2010–11 FA Cup

2010–11 FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup
Manchester City's victory parade following their 5th title
Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Dates	14 August 2010 – 14 May 2011
Teams	759
Final positions
Champions	Manchester City (5th title)
Runners-up	Stoke City
Tournament statistics
Top goal scorer(s)	Mathieu Manset Scott McGleish (6 goals)

The 2010–11 FA Cup (known as The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON for sponsorship reasons) was the 130th season of the world's oldest football knockout competition; the FA Cup. A total of 806 clubs applied to enter of which 759 were accepted,^[1] a slight drop compared to the 762 clubs accepted into the 2009–10 competition.

The competition commenced on 14 August 2010 with the Extra preliminary round and concluded on 14 May 2011 with the Final, held at Wembley Stadium.^[2] Unusually, this was not the last game of the English domestic season nor the only game played on that day. Wembley Stadium was also hosting the 2011 Champions League Final on 28 May, forcing the FA Cup Final to be played at least two weeks earlier. This meant the Final was played on the penultimate weekend of the Premier League season and, apart from the finalists who were scheduled to play a league match against each other, a full programme of matches was played.

The defending champions were Chelsea, who retained their title in the 2010 final against Portsmouth, but they lost to Everton in the fourth round. The tournament winners were Manchester City, who defeated Stoke City in the final with Yaya Touré scoring the only goal of the match in the 74th minute.^[3] The FA Cup winners are normally entitled to a place in the next season's UEFA Europa League unless they have already qualified for that tournament or for the UEFA Champions League; because Manchester City qualified for the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League via their top-four finish in the 2010–11 Premier League, Stoke qualified for the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League as runners-up.^[4]

Round	Clubs remaining	Clubs involved	Winners from previous round	New entries this round	Leagues entering at this round
First Round Proper	124	80	32	48	EFL League One EFL League Two
Second Round Proper	84	40	40	none	none
Third Round Proper	64	64	20	44	Premier League EFL Championship
Fourth Round Proper	32	32	32	none	none
Fifth Round Proper	16	16	16	none	none
Sixth Round Proper	8	8	8	none	none
Semi-finals	4	4	4	none	none
Final	2	2	2	none	none

The calendar for the 2010–11 FA Cup, as announced by The Football Association:^[2]

Round	Main date	Number of fixtures	Clubs	New entries this round	Prize money	Player of the Round
Extra preliminary round	14 August 2010	201	759 → 558	402: 358th–759th	£750	n/a
Preliminary round	28 August 2010	166	558 → 392	131: 227th–357th	£1,500	n/a
First round qualifying	11 September 2010	116	392 → 276	66: 161st–226th	£3,000	Sam Styles (Oxhey Jets)[5]
Second round qualifying	25 September 2010	80	276 → 196	44: 117th–160th	£4,500	Sam Higgins (Chelmsford City)[6]
Third round qualifying	9 October 2010	40	196 → 156	none	£7,500	Justin Marsden (Nuneaton Town)[7]
Fourth round qualifying	23 October 2010	32	156 → 124	24: 93rd–116th	£12,500	Amari Morgan-Smith (Luton Town)[8]
First Round Proper	6 November 2010	40	124 → 84	48: 45th–92nd	£18,000	Jake Cottrell (FC United of Manchester)[9]
Second Round Proper	27 November 2010	20	84 → 64	none	£27,000	Sam Ashton (FC United of Manchester)[10]
Third Round Proper	8 January 2011	32	64 → 32	44: 1st–44th	£67,500	Kasper Schmeichel (Leeds United)[11]
Fourth Round Proper	29 January 2011	16	32 → 16	none	£90,000	Neal Bishop (Notts County)[12]
Fifth Round Proper	19 February 2011	8	16 → 8	none	£180,000	Matthew Mills (Reading F.C.)
Sixth Round Proper	12–13 March 2011	4	8 → 4	none	£360,000	Kevin Davies (Bolton Wanderers F.C.)[13]
Semi-finals	16–17 April 2011	2	4 → 2	none	£450,000	Joe Hart (Manchester City)[14]
Final	14 May 2011	1	2 → 1	none	Winner: £1,800,000 Runner-up: £900,000	Mario Balotelli (Manchester City)

All teams that entered the competition, but were not members of the Premier League or The Football League, competed in the qualifying rounds to secure one of 32 places available in the first round proper.

The winners from the fourth qualifying round were Darlington, Tipton Town, Guiseley, Fleetwood Town, Gateshead, Vauxhall Motors, FC United of Manchester, Nuneaton Town, Tamworth, York City, Mansfield Town, Southport, Eastwood Town, Droylsden, Woking, Hythe Town, Cambridge United, Dover Athletic, Harrow Borough, Corby Town, Luton Town, Rushden & Diamonds, Crawley Town, Hendon, Dartford, Chelmsford City, AFC Wimbledon, Havant & Waterlooville, Swindon Supermarine, Forest Green Rovers, Ebbsfleet United and Hayes & Yeading United.

Tipton Town, FC United of Manchester, Hythe Town and Swindon Supermarine were appearing in the competition proper for the first time. Hayes & Yeading United was also featuring at this stage for the first time as a merged entity (although predecessor clubs Hayes FC and Yeading FC had both qualified for the first round back in 2004-05). Of the others, Guiseley and Dover Athletic had last appeared in the first round in 2002-03, Harrow Borough had last done so in 2000-01, Hendon had last done so in 1999-2000, Dartford in 1989-90 and Corby Town in 1967-68.

Teams from Leagues One and Two entered at this stage, along with the winners from the Fourth round qualifying. The draw was held on 24 October 2010 with ties played on the weekend of 6–7 November 2010 apart from Rochdale vs FC United of Manchester which was the only match played on 5 November 2010. It was broadcast on ESPN kicking off its FA Cup campaign with the Northern Premier League club shocking their League One counterparts 3–2. ESPN's next match was on 6 November 2010, where Cambridge United and Huddersfield Town played out a scoreless draw. ITV1's first coverage was Southport vs Sheffield Wednesday on 7 November 2010 with the League One side trouncing their Conference National opponents 5–2.

Tipton Town of the Midland Football Alliance and Hythe Town of the Kent League, both from the ninth tier, were the lowest-ranked teams left in the competition at this stage. Both suffered heavy defeats at the hands of League opponents.

The matches were played on 26, 27 and 29 November 2010 with replays scheduled for 7, 8 and 9 December. Hartlepool United v Yeovil Town and Notts County v AFC Bournemouth were both postponed on their original date, 27 November, and again on 7 December. They were finally played on 14 December.

FC United of Manchester of the Northern Premier League Premier Division and Swindon Supermarine of the Southern League Premier Division, both from the seventh tier, were the lowest-ranked teams left in the competition at this stage. Swindon Supermarine were narrowly defeated 1–0 by Colchester United, but FC United of Manchester managed to force a replay after a 1–1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion.

The draw for the second round was notable for the potential meeting of AFC Wimbledon and MK Dons. This would have been the first time the two clubs had met however MK Dons were beaten by Stevenage in their first-round replay.

The draw was held on 28 November 2010 at Wembley Stadium and made by Noel Gallagher of Oasis and Sergio Pizzorno of Kasabian.^[16] who bizarrely picked out the balls of the respective clubs that they support (Pizzorno - Leicester City and Gallagher - Manchester City). Premier League and Football League Championship teams also entered at this stage, joining the winners from the second round and completing the entrants. The lowest ranked team in this round was Dover Athletic of the Conference South, the sixth tier of English football. The tie between Wycombe Wanderers and Hereford United was played later than usual due to the fact that the second round replay between Lincoln City and Hereford was delayed. Arsenal narrowly avoided an upset by scoring a stoppage time penalty in their 1–1 draw with Championship side Leeds United. The highly anticipated match in the third round between Manchester United and Liverpool saw United beat Liverpool 1–0 with a Ryan Giggs second-minute penalty. Championship side Leeds United failed to maintain their good showing against Arsenal by losing 3–1. Also Newcastle suffered a massive upset, losing 3–1 to League Two Stevenage.^[17]

The draw was held on Sunday 9 January 2011.^[18] The lowest ranked team left in the competition was Crawley Town of the Conference National, the fifth tier of English football. Of the other 31 teams, 15 were from the Premier League, 6 were from The Championship, 6 were from League One, and 4 were from League Two. Three matches went to a replay, Everton v Chelsea, Bolton Wanderers v Wigan Athletic and Manchester City v Notts County.

The draw was held on Sunday 30 January 2011.^[19] For the second consecutive round, the lowest ranked team left in the competition was Crawley Town of the Conference National, the fifth tier of English football. They were the first non-League side to make the fifth round since 1994.^[20] Of the other 15 teams, 10 were from the Premier League, two from the Championship and three from League One. One match went to a replay, Leyton Orient v Arsenal.

The draw was held on Sunday 20 February 2011.^[21] Reading of The Championship defeated Everton in the fifth round, and are the last non-Premier League team remaining in the competition, for the second year running. All seven other teams are from the Premier League.

The draw was conducted by Hope Powell and Fabio Capello at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, 13 March 2011, after the result of the Stoke game, but before the end of the Manchester City game.^[22] Ties were played on 16/17 April at Wembley. With Manchester City's victory over Reading, it meant that the Semi-finals of the Cup would be an all-Premier League affair, and in addition, Wembley Stadium would host its first ever Manchester derby game.

As of 17 April 2011 ^[26]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Mathieu Manset	Hereford United	6
	Scott McGleish	Leyton Orient
3	Gary Madine	Carlisle United	5
	Clinton Morrison	Sheffield Wednesday
	Jonathan Walters	Stoke City
6	Stuart Fleetwood	Hereford United	4
	Antony Sweeney	Hartlepool United
	Jonathan Téhoué	Leyton Orient

In the United Kingdom, ITV were the free to air broadcasters for the third consecutive season while ESPN took over the subscription broadcaster package Setanta Sports held, while S4C broadcast it in Wales.

Round	Date	Teams	Kick-off	Channels
				Digital	TV
Third Round (Replay)	18 January	Manchester City v Leicester City	7:45pm	—	ESPN
		Cardiff City v Stoke City	7:45pm	—	S4C
Fourth Round	29 January	Everton v Chelsea	12:30pm	—	ESPN
		Southampton v Manchester United	5:15pm	ITV Hub	ITV1
	30 January	Arsenal v Huddersfield Town	12:00pm	—	ESPN
		Notts County v Manchester City	2:00pm	ITV Hub	ITV1
		Fulham v Tottenham Hotspur	12:30pm	—	ESPN
Fourth Round (Replay)	19 February	Chelsea v Everton	12:30pm	—	ESPN
	20 February	Manchester City v Notts County	2:00pm	ITV Hub	ITV1
Fifth Round	19 February	Manchester United v Crawley Town	5:15pm	ITV Hub	ITV1
	20 February	Leyton Orient v Arsenal	4:30pm	—	ESPN
	21 February	West Ham United v Burnley	8:00pm	—	ESPN
	1 March	Everton v Reading	7:30pm	—	ESPN
	2 March	Manchester City v Aston Villa	5:15pm	ITV Hub	ITV1
Fifth Round (Replay)	2 March	Arsenal v Leyton Orient	7:45pm	—	ESPN
Sixth Round	12 March	Birmingham City v Bolton Wanderers	12:45pm	—	ESPN
		Manchester United v Arsenal	5:15pm	ITV Hub	ITV1
	13 March	Stoke City v West Ham United	2:00pm	ITV Hub	ITV1
		Manchester City v Reading	4:45pm	—	ESPN
Semi-Finals	16 April	Manchester City v Manchester United	5:15pm	ITV Hub	ITV1
	17 April	Bolton Wanderers v Stoke City	4:00pm	—	ESPN
Final	14 May	Manchester City v Stoke City	3:00pm	ITV Hub	ITV1
				—	ESPN

The matches shown live on ITV were:

• Southport 2-5 Sheffield Wednesday (R1)

• AFC Wimbledon 0-2 Stevenage (R2)

• Arsenal 1-1 Leeds United (R3)

• Manchester United 1-0 Liverpool (R3)

• Leeds United 1-3 Arsenal (R3 Replay)

The matches shown live on ESPN were:

• Rochdale 2-3 FC United of Manchester (R1)

• Cambridge United 0-0 Huddersfield Town (R1)

• Woking 2-2 Brighton & Hove Albion (R1 Replay)

• Ebbsfleet United 2-3 AFC Wimbledon (R1 Replay)

• Crawley Town 1-1 Swindon Town (R2)

• Droylsden 1-1 Leyton Orient (R2)

• FC United of Manchester 0-4 Brighton & Hove Albion (R2 Replay)

• Luton Town 1-3 Charlton Athletic (R2 Replay)

• Stevenage 3-1 Newcastle United (R3)

• Leicester City 2-2 Manchester City (R3)

• Crawley Town 2-1 Derby County (R3)

International broadcasters

Country	Broadcaster
Albania	Tring Sport
Belgium	Prime
Canada	Setanta Sports
France	France Télévisions
Italy	SKY Italia
Netherlands	Eredivisie Live

• The FA Cup at thefa.com