The 2019–20 FA Trophy (known for sponsorship reasons as the Buildbase FA Trophy) was the 51st season of the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

, an annual

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

competition for teams at levels 5-8 of the English

National League System The National League System comprises the six levels of the English football league system immediately below the level of the English Football League. It comes under the jurisdiction of The Football Association. The National League System has a h ...

. The competition consisted of two preliminary rounds, three qualifying rounds, and six proper rounds. All matches until the semi-finals were held as a single-match

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 ...

format with reversed replays after first-leg matches drawn in regulation time. The semi-finals were scheduled to be two-legged, but due to their delay by the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confir ...

they were shifted to single matches, with no replays. The final was a single-match held at Wembley Stadium and decided in extra time or penalties if tied after regulation. First-leg ties throughout the competition could be decided by extra time or penalties if both teams agree and notify the referee at least 45 minutes before kickoff, in accordance with FA Trophy Rule 11(a). The competition was paused at the semi-final stage due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The competition resumed in September 2020,

Calendar

The calendar for the 2019–20 Buildbase FA Trophy, as announced by The Football Association.

Extra preliminary round

Preliminary round

First Round Qualifying

Second Round Qualifying

Third round Qualifying

First Round Proper

Second Round Proper

Third round Proper

Fourth round Proper

Semi-finals

Originally scheduled for March 2020, the

two-legged In sports (particularly association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum o ...

semi-finals were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The FA declared their intention to complete the tournament, but with an uncertain timeframe. In late August 2020, they scheduled the semi-finals as single matches in September, with a date of 27 September for the final at Wembley. The final, alongside the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footbal ...

final held as part of the same event, was to be among the matches trialling the return of spectators to elite football after the height of the first wave of the pandemic in the UK, but this was further postponed following new restrictions on gatherings in England that were enacted on 14 September 2020 as COVID-19 cases increased. ----

Final

The final was rescheduled for 27 September 2020 however this was postponed as the FA hoped to have spectators in the final. The date was then agreed for 3 May 2021 behind closed doors as a suitable solution could not be reached to be played with fans.