The 2017–18

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

(also known as the FA Challenge Cup) was the 137th edition of the oldest recognised

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tournament in the world. It was sponsored by

Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective ...

, and known as The Emirates FA Cup for sponsorship purposes. 737 clubs were accepted into the tournament. It began with the Extra preliminary round on 5 August 2017, and concluded with the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

on 19 May 2018. The winners qualified for the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League group stage. The third-round match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace on 8 January 2018 was the first competitive game in England where

video assistant referee The video assistant referee (VAR) is a Assistant referee (association football), match official in association football who assists the referee by reviewing decisions using video footage and providing advice to the referee based on those revi ...

(VAR) technology was available, although it was not used. Kelechi Iheanacho of

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

became the first player to score a goal awarded by a video assistant referee (VAR) in competitive English football as Leicester beat Fleetwood Town 2–0 in the FA Cup third-round replay on 16 January 2018. Referee Jon Moss initially disallowed the goal for offside but he consulted with video official Mike Jones, who told him Nathan Pond's trailing foot was keeping Iheanacho onside. The goal was awarded 67 seconds after it hit the back of the net. Craig Pawson became the first referee in English football to watch a video recording at the sideline in the fourth round tie between Liverpool and West Bromwich Albion on 27 January 2018. He awarded a penalty to Liverpool.

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

were the defending champions, but they were eliminated by

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

in the

third round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

on 7 January 2018.

Calendar and prizes

Qualifying rounds

All teams that entered the competition, but were not members of the

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

, competed in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 32 places available in the first round proper. The qualifying competition began with the extra preliminary round on 5 August 2016, with the final (fourth) qualifying round played over the weekend of 14 October. The winners from the fourth qualifying round were Tranmere Rovers, Solihull Moors,

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

, Shaw Lane, AFC Telford United,

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a Association football, football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the English Football League, Football League i ...

, Nantwich Town, AFC Fylde,

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is an area in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-west ...

, Kidderminster Harriers, Hyde United,

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

, Macclesfield Town, Billericay Town, Leyton Orient,

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spr ...

, Chelmsford City, Oxford City, Maidenhead United, Heybridge Swifts,

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

, Truro City,

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

, Slough Town,

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

, Boreham Wood, Maidstone United,

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon ...

, Sutton United and Ebbsfleet United. Shaw Lane and Truro City were appearing in the competition proper for the first time. The reconstituted Hereford was also appearing at this stage for the first time in their own right, only three years after their formation following the demise of Hereford United. Truro City was only the second club from

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

ever to qualify for the first round of the FA Cup, with Falmouth Town last having done so in 1969-70. Of this season's other successful qualifiers, Billericay Town had not featured at this stage since 2007-08, Leatherhead had not done so since 2006-07, Heybridge Swifts since 2002-03, Hyde United since 1994-95 and Chorley since 1990-91.

First round proper

The first round draw took place on 16 October and was broadcast live on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

and

BT Sport TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group, they first launched as B ...

. All 40 first round proper ties were played on the weekend of 4 November. 32 teams from the qualifying competition joined the 48 teams from League One and League Two to compete in this round. The round included two teams from Level 8, Heybridge Swifts and Hyde United, who were the lowest-ranked teams still in the competition.

Second round proper

The second round draw took place on 6 November and was broadcast live on

and

. All 20 second round proper ties were played on the weekend of 2 December. This round included three teams from Level 7 –

, Slough Town, and

– who were the lowest-ranked teams still in the competition.

Third round proper

The third round draw took place on 4 December 2017 and was broadcast live on

and

before the final second round tie between Slough Town and Rochdale. All 32 third round proper ties took place on the weekend of 5–8 January 2018. A total of 64 clubs played in the third round; 20 winners of the second round, and 44 teams from

and

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

entering in this round. For the first time in 67 years no non-league team (i.e. from Level 5 or below) made the third round proper, with all 32 such teams that advanced through qualifying being knocked out in the first two rounds, the last 10 in the second round proper.

Fourth round proper

The draw for the fourth round proper took place on 8 January 2018 at 19:10 GMT and was broadcast live on

and

. This round included four teams from Level 4 – Yeovil Town,

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

, and Newport County – who were the lowest-ranked teams still in the competition.

Fifth round proper

The draw for the fifth round proper took place on 29 January 2018 at 19:20 GMT and was broadcast live on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

. This round included one team from Level 4 still in the competition,

, who were the lowest-ranked team in this round.

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals took place on 17 February 2018 at 20:00 GMT and was broadcast live on

, the

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

website and app, and

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

. This round included one team from Level 3 still in the competition,

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

, who were the lowest-ranked team in this round. There were no replays in the FA Cup quarter-finals, following a rule change introduced for the previous tournament. If a match was level after 90 minutes, 30 minutes of extra time were played. If the score had still been level, the tie would have been decided by a penalty shoot-out.

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals took place on 18 March 2018, after the conclusion of the quarter-final match between Leicester City and Chelsea. The draw was conducted by

Gianfranco Zola Gianfranco Zola (; born 5 July 1966) is an Italian football executive, Manager (association football), manager, and former Association football, footballer who played predominantly as a Forward (association football), forward. He is currently v ...

and

Petr Čech Petr Čech (; born 20 May 1982) is a Czech former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and current ice hockey player who plays as a goaltender for Oxford City Stars. He has ...

. The semi-finals were played on Saturday 21 April and Sunday 22 April 2018 at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. Although semi-final participants

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

were using Wembley as their home ground during the construction of their new stadium, it was designated as a neutral venue for their tie.

Final

Bracket

The following is the bracket which the FA Cup resembled. Numbers in parentheses next to the match score represent the results of a replay, except for the quarter-finals stage onwards. Numbers in parentheses next to the replay score represents the results of a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

except for the quarter-finals stage onwards.

Top goalscorers

Broadcasting rights

The domestic broadcasting rights for the competition were held by the BBC and subscription channel BT Sport. The BBC held the rights since 2014–15, while BT Sport since 2013–14. The FA Cup Final was required to be broadcast live on UK terrestrial television under the Ofcom code of protected sporting events. The following matches were broadcast live on UK television:

References

External links

The official FA Cup website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 FA Cup FA Cup seasons