1872–73 FA Cup

FA Cup 1872–73
Tournament details
Country	England; Scotland
Teams	16
Defending champions	Wanderers
Final positions
Champions	Wanderers
Runner-up	Oxford University
Tournament statistics
Matches played	13
Goals scored	35 (2.69 per match)
	← 1871–72 1873–74 →

The Football Association Challenge Cup 1872–73 was the second staging of the FA Cup, England's oldest national football tournament. Sixteen teams entered, one more than the previous season, although two of the sixteen teams never actually played a match.

In keeping with the original concept of it being a "challenge" cup, the holders, Wanderers, were given a bye all the way to the final, for which they were also allowed to select the venue. This was the only season in which the holders were granted these privileges.

Queen's Park were given byes until the semi-finals in order to reduce the amount of travelling necessary, but then withdrew anyway when scheduled to play Oxford University, who therefore received a walk-over to the final.

Format

First Round: 14 teams (all except Queen's Park and defending champions Wanderers) would play, each match eliminating the loser

Second Round: 6 teams (Royal Engineers getting a bye) would play, the winners advancing

Third Round: The 3 winners and Royal Engineers would play. The winners would advance

Fourth Round: The two remaining teams from the Third Round would play, the winner facing Queen's Park

Semi-Final: The Fourth Round team would face Queen's Park. However, this was not needed as Queen's Park withdrew

Final: The Semi-Final team would face Wanderers, the defending champion.

Calendar

Round	Date	Fixtures				Clubs	New entries this round
Round	Date	Original	Replays	Walkovers	Byes	Clubs
First round	19 - 26 October 1872	7	0	1	2	16 → 9	14
Second round	23 November - 7 December 1872	3	0	0	3	9 → 6	none
Third round	9 - 21 December 1872	2	0	0	2	6 → 4	none
Fourth round	3 February 1873	1	0	0	2	4 → 3	none
Semi-final	none	1	0	1	1	3 → 2	1
Final	29 March 1873	1	0	0	0	2 → 1	1

First round

Home Club	Score	Away Club	Date
Barnes	0–1	South Norwood	19 October 1872
Civil Service	0–3	Royal Engineers	26 October 1872
Maidenhead	1–0	Marlow	26 October 1872
Reigate Priory	2–4	Windsor Home Park	26 October 1872
Upton Park	0–2	1st Surrey Rifles	26 October 1872
Crystal Palace	2–3	Oxford University	26 October 1872
Clapham Rovers	Walkover	Hitchin
Queen's Park	Bye

Second round

Home Club	Score	Away Club	Date
Clapham Rovers	0–3	Oxford University	23 November 1872
1st Surrey Rifles	0–3	Maidenhead	7 December 1872
Windsor Home Park	3–0^[1]	South Norwood	7 December 1872
Queen's Park	Bye
Royal Engineers	Bye

Third round

Home Club	Score	Away Club	Date
Oxford University	1–0	Royal Engineers	9 December 1872
Windsor Home Park	0–1	Maidenhead	21 December 1872
Queen's Park	Bye

Fourth round

Home Club	Score	Away Club	Attendance	Date
Oxford University	4–0	Maidenhead		3 February 1873
Queen's Park	Bye

Semi-Final

Home Club	Score	Away Club	Attendance	Date
Oxford University	Walkover	Queen's Park

Final

Wanderers were exempt until the final as the 1871–72 Cup winners.

29 March 1873

11:30 BSTr

Wanderers	2-0	Oxford University
Kinnaird 27' Wollaston 80'	[1]

Lillie Bridge

Attendance: 3000

Referee: Alfred Stair (Upton Park F.C.)

The final was played at Lillie Bridge. The attendance of 3,000 was considered low and attributed to the Boat Race occurring later in the same day, so few turned up or in fact stayed for the whole duration of the game.

References

^ Originally played 23 November 1972 at South Norwood's ground, South Norwood winning 1-0. The match was ruled as void, and ordered to be replayed.

[1] Originally played 23 November 1972 at South Norwood's ground, South Norwood winning 1-0. The match was ruled as void, and ordered to be replayed.

[1]

v t e FA Cup
Seasons	1871–72 1872–73 1873–74 1874–75 1875–76 1876–77 1877–78 1878–79 1879–80 1880–81 1881–82 1882–83 1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Qualifying rounds	1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Finals	1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
History Trophy List of finals Semi-finals Final referees Winning managers Non-English clubs Scottish clubs Non-League clubs in the 5th Round Giant-Killing Award