2021–22 FA Cup

2021–22 FA Cup

Football Association Challenge Cup
Wembley Stadium hosted the final on 14 May 2022
Tournament details
Country	England Wales Jersey
Dates	6 August 2021 – 14 May 2022
Teams	729 (all) 637 (qualifying competition) 124 (main competition)
Defending champions	Leicester City
Final positions
Champions	Liverpool (8th title)
Runner-up	Chelsea
Tournament statistics
Matches played	108
Goals scored	328 (3.04 per match)
Attendance	1,622,895 (15,027 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Adam Boyes (11 goals)[1]
← 2020–21 2022–23 →

The 2021–22 FA Cup was the 141st season and marked the 150th anniversary of the first Football Association Challenge Cup, the oldest football tournament in the world, started in the 1871–72 season. It was sponsored by Emirates and was known as the Emirates FA Cup for sponsorship purposes.

Premier League side Leicester City were the holders, having beaten Chelsea in the 2021 FA Cup Final.^[2] They were eliminated by Nottingham Forest in the fourth round.

Liverpool beat the two-time defending runners-up Chelsea on penalties in the final to win their 8th FA Cup overall and first since 2006.^[3] This was the fifth FA Cup final that has gone to extra time, with Chelsea becoming the first team to lose three consecutive finals.^[4] As winners, Liverpool would have qualified for the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League group stage; however, as they had already qualified for European competition via the league standings, the spot was passed down to the 6th-placed Premier League team.

The FA Cup is a knockout competition with 124 teams taking part (excluding those eliminated in the qualifying rounds) all trying to reach the Final at Wembley in May 2022. The competitors consist 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 637 teams from the National League System (levels 5–10 of the English football league system) that started the competition in qualifying rounds.^[5]

All rounds are drawn randomly, usually either at the completion of the previous round or on the evening of the last televised game of a round being played, depending on television broadcasting rights.

Round	Main date	Number of fixtures	Clubs remaining	New entries this round	Winner prize money	Loser prize money	Divisions entering this round
First round proper	Saturday 6 November 2021	40	124 → 84	48	£22,629	None	24 EFL League One teams 24 EFL League Two teams
Second round proper	Saturday 4 December 2021	20	84 → 64	None	£32,000	None	None
Third round proper	Saturday 8 January 2022	32	64 → 32	44	£82,000	None	20 Premier League teams 24 EFL Championship teams
Fourth round proper	Saturday 5 February 2022	16	32 → 16	None	£90,000	None	None
Fifth round proper	Wednesday 2 March 2022	8	16 → 8	None	£180,000	None	None
Quarter-finals	Saturday 19 March 2022	4	8 → 4	None	£360,000	None	None
Semi-finals	Saturday 16 April 2022	2	4 → 2	None	£900,000	£450,000	None
Final	Saturday 14 May 2022	1	2 → 1	None	£1,800,000	£900,000	None

Teams that are not members of either the Premier League or English Football League competed in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 32 available places in the first round proper. The six-round qualifying competition began with the Extra preliminary round on 6 August 2021.

The first round saw the 32 winners from the fourth qualifying round joined by the 48 clubs from League One and League Two. The draw was held on 17 October 2021 at Wembley Stadium, and was done by Kelly Smith and Wes Morgan. The lowest-ranked team in the first round were AFC Sudbury of the eighth-tier Isthmian League North Division.

Number of teams per tier still in competition

Premier League[a]	Championship[a]	League One	League Two	Non-League	Total
20 / 20	24 / 24	24 / 24	24 / 24	32 / 32	124 / 124

The second round featured the 40 winners from the first round. The draw was held on 8 November 2021 at Wembley Stadium, and was done by Shaun Wright-Phillips and Rachel Yankey. The lowest-ranked team in the second round were Buxton of the seventh-tier Northern Premier League Premier Division.

Number of teams per tier still in competition

Premier League[a]	Championship[a]	League One	League Two	Non-League	Total
20 / 20	24 / 24	15 / 24	18 / 24	7 / 32	84 / 124

The third round featured all 44 clubs across the Premier League and the Championship, who entered the competition in this round, along with the 20 winners from the second round. The draw was held on 6 December 2021 at Wembley Stadium, and was done by David Seaman and Faye White.^[7] The lowest-ranked team in the third round were Kidderminster Harriers of the sixth-tier National League North. To avoid possible fixture congestion caused by postponements to league matches due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, matches from this round onwards are decided on the day, with extra time and penalties used if necessary.^[8]

Number of teams per tier still in competition

Premier League	Championship	League One	League Two	Non-League	Total
20 / 20	24 / 24	8 / 24	8 / 24	4 / 32	64 / 124

The draw for the fourth round was held on 9 January 2022 at Wembley Stadium, and was done by David James and Leah Williamson.^[10] The lowest-ranked team in the fourth round were Kidderminster Harriers of the sixth-tier National League North.^[11]

Number of teams per tier still in competition

Premier League	Championship	League One	League Two	Non-League	Total
14 / 20	12 / 24	3 / 24	1 / 24	2 / 32	32 / 124