FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is the main "knockout" cup competition in English football, run by and named after The Football Association. The other two top honours that an English club can win are the League Championship and the European Cup. Winning the FA Cup and the League Championship is known as a double. Manchester United is the only team to win all three, known as the treble.

Giant-Killers

The FA Cup has a long tradition of lower-division and non-league teams becoming "giant-killers" by defeating highly-ranked opponents. Yeovil Town reached the fifth round in 1948-49 while in the Southern League, and defeated League opposition many other times before winning promotion to the Football League in 2003. In 1956-57 Bournemouth beat Wolves and Spurs before a controversial quarter-final defeat by Manchester United. Non-league Hereford United famously beat Newcastle United in 1972. A fifth-round tie in 1977-78 pitched two giant-killers together: Third Division Wrexham, who had beaten Bristol City and Newcastle, and non-league Blyth Spartans who had beaten Stoke. Wrexham won the replay in front of a huge crowd at St James' Park in Newcastle, but were beaten by Arsenal in the next round. Wrexham did get some revenge a few years later when they beat Arsenal in a 1992 third round tie in north Wales. The achievement was especially notable as the previous year Arsenal had been league champions and Wrexham had finished bottom of the league. In 1988-89 Coventry, the winners two seasons previously, lost away 2-1 to Sutton United of the Conference. Sutton United's achievement was followed by an 8-0 thrashing at the hands of Norwich City.

Related Topics:
Yeovil Town - Bournemouth - Wolves - Spurs - Manchester United - Hereford United - Newcastle United - Wrexham - Bristol City - Blyth Spartans - Stoke - St James' Park - Newcastle - Arsenal - Coventry - Sutton United - Conference - Norwich City

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