The FA Cup Final is one of the biggest events in the English football calendar. In this guide, we’ve brought together all the essential information for this year’s final, including information on this year’s final two teams and some interesting trends from the event over the years.
First held in 1871, the final of the FA Cup takes place at the end of the English footballing calendar and has been held at the world-famous Wembley Stadium for most of its run. To use its Sunday name, the Football Association Challenge Cup, is in fact perhaps the most famous domestic cup competition in world football. You might also see it called the Emirates FA Cup, as Emirates have sponsored the prestigious competition since 2015.
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Contents
When is the FA Cup final?
The 2022 FA Cup Final is set to be played on May 21st 2022. However, this has not been confirmed and is subject to change.
Last year, Chelsea played Leicester City in the 140th Final. The game took place on May 15th 2021 at Wembley Stadium.
What channel is the FA Cup Final on?
In previous years, the FA Cup Final has been shown on BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BT Sport 1 HD, and BT Sport Ultimate. Check back closer to the 2022 Final to see what channel it will be broadcast on.
Live radio coverage was provided by BBC Radio 5 Live, Talksport, as well as on local stations.
Who’s going to be in the FA Cup final?
We don’t yet know which teams will meet each other in the 2022 FA Cup Final,
Who won the 2021 FA Cup final?
The 2021 final was one of the first major events to welcome a large crowd back into the stadium. Thanks to COVID-19 restrictions, the previous year’s final was played behind closed doors. This year’s event saw 20,000 fans travel to Wembley to watch Chelsea face off against Leicester City.
Going into the final, Chelsea were the bookies favourites. However, Leicester City had also played well and were hungry for a win.
Despite a number of attempts both teams failed to score in the first half. Leicester’s Fofana received the game’s first yellow card after fouling Timo Werner, who was subsequently booked a few minutes later after returning the favour with a lunging slide on Fofana.
Midway through the second half, Youri Tielemans scored and was named ‘man of the match’ following the final whistle.
A last-ditch attempt by Chelsea to equalise in the dying minutes of the match failed. Ben Chilwell’s goal was disallowed after the video assistant referee decided he had been offside in the build-up.
Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City claimed their first FA Cup Final win with a 1-0 victory.
FA Cup winners
Throughout its 140 year history, we’ve definitely seen some teams who’ve had more success than others when it comes to the FA Cup final. But who has been the most successful?
Who has won the most FA Cup finals?
Arsenal have taken the title of most FA Cup wins with a staggering 14! They’ve lifted the trophy in 1930, 1936, 1950, 1971, 1979, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2020. And their winning record is even more impressive when you find out they’ve been in the final 21 times. Manchester United, sit just behind them, playing in 20 finals with 12 wins.
Teams who’ve won the FA Cup final 5 times or more
- Arsenal
- Aston Villa
- Blackburn Rovers
- Chelsea
- Everton
- Liverpool
- Manchester City
- Manchester United
- Newcastle United
- Sheffield United
- Tottenham Hotspur
- West Bromwich Albion
But among all these FA Cup final regulars, spare a thought for poor Portsmouth, who had to wait 69 years between their wins (1939–2008).
FA Cup final trends
Players
- In the last 10 years, only one player has both held the title of Premier League top scorer and then scored in the FA Cup final. Didier Drogba was top scorer in the 2009/2010 season as well as scoring in 4 FA Cup finals (2007, 2009, 2010 and 2012).
- Newport’s Padraig Amond has five goals in this year’s competition, scoring in ever round up to the quarter-finals and he is the top-scorer.
Teams
- Seven different teams have “done the Double” (won both the FA Cup and Premier League) since the inception of the Football League in 1888:
- Manchester United (three times)
- Arsenal (three times)
- Preston North End
- Aston Villa
- Tottenham Hotspur
- Liverpool
- Chelsea
And it’s only happened twice this century: Arsenal in 2002 and Chelsea in 2010.
- Teams that have won the FA Cup have gone on to reach the final the following year on 16 occasions.
Matches
- The average number of goals scored in the final is 1.9 in the last ten years.
- However, in the FA Cup’s 137 year history, the average rises to 2.1.
- The biggest winning margin in an FA Cup final was 6-0 when Bury beat Derby County in 1903.
- Only one other team has scored six goals in a final. In 1890, Blackburn Rovers beat Sheffield Wednesday 6-1 – which is equally the highest scoring final of all time, with Blackpool’s 4-3 win over Bolton in 1953.
- There have been a few shocks and upsets over the years:
- The biggest winner in the last ten-years and one of the biggest ever was Wigan’s 2013 win over Manchester City. Wigan were as long as 9/1 to win the final.
- The biggest ever final shock was Wimbledon beating Liverpool in 1988. They were 16/1 to beat the Merseyside giants.
- Sunderland beating Leeds in 1973 is also one of the biggest shocks. Up to that point, Leeds were the shortest price in cup history at 1/8 but they lost to Sunderland who were 12/1.
