55,000

26 February 1949

15:00 GMT

Wolverhampton Wanderers	1–0	West Bromwich Albion
Mullen 63'

Molineux, Wolverhampton

Attendance: 55,684

The draw for the semi-finals was made on Monday, 28 February 1949. Both original matches were played on Saturday, 26 March 1949.

26 March 1949

15:00 GMT

Wolverhampton Wanderers	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Manchester United
Smyth 11'		Mitten 23'

Hillsborough, Sheffield

Attendance: 62,250

Replay

2 April 1949

15:00 GMT

Manchester United	0–1	Wolverhampton Wanderers
		Smyth 86'

Goodison Park, Liverpool

Attendance: 72,631

26 March 1949

15:00 GMT

Portsmouth	1–3	Leicester City
Scott 28' (o.g.)		Revie 8' Chisholm 47'

Highbury, London

Attendance: 62,000

30 April 1949
15:00 BST

Leicester City	1–3	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Griffiths 47'	Report	Pye 13', 42' Smyth 64'

Wembley, London

Attendance: 98,920

Referee: R. A. Mortimer (Huddersfield)

• FA Cup final results 1872-

General

• Official site; fixtures and results service at TheFA.com
• 1948-49 FA Cup at rssf.com
• 1948-49 FA Cup at soccerbase.com

Specific