2022–23 FA Cup

2022–23 FA Cup

Football Association Challenge Cup
Wembley Stadium hosted the final on 3 June 2023
Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Dates	5 November 2022 – 3 June 2023
Teams	732[1] (all) 640 (qualifying competition) 124 (main competition incl. 32 qualifiers)
Defending champions	Liverpool
Final positions
Champions	Manchester City (7th title)
Runner-up	Manchester United
Tournament statistics
Matches played	144
Goals scored	428 (2.97 per match)
Attendance	2,016,747 (14,005 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Paul Mullin (8 goals)
(Note: All statistics do not include qualifying play-offs)
← 2021–22 2023–24 →

The 2022–23 FA Cup was the 142nd edition of the oldest football tournament in the world, the Football Association Challenge Cup. It is a one-legged competition whereby teams play each other once and the winner proceeds to the next round, in contrast to a two-legged competition in which teams play each other twice (home and away) to determine which team progresses to the next round. The FA Cup was sponsored by Emirates and known as the Emirates FA Cup for sponsorship purposes.

Premier League team Liverpool were the defending champions, having defeated Chelsea to secure their eighth title in the previous year's final, but they were eliminated in the fourth round by Brighton & Hove Albion.^[2]

Manchester City defeated city rivals Manchester United 2–1 in the final to win their seventh FA Cup title.^[3] As winners, they would have qualified for the 2023–24 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 sixth-placed Premier League team.

Teams

The FA Cup was a knockout competition with 124 teams taking part all trying to reach the final at Wembley on 3 June 2023.^[4] The competition consisted 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 640 teams from the National League System (all but eleven clubs from 5–9 and eleven replacements from tier 10 of the English football league system) that started the competition in the qualifying rounds.

Qualification rounds were on a geographical basis and main competition rounds were 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	Winners prize money[5]	Losers prize money	Divisions entering this round
First round proper	Saturday 5 November 2022	40	80 → 40	48	£41,000	None	24 EFL League One teams 24 EFL League Two teams
Second round proper	Saturday 26 November 2022	20	40 → 20	None	£67,000	None	None
Third round proper	Saturday 7 January 2023	32	64 → 32	44	£105,000	None	20 Premier League teams 24 EFL Championship teams
Fourth round proper	Saturday 28 January 2023	16	32 → 16	None	£120,000	None	None
Fifth round proper	Wednesday 1 March 2023	8	16 → 8	None	£225,000	None	None
Quarter-finals	Saturday 18 March 2023	4	8 → 4	None	£450,000	None	None
Semi-finals	Saturday 22 April 2023	2	4 → 2	None	£1,000,000	£500,000	None
Final	Saturday 3 June 2023	1	2 → 1	None	£2,000,000	£1,000,000	None

Qualifying

Teams that were 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.

On 6 August 2022, Newport (IOW) teenager Finn Smith became the youngest ever FA Cup goalscorer, a day after his 16th birthday.^[6]

First round proper

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 made on 17 October 2022 by Dion Dublin and Alan Smith.^[7] The round included six teams from the seventh tier, the lowest-ranked teams remaining in the competition: Alvechurch, Bracknell Town, Coalville Town, Merthyr Town, Needham Market, and South Shields.

Second round proper

The draw for the second round was made on 7 November 2022 by Jermaine Beckford and Mickey Thomas, consisting of the 40 winners from the previous round.^[8] The round contained one team from the seventh tier, Alvechurch, who defeated EFL League One club Cheltenham Town in the first round.

Third round proper

The draw for the third round was made on 28 November 2022, consisting of the 20 winners from the previous round, all 20 members of the Premier League and the 24 EFL Championship clubs.^[9][10] The round included three teams from the fifth tier, the lowest-ranked teams remaining in the competition: Chesterfield, Boreham Wood, and Wrexham.

Fourth round proper

The draw for the fourth round was made on 8 January 2023, consisting of the 32 winners from the previous round. The round included one team from the fifth tier, the lowest-ranked team remaining in the competition: Wrexham.^[13]

Fifth round proper

The draw for the fifth round took place on 30 January 2023 on The One Show at Broadcasting House in Portland Place. The matches took place in the week commencing 27 February 2023.^[14] This round included one team from the fourth tier, the lowest-ranked team remaining in the competition: Grimsby Town.

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals took place on 1 March 2023.^[15] This round included one team from the fourth tier, the lowest-ranked team remaining in the competition: Grimsby Town. Grimsby were the first fourth-tier side to reach the quarter-finals since Cambridge United in 1990.^[16]

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals took place on 19 March 2023 on BBC One, after Brighton & Hove Albion's victory over Grimsby Town.^[17] This round, decided in one match, which was played at Wembley Stadium, included one team from the second-tier EFL Championship: Sheffield United.

Final

Top scorers

Following the conclusion of the competition, Wrexham player Paul Mullin was awarded the FA Cup Golden Ball Award, commemorating him as the top scorer of the season from the extra preliminary round through to the final with eight goals.^[18]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[19]
1	Paul Mullin	Wrexham	8
2	Riyad Mahrez	Manchester City	5
3	Armando Dobra	Chesterfield	4
4	Julián Álvarez	Manchester City	3
	Sam Bell	Bristol City
	Colby Bishop	Portsmouth
	Billy Bodin	Oxford United
	Conor Chaplin	Ipswich Town
	Will Collar	Stockport County
	Evan Ferguson	Brighton & Hove Albion
	Bruno Fernandes	Manchester United
	Phil Foden	Manchester City
	Erling Haaland	Manchester City
	Gavan Holohan	Grimsby Town
	Kelechi Iheanacho	Leicester City
	Luke Norris	Stevenage
	Deji Oshilaja	Burton Albion
	William Osula	Derby County
	Jamie Reid	Stevenage
	Josh Umerah	Hartlepool United
	Shaun Whalley	Accrington Stanley
	Connor Wickham	Forest Green Rovers
	Josh Windass	Sheffield Wednesday

Television rights

The domestic broadcasting rights for the competition were held by the BBC who had held them since 2014-15 and ITV who were showing matches for the second successive season season. Both of these broadcasters will air the tournament until the 2024–25 season. Both broadcasters were permitted to show the final live. In addition, FA Cup matches could also be streamed on ESPN+.

Broadcaster	Summary
BBC Sport	18 live matches per season, with highlights of the 2022 FA Community Shield.[20] BBC Sport has second and third picks of matches in the second round, fourth round and the quarter-finals, as well as first and fourth pick of matches for the first, third and fifth rounds, and first pick of the semi-finals.
ITV Sport	At least 20 live matches per season, plus live coverage of the 2022 FA Community Shield.[21] ITV had first pick and fourth pick of matches in the second round, fourth round and the quarter-finals, as well as second and third picks for the first, third and fifth rounds and second pick of the semi-finals.

Additional matches featuring Welsh clubs could feature on

.

Round	Date	Teams	Kick-off	TV Channel
First round[22]	4 November	Hereford v Portsmouth	7:55pm	BBC Two
	5 November	South Shields v Forest Green Rovers	12:00pm	BBC One
	6 November	Wrexham v Oldham Athletic	12:30pm	ITV1
		Torquay United v Derby County	3:00pm	ITV1
	7 November	Bracknell Town v Ipswich Town	7:45pm	ITV4
First round (Replay)	15 November	Derby County v Torquay United	7:45pm	BBC Three
	16 November	Salford City v Peterborough United	7:45pm	ITV4
Second round[23]	26 November	King's Lynn Town v Stevenage	12:45pm	BBC One
		Forest Green Rovers v Alvechurch	3:00pm	BBC One
		Wrexham v Farnborough	3:15pm	S4C
	27 November	Ebbsfleet United v Fleetwood Town	12:30pm	ITV1
		Newport County v Derby County	3:15pm	ITV1
Second round (Replay)	7 December	Stockport County v Charlton Athletic	7:45pm	ITV4
	8 December	Gillingham v Dagenham & Redbridge	7:45pm	BBC Three
Third round[24]	6 January	Manchester United v Everton	8:00pm	ITV1
	7 January	Gillingham v Leicester City	12:30pm	BBC One
		Tottenham Hotspur v Portsmouth	12:30pm	BBC iPlayer
		Coventry City v Wrexham	5:30pm	S4C
		Sheffield Wednesday v Newcastle United	6:00pm	BBC One
		Liverpool v Wolverhampton Wanderers	8:00pm	ITV4
	8 January	Cardiff City v Leeds United	2:00pm	ITV1
		Manchester City v Chelsea	4:30pm	BBC One
		Aston Villa v Stevenage	4:30pm	BBC iPlayer
	9 January	Oxford United v Arsenal	8:00pm	ITV1
Third round (Replay)	17 January	Wolverhampton Wanderers v Liverpool	7:45pm	BBC One
	18 January	Leeds United v Cardiff City	7:45pm	ITV4
Fourth round[25]	27 January	Manchester City v Arsenal	8:00pm	ITV1
	28 January	Accrington Stanley v Leeds United	12:30pm	BBC One
		Walsall v Leicester City	12:30pm	BBC iPlayer
		Preston North End v Tottenham Hotspur	6:00pm	BBC One
		Manchester United v Reading	8:00pm	ITV4
	29 January	Brighton & Hove Albion v Liverpool	1:30pm	ITV1
		Wrexham v Sheffield United	4:30pm	BBC One
	30 January	Derby County v West Ham United	7:45pm	ITV4
Fourth round (Replay)	7 February	Sheffield United v Wrexham	7:45pm	ITV4
	8 February	Sunderland v Fulham	7:45pm	BBC One
Fifth round[26]	28 February	Stoke City v Brighton & Hove Albion	7:15pm	ITV4
		Leicester City v Blackburn Rovers	7:30pm	BBC iPlayer
		Fulham v Leeds United	7:45pm	BBC One
		Bristol City v Manchester City	8:00pm	ITV1
	1 March	Southampton v Grimsby Town	7:15pm	ITV4
		Burnley v Fleetwood Town	7:30pm	BBC iPlayer
		Manchester United v West Ham United	7:45pm	ITV1
		Sheffield United v Tottenham Hotspur	7:55pm	BBC One
Quarter-Finals[27]	18 March	Manchester City v Burnley	5:45pm	BBC One
	19 March	Sheffield United v Blackburn Rovers	12:00pm	ITV1
		Brighton & Hove Albion v Grimsby Town	2:15pm	BBC One
		Manchester United v Fulham	4:30pm	ITV1
Semi-finals[28]	22 April	Manchester City v Sheffield United	4:45pm	ITV1
	23 April	Brighton & Hove Albion v Manchester United	4:30pm	BBC One
Final	3 June	Manchester City v Manchester United	3:00pm	BBC One
				ITV1

References