Country England
Wales Runners-up Arsenal Dates 17 Nov 2000 – 12 May 2001 | Champions Liverpool (6th title) Champion Liverpool F.C. | |
Top goal scorer(s) Sylvain Wiltord
Robert Earnshaw
(6 goals) People also search for 1999–2000 FA Cup, 1884–85 FA Cup | ||
The 2000–01 FA Cup was the 120th season of the world's oldest knockout football competition, the Football Association Cup or FA Cup. The competition was won by Liverpool, who came from 1-0 behind against Arsenal to eventually win 2-1. The final was played outside England for the first time, at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, because Wembley Stadium was being knocked down to be replaced with a new stadium.
Contents
Third round proper
The draw for the 3rd round of the FA Cup was taken on Sunday 10 December 2000.
Fourth round proper
Matches played the weekend of 27 January, with replays during the week of 6 February.
Fifth round proper
Matches played weekend of 15 February, with replays on 20 February and 7 March.
The biggest surprises of the round saw Tranmere Rovers complete one of the greatest FA Cup comebacks ever when they beat Southampton 4–3 in a replay after they had been trailing 3–0 at half time. (with 36-year-old former Southampton striker Paul Rideout scoring a hat-trick for Tranmere), while Wycombe Wanderers reached the quarter-finals for the first time in their history with a penalty shoot-out win over Wimbledon that follow two 2–2 draws.
Sixth round proper
Matches were played on 10 & 11 March.
The most significant result of the round was Premier League side Leicester City's 2–1 home defeat to Division Two underdogs Wycombe Wanderers, who had only been in the Football League for eight seasons.
Blackburn Rovers and Tranmere Rovers, the last remaining Division One sides in the competition, were eliminated at this stage by Arsenal and Liverpool respectively.
Semi-finals
Unlike earlier rounds, matches were played on neutral grounds on Saturday, 8 April 2001.
Final
A 72nd-minute goal by Fredrik Ljungberg looked to have won the trophy for Arsenal and ended their three-year trophy drought, but two late goals from Michael Owen gave the trophy to a Liverpool side who had already won the League Cup and would then go on to win the UEFA Cup as well. This success made Liverpool only the second side to win the FA Cup and League Cup in the same season - the first being Arsenal in 1993. This was the beginning of a streak in which Arsenal reached the final four times out of five, winning three of those.
Media coverage
In the United Kingdom, ITV were the free to air broadcasters for the fourth consecutive and final season before the BBC regained it while Sky Sports were the subscription broadcasters for the thirteenth consecutive season.