The 1996–97 FA Cup Qualifying Rounds opened the 116th season of competition in England for 'The Football Association Challenge Cup' (FA Cup), the world's oldest association football single knockout competition. A total of 574 clubs were accepted for the competition, down one from the previous season’s 575.
The large number of clubs entering the tournament from lower down (Levels 5 through 8) in the English football pyramid meant that the competition started with five rounds of preliminary (1) and qualifying (4) knockouts for these non-League teams. The 28 winning teams from Fourth Round Qualifying progressed to the First Round Proper, where League teams tiered at Levels 3 and 4 entered the competition.
1996-97 FA Cup
See 1996-97 FA Cup for details of the rounds from the First Round Proper onwards.