The 2024–25 FA Cup is the 144th 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 purposes. The FA Cup is the main domestic cup competition for men's football teams in England.
The qualifying competition began on 3 August 2024, with the tournament proper starting on 2 November 2024. The final will be played at Wembley Stadium, London, on 17 May 2025.
Teams
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 17 May 2025.[1] 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 653 teams from the National League System tha started the competition in the qualifying rounds. The total 745 entrants was an increase of 13 from the previous season, [1] and the most since 758 entrants were accepted in 2012–13.
All rounds will be drawn randomly, usually either at the completion of the previous round discounting any replays or on the evening of the last televised game of a round being played, depending on television broadcasting rights.
Teams that are not members of either the Premier League or English Football League are competing 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 3 August 2024.
Rule changes
This is the first edition of the tournament to be played without replays in the non-qualifying rounds and the final played one week before the end of the Premier League season.[3] The changes were made as part of a six-year agreement between the Football Association and the Premier League due to pressure on the domestic calendar from expanded UEFA competitions, but were criticised since replays were cited as an important source of revenue for lower league clubs.[4][5] The agreement saw all round dates return to weekends,[2] with previous editions having had some dates in midweek.
Television rights
Both BBC Sport and ITV Sport air FA Cup matches until the 2025–26 season.
Broadcaster
Summary
BBC Sport
18 live matches per season, with highlights of the FA Community Shield.[6] BBC Sport has second and third picks of matches in the second round, fourth round and the quarter-finals, as well as first and fourth pick of matches in the first, third and fifth rounds, and first pick of the semi-finals.
ITV Sport
At least 20 live matches per season, plus live coverage of the FA Community Shield.[7] ITV has first pick and fourth pick of matches in the second round, fourth round and the quarter-finals, as well as second and third picks for the first, third and fifth rounds and second pick of the semi-finals.