FA Cup Football: Fixtures, Winners, Draw and African Kick Off Times

The FA Cup is England's national knockout football cup, open to clubs from the Premier League down to the ninth tier of the English game. First played in 1871-72, it is the oldest national football competition in the world, and Manchester City won the 2025-26 final, beating Chelsea 1 to 0 at Wembley on 16 May 2026 for their eighth title. For South African readers who use the word soccer, the FA Cup is the same English knockout competition.

Think of it as a street tournament in Surulere that somehow lets the national champions enter, where the estate side can draw the best team in the city and the whole neighbourhood turns out to watch. What follows explains how to read the draw, fixtures and results above, when the Premier League clubs come in, and what time ties kick off in WAT, EAT, SAST and GMT. It also pairs the records with the African stories behind them, and clears up the Asante Kotoko FA Cup search, which is about Ghana's own competition rather than England's.

How Do You Read the FA Cup Draw, Fixtures and Results?

The modules above show the FA Cup as it stands, with the draw, the next ties and every score updating themselves after each match. A cup has no league to climb, so the Fa Cup table works as a bracket, showing which clubs are still in, who they meet next and which round the competition has reached. Read it from left to right, the way a Lagos commuter reads the stops on a long bus route, and you can see at a glance how far any club still is from Wembley.

The Fa Cup fixtures list carries every tie with its date, venue and kick off time, converted into WAT, EAT, SAST and GMT so that nobody has to do the sums before a watch party. Home and away matter more here than in a league, because a single match decides the tie, and a small ground with a tight pitch can feel like a different sport to a Premier League squad. So, check the venue before you check the time, because the ground often tells you more about a tie than the names on the badge.

The Fa Cup results feed shows each final score, the scorers and whether a tie needed extra time or penalties, while the Fa Cup stats module gathers the leading scorers and the African players still involved. Perhaps the most useful habit is to read the stats beside the results, since a lower division striker who scores in two rounds tells you more about the cup than a routine win for a giant. The calls in Fa Cup predictions give each tie a probability and a reference price, for readers aged 18 and over.

How Does the FA Cup Work, From the Qualifiers to Wembley?

The FA Cup uses knockout rounds rather than a league points system. It begins in August with the extra preliminary round, where clubs from the ninth tier of the English pyramid start their journey, and then moves through the preliminary round and four qualifying rounds before the first round proper in the autumn. The entry list is enormous, and a record 763 clubs entered in 2011-12, which gives a sense of how many towns and villages carry a hope of their own each summer.

League One and League Two clubs join at the first round proper, and from there the competition runs through the second round, the third round in January, the fourth and fifth rounds, the quarter finals, the semi finals and the final. The semi finals have been played at Wembley since 2008 and the final since 2007, after a spell at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff from 2001 to 2006. That means the semi final is already a day out at the national stadium, which is why supporters of smaller clubs often treat it almost like a final of its own.

The draw is open and unseeded from the first round proper onwards, so any club can meet any other, and the home side is simply the team whose ball comes out first. That, in my opinion, is the heart of the competition, because a fourth tier club and a Premier League champion have exactly the same chance of a home tie once the balls are in the bowl. And, the draws are broadcast events held soon after the previous round ends, so supporters in Kenya and Nigeria usually learn their club's next opponent on their phones before the evening is out.

When Do Premier League Clubs Enter, and How Are Level Ties Settled?

Premier League and Championship clubs enter at the third round proper, which is played in early January and is the weekend many supporters treat as the real start of the cup. By then, the lower divisions and the non League clubs have played their way through several rounds, so the third round draw is when a side that has survived since August can find itself paired with a club it has only ever watched on television. For readers in Nairobi or Johannesburg who follow an English giant, January is the moment the competition truly begins for them.

Level ties used to go to a replay at the other club's ground, and replays were part of the competition's folklore for well over a century. Under the current rules, from the first round proper onwards, a tie that is level after normal time goes to extra time and then to penalties on the day, which keeps the calendar manageable for clubs that also play in Europe. It could be argued that the change helps smaller sides slightly, since they only have to hold out once, rather than survive a second meeting at a bigger ground a week or so later.

How does a Premier League side lose a tie it is expected to win? Usually through a mix of rotation, a heavy pitch and an opponent that has built its whole season around one afternoon. Managers often rest first choice players in the early rounds to protect their league and European campaigns, and that opens a window for the lower side, especially at a small ground where the crowd sits close to the touchline. So, when you read the fixtures, look at what each club has either side of the tie, because a crowded week usually tells you how strong a team will be named.

What Do FA Cup Winners Get Besides the Trophy?

FA Cup winners earn a place in the UEFA Europa League for the following season and a meeting with the Premier League champions in the Community Shield, the curtain raiser before the new league campaign. If the winners have already qualified for Europe through the league, the Europa League place passes down the Premier League standings instead, so the cup can shape the race for European spots even for clubs that went out early. Prize money also rises with each round, and that money matters far more to a club from the sixth or seventh tier than it does to a giant.

The trophy has a story worth knowing before any final. The original cup, known as the little tin idol, was stolen in 1895, and the current design dates from 1911, with the cup presented today being a 2014 replica that weighs 6.3 kg. That is roughly the weight of a small bag of rice from the market, lifted above the head at the top of the Wembley steps after the final.

How Can You Watch the FA Cup in Africa?

FA Cup matches are shown across Africa on pay TV and licensed streaming services, and the channel carrying each tie in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Uganda appears beside the fixture in the listings above. Rights can change between seasons and occasionally between rounds, so the listing is the place to check rather than memory, and the same tie may sit on a different channel in Accra than in Johannesburg. If a tie is missing from your country's listing, check again for confirmed viewing details.

For a group viewing in Lagos, Nairobi, Kampala, Accra or Johannesburg, check the fixture's local time and confirmed channel. Allow extra time in your plans for an FA Cup tie that needs a penalty shootout, particularly when watching an evening match in Kenya or Uganda.

What Time Do FA Cup Matches Kick Off in WAT, EAT, SAST and GMT?

An afternoon FA Cup tie in the English winter offers this viewing schedule: Ghana at 15:00 GMT, Nigeria at 16:00 WAT, South Africa at 17:00 SAST, with Kenya and Uganda watching from 18:00 EAT. That example assumes a 15:00 start at the English ground; Ghana keeps GMT throughout the year, whereas England changes its clocks. For supporters following an African international through the cup rounds, the fixture's conversion gives the local start for each date.

A 15:00 FA Cup start at an English venue during British summer time gives Ghana a 14:00 GMT kick off; Nigerian viewers tune in at 15:00 WAT, South African viewers at 16:00 SAST, and those in Kenya and Uganda at 17:00 EAT. The route to Wembley can cross the English clock change, so the conversion used for January's third round does not cover every later tie. The final has its own confirmed kick off entry, which determines when supporters across all five countries should gather.

For a winter FA Cup evening tie with a 20:00 English start, the viewing times are 21:00 WAT for Nigeria and 23:00 EAT for Kenya and Uganda, alongside 22:00 SAST for South Africa and 20:00 GMT for Ghana. A place in the following round may depend on extra time and penalties, potentially keeping viewers in Nairobi and Kampala watching beyond 01:00 the next day. Include that possible finish when choosing the date for an evening cup gathering.

Who Has Won the Most FA Cups, and Which Records Still Stand?

By 2020, Arsenal had won 14 FA Cups and Arsène Wenger had won seven as a manager, both records at that date. Arsenal's 2020 victory brought their FA Cup total to 14. Manchester City have built a formidable cup record of their own in the modern era, reaching their eighth title with the 2025-26 win over Chelsea at Wembley.

The competition is old enough that its first records belong to a very different game. Wanderers won the first final on 16 March 1872, and the biggest winning margin in a final, 6 to 0, has been reached twice, by Bury against Derby County in 1903 and by Manchester City against Watford in 2019. More than a century separates those two scores, and it could be argued that nothing shows the reach of the cup better than a record shared between a side from the early 1900s and a modern champion.

Crystal Palace added a fresh line to the record book in 2025, winning their first FA Cup by beating Manchester City in the final. Their win was a reminder that the list of winners keeps growing, and that a club outside the usual group can still finish a season celebrating on the Wembley steps. The table below pairs each record with the match behind it, and the results module above holds every score from the current competition as it updates after each round.

How Does a Non League Club Reach Wembley, and Why Does the Magic Matter?

A ninth tier club reaches Wembley by winning every tie from the extra preliminary round in August through to the quarter finals, which earns it a semi final at the national stadium. In practice the route has two halves, with the qualifying rounds played against clubs of a similar level, often within a short bus ride, and the rounds proper bringing Football League opposition and, from January, the chance of a Premier League giant. Each step is close to a season in itself for a club whose players often hold other jobs during the week.

The defining match of the modern cup, in my opinion, came in January 2026, when Macclesfield of the National League North, a sixth tier club, beat the holders Crystal Palace 2 to 1 in the third round. Palace had lifted the trophy for the first time only months earlier, so the result showed how a single afternoon can reshape a cup season. For Palace, the way back is the same as for every holder, a strong squad in January and a clear plan for the third round, and their 2025 title shows they know how to go deep in it.

Why should a reader in Nairobi or Accra who supports a Premier League club care about giant killings? Because they are the reason the early rounds are worth watching, and because they change what a big club must do to win the trophy. A team that rotates heavily in January takes a risk, while a team that treats the third round with full respect usually goes through, so the magic is also a test of planning, and it rewards managers who take the cup seriously from the first tie.

There is a familiar picture in African football too. Ghana's own cup has produced finals settled on penalties, and knockout competitions in Kenya and South Africa also hand smaller clubs a single afternoon against the best in the country. So, the English cup feels close to home for many readers, and the underdog in a third round tie rarely lacks supporters in a viewing centre in Kampala or Accra, even when nobody there had heard of the town before the draw was made.

Which African Players Have Shaped FA Cup Finals?

Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast is the African name the FA Cup remembers most, because he scored in four finals, in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2012, and Chelsea won all four of them. He was the first player to score in four different finals, and his 2007 goal came in the first final played at Wembley after the move back from Cardiff. Drogba's goals in the 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2012 finals give Ivorian supporters a specific connection to Chelsea's FA Cup history.

What does the cup mean for the Super Eagles players in it? For a Nigerian at an English club, a cup run is often where minutes come most easily, since managers rotate in the early rounds and a squad player can make his name with one goal in January. Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho both started Leicester City's 2021 FA Cup final victory over Chelsea, which secured the club's first title in the competition. Use the player module to find Nigerian internationals involved in this season's cup and the fixtures to confirm their clubs' viewing details.

Where Do Black Stars, Harambee Stars, Bafana Bafana and Cranes Players Fit In?

No African nation has a team in the English cup. The player module identifies African internationals and players with African heritage involved in this season's competition. Readers in Ghana can use the player entries to find a Black Stars connection, then check the relevant fixture in GMT. For Harambee Stars and Uganda Cranes supporters watching from Kenya or Uganda, use the EAT listing and confirm the channel for your country before choosing a tie.

Steven Pienaar started for Everton in the 2009 FA Cup final against Chelsea, giving Bafana Bafana supporters a dated connection to the Wembley fixture. The fixtures show SAST for South African readers. Match the local start time with the confirmed South African channel listing when planning to watch a club identified in the player module.

Is the Asante Kotoko FA Cup the Same as England's FA Cup?

No, the Asante Kotoko FA Cup search is about Ghana's own competition, the MTN FA Cup, which is separate from the English FA Cup and is played between Ghanaian clubs. It began in 1958, and Asante Kotoko, the Porcupine Warriors of Kumasi, won the first edition by beating Accra Hearts of Oak 4 to 2. The two competitions share a name and a knockout format, but no club moves between them, and the Ghanaian trophy is decided in Ghana rather than at Wembley.

Asante Kotoko won the first Ghana FA Cup in 1958 and won it again in 2025. Kotoko won the 2024-25 final, beating Golden Kicks 2 to 1, and Nations FC won the 2025-26 final against Dreams FC, 5 to 4 on penalties after a 1 to 1 draw. That shootout is a useful reminder that the Ghanaian cup can reward a newer name, much as the English one rewarded Crystal Palace in 2025.

So, if you searched for the Asante Kotoko FA Cup, the Ghanaian results sit in the Ghana section of the site, while the English draw, fixtures and results are the modules above. Many readers in Accra follow both, the local cup for Kotoko or Hearts and the English one for the Premier League clubs and the Black Stars players involved, and there is no reason to choose between them. The English cup is older by almost nine decades, yet a Ghanaian final carries a weight in Kumasi that only a home trophy can.