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FA Cup

Bulldog Force

Bulldog Force

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As most of you would probably know, I don't follow English football. I love my Spanish La Liga and all associated comps. I have a few questions about the FA Cup. I didn't know as much as I thought I knew after some of this mornings results, so here goes:


  1. How many teams across how many leagues qualify for the FA Cup? I thought it was the top 4 - EPL, LC, L1, L2, but Macclesfield Town FC played this morning and they're in tier 5.
  2. Is the FA Cup a knockout comp? Because this morning, Brentford and Bradford went into extra time (Brentford won 4-2) yet Macclesfield Town who also played FA Cup draw 1-1 to Barrow after 90 mins.
I'm sure there's another one but that's all for now.


Thanx
 
Big Sam

Big Sam

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1. The FA Cup along with the Coupe de France and the Japanese Emperor's Cup are I believe the only 'open' club cup comps in World Football. That is to say they are open to any over-age club that can meet the entry fee. So in England, there'd probably be almost 1000 clubs. The preliminary rounds start in August but the Cup proper starts when the PL clubs enter in early January.

2. England uses a (moronic) replay system. So if the game is drawn after 90 minutes, a replay is played usually the following week at the home ground of the away team in the first match. If the replay is again drawn after 90 minutes, ET and PS apply. I'm guessing Brentford/Bradford was a replay and Macclesfield/Barrow was just a normal cup tie so they'll play a replay at Barrow's home ground.
 
BDR

BDR

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There is a comp known as the Capital One Cup which is for the top 4 tiers - also known as the League Cup. FA cup is open as Big Sam said.
 
Bulldog Force

Bulldog Force

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Big Sam said:
1. The FA Cup along with the Coupe de France and the Japanese Emperor's Cup are I believe the only 'open' club cup comps in World Football. That is to say they are open to any over-age club that can meet the entry fee. So in England, there'd probably be almost 1000 clubs. The preliminary rounds start in August but the Cup proper starts when the PL clubs enter in early January.

2. England uses a (moronic) replay system. So if the game is drawn after 90 minutes, a replay is played usually the following week at the home ground of the away team in the first match. If the replay is again drawn after 90 minutes, ET and PS apply. I'm guessing Brentford/Bradford was a replay and Macclesfield/Barrow was just a normal cup tie so they'll play a replay at Barrow's home ground.
Click to expand...
Perfectly explained :D No wonder why I don't understand it - Spain doesn't have one of these lol.

Thanks mate.
 
Jimbo

Jimbo

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It goes all the way down to level 10 in the preliminaries, but they rarely get very far

That said though, there was a level 8 club a few years ago which made it all the way to the third round, where the PL and Championship clubs join in. So you can certainly get some big disparities
 
Big Sam

Big Sam

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Bulldog Force said:
Spain doesn't have one of these lol.
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Yeah. Spain and (usually) Italy uses 2 legged playoffs rather than a replay system. I don't like either.

For me France has the best Cup format. Open to all clubs and if a team is drawn against a side at least 2 levels above them, they play at home no matter what. This helps the smaller clubs. Also after 90 mins, it's just ET and pens which has led to some big upsets in recent years.
 
Mong

Mong

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ESPN showed a number of qualifying games and the round one and two games this year, it was awesome to watch games at some of those grounds between clubs you would never see normally and probably have never heard of.
 
Bulldog Force

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Mong said:
ESPN showed a number of qualifying games and the round one and two games this year, it was awesome to watch games at some of those grounds between clubs you would never see normally and probably have never heard of.
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Does this mean that it's possible (but unlikely), that an unknown club full of nuffy players can win one of English footballs most prestigious prizes?
 
Mong

Mong

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Yes that could happen although very unlikely, for most of the teams in the blue square premier type leagues the aim is to get a few rounds in and get a nice bonus in terms of $$.

For example, espn recently showed Lincoln V Mansfield, the commentators were saying that the host club received 30 thousand pounds. The winner of the tie (which was replayed) got to host Liverpool and would receive over 130 thousand pounds for that one.

It is decent cash for non league teams and their players get some tv exposure they normally wouldn't. There are some decent enough players running around in some of those clubs that would attract some interest after that kind of exposure i would think.

As long as you are not a football snob, it's fun viewing.
 
Big Sam

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Only one real upset in the first major round this year - Brighton beating Newcastle. Is the gap between the rich and poor clubs in England getting wider? Is the financial might of the PL destroying the romance of the Cup?
 
W

WireMan

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Big Sam said:
Only one real upset in the first major round this year - Brighton beating Newcastle. Is the gap between the rich and poor clubs in England getting wider? Is the financial might of the PL destroying the romance of the Cup?
Click to expand...

No.

You rarely get upsets, hence why they are called upsets.


Also Wolves got beat by a non league team.
 
boxhead

boxhead

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Well, they've had less unique league winners than La Liga over the past decade or so, so they must be the more even league.

Oh......wait.....
 
Flapper

Flapper

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Big Sam said:
Only one real upset in the first major round this year - Brighton beating Newcastle. Is the gap between the rich and poor clubs in England getting wider? Is the financial might of the PL destroying the romance of the Cup?
Click to expand...

Luton beat Wolves, Macclesfield beat Cardiff and Liverpool beat Mansfield, upsets galore!

Personally very happy to get over Crawley considering our unfortunate Stevenage incident.
 
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