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All you need to know about the FA Cup in one place
If you’re a fan of the FA Cup, discover which FA Cup betting offers are currently available on the UK market. See all the ins and outs of the world’s oldest football tournament, see how it works and where you can follow the games of your favourite teams.
The FA Cup, or, officially, The Football Association Challenge Cup is an annual football tournament. In the following few sections, you can read all about the FA Cup – its background, what are the stages of the tournament, which teams compete etc.
We will also provide you with the answers to the most common questions about the FA Cup, such as where you can watch the FA Cup games, are there any FA Cup free bets and which teams are the usual favourites. Of course, we will talk about the current FA Cup betting offers and tell you where you can find great FA Cup promotions.
First things first – how does the FA Cup actually work? The tournament begins in August and ends in May the following year. The tournament consists of 12 rounds, a semi-final, and, ultimately, the final. Therefore, there are plenty of FA Cup betting offers during that period of time.
The clubs are divided into 10 tiers (or levels), and teams from levels 9 and 10 are the first ones to start the knockout stage. The teams are chosen randomly, and the first team drawn in each pair plays at its home stadium.
The tournament is essentially divided into two parts: the qualifying rounds and the competition proper. There are six qualifying rounds and the teams are drawn on the regional basis. In the qualifying round participate teams from the tiers 5 through 10.
Once that part is done, the competition proper begins. The winners from previous rounds go into the first round of the competition proper. They are joined by teams from League One and League Two (Levels 3 and 4). No new additions are made in the second round of the competition. However, in the third round, teams from the Premier League and the Championship join the winners from previous games.
Once that is finished, the clubs play against each other in the fourth and the fifth round. After that, the Quarter-finals are played. The four winning clubs go to the Semi-final and eventually, the two remaining teams battle it out in the Final FA Cup game. It is during this process that you can find various FA Cup betting offers with a wide range of bookmakers.
The Final game is traditionally played in the month of May, at the Wembley Stadium.
Now that we’ve gone through the basics of the FA Cup, let’s see which teams were most successful in the history of the tournament.
In the first place is Arsenal, with a total of 14 FA Cup victories. In the second place is Manchester United with 12 wins and the third place belongs to Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea, who have 8 wins apiece. Then, we have Liverpool and Aston Villa with 7 wins each.
Year | FA Cup Winner | Runner-up |
2020-21 | Leicester City | Chelsea |
2019-20 | Arsenal | Chelsea |
2018-19 | Manchester City | Watford |
2017-18 | Chelsea | Man Utd |
2016-17 | Arsenal | Chelsea |
2015-16 | Manchester Utd | Crystal Palace |
2014-15 | Arsenal | Aston Villa |
2013-14 | Arsenal | Hull City |
These results are somewhat expected, but during its long history, the FA Cup has had quite a few unexpected twists and surprises.
There is a special term, the “Magic of the FA Cup”, and it exists for a good reason. When the clubs from the lowers tiers clash with the teams from the higher leagues, and sometimes, we can witness a game filled with twists and turns. And that’s how it’s supposed to be, until the very end.
Even though it feels like sometimes the FA Cup is overshadowed by the Premier League or the Champions League, this Cup still has a large number of fans all over the world. Given that the online betting market is blooming, there are, of course, numerous betting opportunities and FA Cup betting offers.
These offers often include FA Cup free bets or some other types of bonuses. So, let’s see what you can expect if you decide to bet on your favourite FA Cup team. There are different operators in the UK market that offer great odds, tempting FA Cup betting offers and some even have high-quality live stream. That way you can watch your club play.
FA Cup promotions may come in different forms. On some websites, you will find promotions in a form of the FA Cup free bets. Others might offer bets with less risk, a matched deposit bonus or even an odds-booster.
Of course, in the end, it is up to you to choose the right operator and the FA Cup betting offers that would best suit your needs and preferences.
In these next few paragraphs, you will find answers to some of the most frequent FA Cup questions. Hopefully, it will help you and make some of your decisions easier.
Placing a bet on a FA Cup event is fairly simple. Of course, you’d have to choose the bookmaker you like the best and create your account. Do your research thoroughly, you might come across some interesting FA Cup betting offers. Once you’ve done that, you can place a bet in no time.
Just visit the FA Cup game section and choose an event you’d like to bet on. The next thing you need to do is select the FA Cup odds and enter your stake. Afterwards, you can place your bet and enjoy the game while you wait to see the outcome.
The FA Cup is a highly publicised event and the games are covered and streamed on many different Television channels in real time. You can also find the live-streaming on diverse websites, and, as we’ve mentioned, some online bookmakers offer live-stream options.
The FA fourth round matches will take place on the weekend of Saturday 5th February. The fifth round will be midweek on Wednesday 2nd March 2022. The quarter-finals are set for 19th Match, with the semis on 23rd April and the final on Saturday 14th May 2022. There will be many games to follow, as well as a lot of options to choose from and bet on your favourites.
The last FA Cup champions were Leicester City. This was the club’s first ever FA Cup final victory. They’ll do well do defend their title though, with the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea all in the reckoning as things stand.
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