Country England
Wales Champions Portsmouth (2nd title) Champion Portsmouth F.C. Teams 731 | Defending champions Chelsea Runners-up Cardiff City Dates 10 Nov 2007 – 17 May 2008 | |
 | ||
Top goal scorer(s) Rickie Lambert
Craig Mackail-Smith
(7 goals) Similar 2008–09 FA Cup, 2005–06 FA Cup, 2010–11 FA Cup | ||
The 2007–08 FA Cup was the 127th season of the world's oldest football knockout competition, The Football Association Challenge Cup, or FA Cup for short. A record 731 clubs' entries were accepted for the competition.
Contents
- First Round Proper
- Second Round Proper
- Third Round Proper
- Fourth Round Proper
- Fifth Round Proper
- References
The competition culminated with the FA Cup Final, held at Wembley Stadium, London on 17 May 2008. The match was contested by Portsmouth and Cardiff City, with Portsmouth taking the title 1–0, Nwankwo Kanu scoring the winning goal.
The appearance in the Cup Final by Cardiff City, a Level 2 team, marked the second time in 5 years that a team outside Level 1 of the English football pyramid appeared in the final game.
This was the last FA Cup to be broadcast by the BBC and Sky Sports in the United Kingdom, before coverage was handed over to ITV and Setanta starting in August 2008.
First Round Proper
This round is the first in which Football League teams from League One and League Two compete with non-league teams.
Second Round Proper
Third Round Proper
This round marks the first time Championship and Premier League (top-flight) teams play. Matches were played on the weekend of Saturday, 5 January 2008. The draw was made on 2 December 2007 at 15:15 GMT by Kevin Beattie and Sammy Nelson, adjudicated by Sir Trevor Brooking.
Involved in the Third Round draw for the first time ever were Havant & Waterlooville and Chasetown. Chasetown are the lowest-ranked team ever to have reached this stage of the FA Cup. The draw itself produced few major ties, with the exception of Chelsea drawing their West London rivals, Queens Park Rangers, and Aston Villa drawing Manchester United as their Third Round opponents for the fourth time in seven seasons, and the second time in successive years.
Fourth Round Proper
The draw for the Fourth Round Proper was held at 13:30 GMT on Monday, 7 January 2008. The event was hosted by Sir Trevor Brooking, with Alan Cork and John Aldridge making the draw. Fourth Round matches were played on the weekend of 26 January 2008. For the first time since 1957, there were no replays for the Fourth Round as all ties were settled at the first game.
This was Havant & Waterlooville's first fourth round appearance. They lost 5 – 2 to Liverpool at Anfield. After Havant's elimination, Bristol Rovers became the lowest ranked team left in the Cup. They play in League One with fellow Fifth Round qualifiers Huddersfield Town.
The BBC's Match of the Day broadcast live matches from two stadia that it had never broadcast live matches before; from Field Mill, Mansfield for Mansfield Town's match with Middlesbrough and from the JJB Stadium, Wigan for Wigan's match with defending champions Chelsea.
Fifth Round Proper
The draw for the Fifth Round Proper was held at 13:25 GMT on Monday, 28 January 2008. Sir Trevor Brooking hosted the event held at FA premises at Soho Square, where he was joined by Jimmy Case and Ray Wilkins, who conducted the draw. The matches were held over the weekend of 16 February 2008.