Country England
Wales | ||
The 2008–09 FA Cup Qualifying Rounds opened the 128th season of competition in England for 'The Football Association Challenge Cup' (FA Cup), the world's oldest association football single knockout competition. A new record 762 clubs were accepted for the competition, up 33 from the previous season's 729 – completing a significant increase of 75 teams (11%) from the 687 clubs just two seasons earlier. South Normanton Athletic folded before the fixtures were released, leaving 761 clubs to appear in the draw.
Contents
- Extra Preliminary Round
- Preliminary Round
- Ties
- Replays
- First Round Qualifying
- Second Round Qualifying
- Third Round Qualifying
- Fourth Round Qualifying
- 2008 09 FA Cup
- References
The large number of clubs entering the tournament from lower down (Levels 5 through 10) in the English football pyramid meant that the competition started with six rounds of preliminary (2) and qualifying (4) knockouts for these non-League teams. The 32 winning teams from Fourth Round Qualifying progressed to the First Round Proper, where League teams tiered at Levels 3 and 4 entered the competition.
Extra Preliminary Round
The draw for the Extra Preliminary Round was announced on The FA's website on Tuesday, 1 July.
Preliminary Round
Matches in the Preliminary Round were played on the weekend of Saturday, 30 August 2008, with replays played on 2 September and 3 September 2008. The draw for the round was announced on The FA's website on Tuesday, 1 July.
Ties
† – After extra time
Replays
† – After extra time
First Round Qualifying
Matches in the First Round Qualifying were played on the weekend of Saturday, 13 September 2008. Replays were played on 16 and 17 September 2008. The draw for the round was announced on The FA's website on Tuesday, 1 July.
Replays
† – After extra time
Second Round Qualifying
Matches in the Second Round Qualifying were played on the weekend of Saturday, 27 September 2008.
Replays
† – After extra time
Third Round Qualifying
Matches in the Third Round Qualifying will be played on the weekend of Saturday, 11 October 2008. The draw for the round was announced on The FA's website on Monday, 29 September.
Fourth Round Qualifying
Matches in the Fourth Round Qualifying were played on the weekend of Saturday, 25 October 2008.
2008-09 FA Cup
See 2008-09 FA Cup for details of the rounds from the First Round Proper onwards.