The 2006–07 FA Cup Qualifying Rounds opened the 126th 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 687 clubs were accepted for the competition, up 13 from the previous season’s 674.
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
Byes/Exemptions
Prize money
Extra Preliminary Round
Saturday 19 August 2006
129
687 → 558
none
£500
Preliminary Round
Saturday 2 September 2006
166
558 → 392
203: 227th–429th
£1,000
First Round Qualifying
Saturday 16 September 2006
116
392 → 276
66: 161st–226th
£2,250
Second Round Qualifying
Saturday 30 September 2006
80
276 → 196
44: 117th–160th
£3,750
Third Round Qualifying
Saturday 14 October 2006
40
196 → 156
none
£5,000
Fourth Round Qualifying
Saturday 28 October 2006
32
156 → 124
24: 93rd–116th
£10,000
First Round Proper
Saturday 11 November 2006
40
124 → 84
48: 45th–92nd
£16,000
Second Round Proper
Saturday 2 December 2006
20
84 → 64
none
£24,000
Third Round Proper
Saturday 6 January 2007
32
64 → 32
44: 1st–44th
£40,000
Fourth Round Proper
Saturday 27 January 2007
16
32 → 16
none
£60,000
Fifth Round Proper
Saturday 17 February 2007
8
16 → 8
none
£120,000
Sixth Round Proper
Saturday 10 March 2007
4
8 → 4
none
£300,000
Semi-finals
Saturday 14 April 2007
2
4 → 2
none
£900,000
Final
Saturday 19 May 2007
1
2 → 1
none
£1,000,000
Extra Preliminary Round
Matches played on Friday/Saturday/Sunday 18 to 20 August 2006