The 1954–55 FA Cup was the 74th season of the world's oldest football

cup competition A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. Newcastle United won the competition for the sixth time, beating Manchester City 3–1 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. Matches were scheduled to be played at the stadium of the team named first on the date specified for each round, which was always a Saturday. Some matches, however, might be rescheduled for other days if there were clashes with games for other competitions or the weather was inclement. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played, a replay would take place at the stadium of the second-named team later the same week. If the replayed match was drawn further replays would be held until a winner was determined. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played in a replay, a 30-minute period of extra time would be played.

Calendar

First round proper

At this stage clubs from the

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated t ...

and South joined those

non-league Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...

clubs having come through the qualifying rounds (except Crook Town and Bishop Auckland that given byes to this round). Matches were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 20 November 1954. Seven were drawn and went to replays, with one of these going to a second replay.

Second Round Proper

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 11 December 1954. Four matches were drawn, with replays taking place later the same week.

Third round proper

The 44

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

clubs entered the competition at this stage. The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 8 January 1955. Ten matches were drawn and went to replays, with three of these requiring a second replay. Notable is tie no. 3, between Bury and Stoke City, which went to ''four'' replays before Stoke won in the final game, with an aggregated score of 9–10.

Fourth Round Proper

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 29 January 1955. Four matches were drawn and went to replays, which were all played in the following midweek match. Once again, there was a tie which went to four replays, this time between Doncaster Rovers and Aston Villa. Rovers finally won the fixture in the fifth match, with an aggregated score of 6–4.

Fifth Round Proper

The matches were scheduled for Saturday, 19 February 1955. Two matches went to replays in the following mid-week fixture, with the Nottingham Forest–Newcastle United match requiring a second replay to settle it in favour of United.

Sixth Round Proper

The four quarter-final ties were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 12 March 1955. The Newcastle United–Huddersfield Town game went to a replay before United went through.

Semi-Finals

The semi-final matches were played on Saturday, 26 March 1955, with the Newcastle United–York City match replaying on the 30th. Newcastle and Manchester City won their ties to meet in the final at Wembley. ;Replay ----

Final

The 1955 FA Cup Final was contested by Newcastle United and Manchester City at

. Newcastle won 3–1, with goals from

Jackie Milburn John Edward Thompson "Jackie" Milburn (11 May 1924 – 9 October 1988) was a football player principally associated with Newcastle United and England, though he also spent four seasons at Linfield. He was also known as Wor Jackie (particularly ...

in the first minute (after 45 seconds, setting a new record in a final at Wembley, which was held until 1997), Bobby Mitchell and George Hannah.

Bobby Johnstone Robert Johnstone (7 September 1929 – 22 August 2001) was a Scottish footballer, who played for Selkirk, Hibernian, Manchester City, Oldham Athletic and Witton Albion. Johnstone also represented Scotland and the Scottish League. Johnston ...

scored City's goal.

Match details

References

;General
The FA Cup Archive
at TheFA.com

at Footballsite ;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:1954-55 FA Cup FA Cup seasons