The
FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in
England as just
the Cup Final, is the last match in the
Football Association Challenge Cup. With an official attendance of 89,826 at the 2007 FA Cup Final, it is the fourth best attended domestic club championship event in the world and the second most attended domestic football event. It is the culmination of a knockout competition among clubs belonging to
The Football Association in England, although Scottish and Irish teams competed in the early years and Welsh teams regularly compete, with
Cardiff City winning the Cup in
1927 and reaching the final in
2008.
Early FA Cup Finals were held at various venues including
Fallowfield Stadium but were mainly in
London. In the period from 1923 until 2000, the final was held at
Wembley Stadium, English football's national stadium. From 2001–2005, the final was moved to
Millennium Stadium in
Cardiff, during the rebuilding of Wembley Stadium. Millennium Stadium was used again in 2006 due to construction delays in opening
the new Wembley Stadium.
Until 1993, if the final could not be decided in a single match, the match would be replayed, which occurred a total of six times. In 1993, the Football Association then decided that all future finals would be decided 'on the day', putting an end to FA Cup Final replays. This meant that a draw at the end of normal time would be followed by 30 minutes of
extra time (two 15-minute halves); if scores were still level there would be a
penalty shootout to determine the winner of the competition. Only two FA Cup Finals have been decided by a penalty shootout; those of 2005 and 2006. Note that the
Football League War Cup is not considered part of the official FA Cup competition.
Stan Mortensen's hat-trick for
Blackpool in
1953 remains the only hat trick ever scored at Wembley in the competition's final.
Everton's
Louis Saha scored a goal after 27.9 seconds in the
2009 FA Cup Final. It is currently the fastest goal in FA Cup Final history. Bury's 6-0 victory over Derby County in
1903 FA Cup Final is the largest winning margin. With his goal in the
2012 Final,
Chelsea's Didier Drogba became the first man to score a goal in four different Finals.
The FA Cup Final is one of ten events reserved for live broadcast on UK
terrestrial television under the
Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events.