FA Cup Winners - History

History

For more details on this topic, see History of the FA Cup.

The winners of the first tournament were Wanderers, a team of former public schoolboys based in London, who went on to win the competition five times in its first seven seasons. The early winners of the competition were all teams of wealthy amateurs from the south of England, but in 1883, Blackburn Olympic became the first team from the north to win the cup, defeating Old Etonians. Upon his team's return to Blackburn, Olympic captain Albert Warburton proclaimed: "The Cup is very welcome to Lancashire. It'll have a good home and it'll never go back to London."

With the advent of professionalism at around the same time, the amateur teams quickly faded from prominence in the competition. The leading professional clubs formed The Football League in 1888. Since then, one non-league team has won the cup. Tottenham Hotspur, then of the Southern League, defeated Sheffield United of The Football League to win the 1901 final. A year later Sheffield United returned to the final and won the cup, which then remained in the hands of northern clubs until Tottenham won it again in 1921. In 1927, Cardiff City, a team which plays in the English Football League despite being based in Wales, won the cup, the only non-English club to do so. Scottish club Queens Park reached the final twice in the early years of the competition.

Newcastle United enjoyed a brief spell of FA Cup dominance in the 1950s, winning the trophy three times in five years, and in the 1960s, Tottenham Hotspur enjoyed a similar spell of success, with three wins in seven seasons. This marked the start of a successful period for London-based clubs, with 11 wins in 22 seasons. Teams from the second tier of English football, at the time called the Second Division, experienced an unprecedented run of cup success between 1973 and 1980. Sunderland won the cup in 1973, Southampton repeated the feat in 1976, and West Ham United won in 1980, the most recent victory by a team from outside the top division. Since Wimbledon's surprise win in 1988, the so-called "Big Four" clubs of English football, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, have between them won the cup 19 times in 22 seasons. Of the last ten finals played at Wembley, the last four finals at the old stadium and the first six at the new stadium, Chelsea have won six.