The 2007–08 FA Cup Qualifying Rounds opened the 127th season of competition in England for 'The Football Association Challenge Cup' (FA Cup), the world's oldest association football single knockout competition. A total of 729 clubs were accepted for the competition, up 42 from the previous season's 687.
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.
Calendar
Round
Start Date
Matches
Clubs
New entries this round
Prize money
Extra Preliminary Round
18 August 2007
171
729 → 558
none
£500
Preliminary Round
1 September 2007
166
558 → 392
161: 227th–387th
£1,000
First Round Qualifying
15 September 2007
116
392 → 276
66: 161st–226th
£2,250
Second Round Qualifying
29 September 2007
80
276 → 196
44: 117th–160th
£3,750
Third Round Qualifying
13 October 2007
40
196 → 156
none
£5,000
Fourth Round Qualifying
27 October 2007
32
156 → 124
24: 93rd–116th
£10,000
First Round Proper
10 November 2007
40
124 → 84
48: 45th–92nd
£16,000
Second Round Proper
1 December 2007
20
84 → 64
none
£24,000
Third Round Proper
5 January 2008
32
64 → 32
44: 1st–44th
£40,000
Fourth Round Proper
26 January 2008
16
32 → 16
none
£60,000
Fifth Round Proper
16 February 2008
8
16 → 8
none
£120,000
Sixth Round Proper (Quarter finals)
8 March 2008
4
8 → 4
none
£300,000
Semi-finals
5 April 2008
2
4 → 2
none
£900,000
Final
17 May 2008
1
2 → 1
none
£1,000,000
Extra preliminary round
Matches played on the weekend of Saturday 18 August 2007.
Matches played on the weekend of Saturday 1 September 2007.
This early round saw Level 8 team Chasetown F.C. enter the 2007–08 competition. Chasetown would defeat seven teams over four months, becoming the lowest-ranked club ever to reach the Third Round Proper of an FA Cup competition.[1]