The 2017–18 FA Cup qualifying rounds open the 137th season of competition in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

for The Football Association Challenge Cup (

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 ...

), the world's oldest

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

single

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

competition. A total of 737 teams were accepted for the competition, an increase of 1 from the previous season's 736. The large number (645) of

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 de ...

clubs entering the tournament, from ( Levels 5 to 10) in the

English football pyramid The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...

, required the competition to start with six rounds of preliminary (2) and qualifying (4) knockout matches. The 32 winning teams from the fourth qualifying round progressed to the

First round proper 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 reco ...

, where

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

teams tiered at Levels 3 and 4 entered the competition.

Calendar and prizes

The calendar for the 2017–18 FA Cup qualifying rounds, as announced by

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

Extra preliminary round

The Extra Preliminary round draw was held on 7 July 2017. Fixtures were played on Friday 4, Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 August 2017; replays were completed on Wednesday 16 August 2017. 370 teams, from Level 9 and Level 10 of English football, entered at this stage of the competition. The round included 76 teams from Level 10 of English football, the lowest ranked clubs to compete in the tournament.

Preliminary round

The Preliminary round draw was also held on 7 July 2017. Fixtures were played on Friday 18, Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 August 2017; replays were concluded Monday 28 August 2017. 320 teams took part in this stage of the competition: 185 winners from the Extra preliminary round and 135 entering at this stage from the six leagues at Level 8 of English football;

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

decided not to participate in the FA Cup this season. The round included 28 teams from Level 10, the lowest-ranked teams still in the competition.

First qualifying round

The First qualifying round draw was held on 21 August 2017. Fixtures were played on Friday 1, Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 September 2017. All replays were completed by Wednesday 6 September 2017. 232 teams took part in this stage of the competition: 160 winners from the preliminary round and 72 entering at this stage from the three leagues at Level 7 of English football. The round included nine teams from Level 10, the lowest-ranked teams still in the competition.

Second qualifying round

The Second qualifying round draw was held on 4 September 2017. Fixtures were played on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 September 2017; replays concluded Tuesday 26 September 2017. 160 teams took part in this stage of the competition: 116 winners from the first qualifying round and 44 entering at this stage from the two leagues at Level 6 of English football. The round included Baldock Town, Bodmin Town and

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13,028 ...

from Level 10, the lowest-ranked teams still in the competition.

Third qualifying round

The Third qualifying round draw took place on 18 September 2017. Fixtures were played on Saturday 30 September 2017; all replays were completed by Tuesday 3 October 2017. 80 winning teams from the second qualifying round took part in this stage of the competition. No additional teams entered at this stage. The round included seven teams from Level 9 of the football pyramid, which were the lowest-ranked teams still in the competition.

Fourth qualifying round

The Fourth qualifying round draw took place on 2 October 2017. Fixtures were played on Saturday 14 October 2017 and Sunday 15 October 2017; all replays were completed by Tuesday 17 October 2017. 64 teams took part in this stage of the competition: 40 winners from the third qualifying round and the 24 members of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

who entered at this stage, representing Level 5 of English football. The round included

Shildon Shildon is a town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was 9,976. The town has the Locomotion Museum, due to it having the first , built in 1825, and locomotive works on ...

from Level 9 of the football pyramid, the lowest-ranked team still in the competition.

Competition proper

Winners from the fourth qualifying round advanced to the

, where teams from League One (Level 3) and League Two (Level 4) of English football, operating in the

English 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, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

, entered the competition.

Broadcasting rights

The qualifying rounds aren't covered by the FA Cup's broadcasting contracts held by

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

and

BT Sport BT Sport is a group of broadcasting of sports events, pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, Warner Bros. Dis ...

, although one game per round will be broadcast by the BBC on its media platforms. The following qualifying rounds matches were broadcast live in the UK:

References

External links

The FA Cup
{{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 FA Cup qualifying rounds qualifying rounds FA Cup qualifying rounds