1939–40 FA Cup

1939–40 FA Cup
Tournament details
Country	England
Defending champions	Portsmouth
	← 1938–39 1945–46 →

The 1939–40 FA Cup was an abandoned season of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup. The competition began as the 65th season of the competition, but was abandoned after just the first round of qualifying matches, due to the start of World War II.

Suspension

The 1939–40 FA Cup began on 2 September 1939, the day after Germany had invaded Poland. On 3 September the United Kingdom declared war with Germany and its allies. The FA suspended the FA Cup on 7 September, until further notice;^[1] on 21 September it was announced that all organised football was cancelled for the duration of the war, with only friendly and regional competitions permitted.^[1] All results to date in the 1939-40 season were declared null and void.^[2]

The Football League War Cup began in October 1939.^[3] Organised by the Football League, this was the only national-level competition during the war. Alongside this, the Wartime League or regionalised competitions provided regular football for players and fans during the war.^[4]

Extra-Preliminary Round

62 ties were scheduled for 2 September 1939.^[5]^[6] The results of several matches are missing, but it is not known if these were simply not played, or if the results went unrecorded as it quickly became apparent that the competition would not be continued.^[5]

Of the teams involved, this was the only FA Cup appearance for Holiday's Sports, Cheadle and Esso. Norwich Electricity Works withdrew before playing a game, in what would have otherwise been their only appearance.^[5]

Home team	Score	Away team
Amble	8-4	Chopwell Colliery
Annfield Plain	5-0	Gosforth and Coxlodge
Ashington	2-1	Whitley & Monkseaton
Birtley	2-1	Trimdon Grange Colliery
Crookhall Colliery Welfare	1-1	Newcastle West End
Reyrolles	5-2	Shankhouse
Throckley Welfare	1-2	Scotswood
Usworth Colliery	5-1	Dawdon Colliery Recreation
Holiday's Sports	2-0	Brandon Social
Washington Chemical Works	2-1	Chilton Colliery Recreation
Buxton	4-0	Wilmslow Albion
Moulton Verdin	v	Middlewich Athletic
Nantwich	v	Haslington Villa
Willaston White Star	v	Cheadle
Armthorpe Welfare	5-0	Rossington Main
Bentley Colliery	1-1	Meltham Mills
Brodsworth Main Colliery	4-3	Bradford Rovers
Goole Town	8-1	Luddendenfoot
Grimethorpe Rovers	4-2	Ossett Town
Guiseley	1-3	Rawmarsh Welfare
Ravensthorpe	v	Farsley Celtic
Upton Colliery	3-5	South Kirkby Colliery
Worksop Town	1-0	Pilkington Recreation
Norwich Y.M.C.A	w/o	Norwich Electricity Works
Clapton	4-2	Dagenham Town
Harwich and Parkeston	v	Esso
Berkhamsted Town	1-2	Barnet
Stevenage Town F.C.	v	Bushey United
London Caledonians	v	Enfield
Epping Town	1-3	Ware
Harlow Town	2-3	Welwyn Garden City
Kings Langley	v	Hertford Town
Harrow Town	0-3	Finchley
Saffron Walden	v	Leavesden
St Albans City	6-1	Bishop's Stortford
Tufnell Park	v	Pinner
Wealdstone	7-3	Old Johnians
Civil Service	v	Lyons Club
Hounslow Town	0-3	Wycombe Wanderers
Maidenhead United	4-0	Yiewsley
Newbury Town	1-2	Bicester Town
Osberton Radiator	3-5	Pressed Steel
Oxford City	v	Headington United
Redford Sports	v	Uxbridge
Marlow	v	Slough
Camberley and Yorktown	v	Post Office Engineers
Egham	0-12	Woking
Banstead Mental Hospital	v	Kingstonian
Vickers Armstrong	v	Guildford
Walton-On-Thames	2-1	Leyland Motors
Venner Sports	v	Wimbledon
Gravesend United	1-3	Bexley
Maidstone United	2-2	Margate
RM Deal	v	Whitstable
Bournemouth Gasworks Athletic	4-0	Bournemouth
Fareham	3-0	Gosport
HMS Victory	v	East Cowes
Hamworthy	v	Sherborne
Thornycrofts	v	Winchester City
Trafalgar Sports	v	Osborne Athletic
Calne and Harris United	v	Pewsey YM

References

General

Official site; fixtures and results service at TheFA.com

Specific

^ ^a ^b Hodgson, Alan. "The Abandoned Season". Huddersfield Town FC. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^ Blitz, Sam (26 March 2020). "When English football was last suspended – how the league was left during the war". FourFourTwo. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^ Noel, Stuar. "The Magic of the Football League War Cup". The Ball is Round. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^ Taylor, Matthew. "Life during wartime: how the Second World War exposed football's regional divides". When Saturday Comes. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c "The Forgotten FA Cup Matches". FA Cup Factfile. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
^ "FA Cup 1939-40". FCHD. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[HTFC-1] Hodgson, Alan. "The Abandoned Season". Huddersfield Town FC. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[2] Blitz, Sam (26 March 2020). "When English football was last suspended – how the league was left during the war". FourFourTwo. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[3] Noel, Stuar. "The Magic of the Football League War Cup". The Ball is Round. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[4] Taylor, Matthew. "Life during wartime: how the Second World War exposed football's regional divides". When Saturday Comes. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[Factfile-5] "The Forgotten FA Cup Matches". FA Cup Factfile. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[6] "FA Cup 1939-40". FCHD. Retrieved 8 July 2020.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

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 List of finals Semi-finals Final referees Winning managers Non-English clubs Scottish clubs Non-League clubs in the 5th Round Giant-Killing Award