2011–12 FA Cup

2011–12 FA Cup

Country	England  Wales
Teams	763
Champions	Chelsea (7th title)
Runners-up	Liverpool
Matches played	920
Goals scored	3104 (3.37 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Jermaine Beckford (6)
← 2010–11 2012–13 →

The 2011–12 FA Cup (also known as the 2011–12 FA Cup with Budweiser)^[1] was the 131st season of the world's oldest football knock-out competition. The closing date for applications was 1 April 2011, and saw 825 clubs apply to enter.^[2] On 8 July 2011, the FA announced that 763 clubs had been accepted, which remains, as of 2013-14, the record number of entrants.^[3] The final was played on 5 May 2012 at Wembley Stadium. Chelsea won their 4th title in 6 years, and seventh overall, with a 2-1 victory over Liverpool.^[4]

This is the first season that the tournament is sponsored by Budweiser. The defending champions, Manchester City, were defeated 3–2 by their rivals Manchester United in the Third Round.

The competition was overshadowed by the collapse of Bolton Wanderers midfielder Fabrice Muamba during their Sixth Round match with Tottenham Hotspur. Muamba went into cardiac arrest on the pitch and, following failed attempts to resuscitate him, was taken to the London Chest Hospital, where he went on to recover despite his heart stopping for over 75 minutes.^[5] The match was subsequently abandoned. On 27 March the match was replayed, with Tottenham winning 3–1. Muamba attended the final to congratulate Chelsea.

The winners of the competition would have earned a place in the group stage of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League.^[6] However, since Chelsea went on to win the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League, they qualified for the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League as title holder. The FA Cup berth for European qualification was not exercised as runners-up Liverpool had already won that season's League Cup and Tottenham Hotspur, the fourth-place finishers in the Premier League, lost their Champions League spot at the expense of sixth-placed Chelsea, as no association is allowed more than four entrants in the competition and so were compensated by UEFA with a place in the Europa League group stage.

Teams

Round	Clubs remaining	Clubs involved	Winners from previous round	New entries this round	Leagues entering at this round
Extra Preliminary Round	763	408	none	408	Levels 9, 10 and 11 in football league pyramid1[7]
Preliminary Round	559	334	204	130	Northern Premier League Division One North2 Northern Premier League Division One South3 Southern Football League Division One Central Southern Football League Division One South & West Isthmian League Division One North Isthmian League Division One South
First Round Qualifying	392	232	167	65	Northern Premier League Premier Division4 Southern Football League Premier Division Isthmian League Premier Division
Second Round Qualifying	276	160	116	44	Conference North Conference South
Third Round Qualifying	196	80	80	none	none
Fourth Round Qualifying	156	64	40	24	Conference National
First Round Proper	124	80	32	48	Football League One Football League Two
Second Round Proper	84	40	40	none	none
Third Round Proper	64	64	20	44	Premier League Football League 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

Notes

1^ Only one team from level 11 competed this year: Friar Lane & Epworth who withdrew from the Extra Preliminary Round.
The following Northern Premier League teams are ineligible as they did not compete in FA competitions in 2010–11:
2^ Farsley
3^ Ilkeston
4^ Chester

Calendar

The calendar for the 2011–12 FA Cup, as announced by The Football Association:^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

Round	Main date	Number of fixtures	Clubs	New entries this round	Prize money
Extra Preliminary Round	20 August 2011	204	763 → 559	408: 356th–763rd	£750
Preliminary Round	3 September 2011	167	559 → 392	130: 226th–355th	£1,500
First Round Qualifying	17 September 2011	116	392 → 276	65: 161st–225th	£3,000
Second Round Qualifying	1 October 2011	80	276 → 196	44: 117th–160th	£4,500
Third Round Qualifying	15 October 2011	40	196 → 156	none	£7,500
Fourth Round Qualifying	29 October 2011	32	156 → 124	24: 93rd–116th	£12,500
First Round Proper	12 November 2011	40	124 → 84	48: 45th–92nd	£18,000
Second Round Proper	3 December 2011	20	84 → 64	none	£27,000
Third Round Proper	7 January 2012	32	64 → 32	44: 1st–44th	£67,500
Fourth Round Proper	28 January 2012	16	32 → 16	none	£90,000
Fifth Round Proper	18 February 2012	8	16 → 8	none	£180,000
Sixth Round Proper	17 March 2012	4	8 → 4	none	£360,000
Semi-Finals	14–15 April 2012	2	4 → 2	none	Losers £450,000 Winners £900,000
Final	5 May 2012	1	2 → 1	none	Runner-up £900,000 Winner £1,800,000

Qualifying rounds

All of the teams that entered the competition and were not members of the Premier League or the Football League had to compete in the qualifying rounds.

First round proper

Teams from Leagues One and Two entered at this stage, along with the winners from the fourth round qualifying. The draw was made on 30 October 2011 and ties were played on the weekend of 12–13 November 2011. Redbridge, from the 8th tier of English football, were the lowest ranked football team to make it through to the first round proper.

• Player of the round: Stefan Brown (AFC Totton, 38% of the vote).^[13]
  The other nominees were: Adam Watkins (Luton Town, 24%), Nahki Wells (Bradford City, 21%), Jamie Vardy (Fleetwood Town, 14%) and George Williams (MK Dons, 3%).

Second round proper

The winners of the First Round matches entered at this stage. The draw was made on 13 November 2011 with the ties played on the weekend of 3–4 December 2011.

Redbridge, from the 8th tier of English football, were the lowest ranked football team to make it to the Second Round Proper.

• Player of the Round: Stuart Nelson (Notts County, 43% of the vote).^[14]
  The other nominees were: Matt Tubbs (Crawley Town, 24%), Jamie Tolley (Wrexham, 17%), Matt Ritchie (Swindon Town, 13%) and Jon Nurse (Dagenham & Redbridge, 3%).

Third round proper

The winners of the second round matches played alongside all twenty teams from the Barclays Premier League and all twenty four teams from the Championship. The draw was made on 4 December 2011, with the ties scheduled to be played on 6, 7, 8, and 9 January 2012. Salisbury City, from the sixth tier, were the lowest ranked club in the Third Round Proper.

• Player of the Round: Hatem Ben Arfa (Newcastle United, 43% of the vote).^[18]
  The other nominees were: Adrian Cieslewicz (Wrexham, 24%), Matt Phillips (Blackpool, 19%), Matt Ritchie (Swindon Town, 12%) and Arnaud Mendy (Macclesfield Town, 3%).

Fourth round proper

The winners of the third round played in this round. The draw was made on 8 January 2012, with the ties scheduled to be played on the weekend of 28–29 January 2012. The lowest ranked clubs that participated in this round were Crawley Town and Swindon Town, from the fourth tier.^[19]

• Player of the Round: Will Buckley (Brighton & Hove Albion, 44% of the vote).^[20]
  The other nominees were: Jed Steer (Norwich City, 24%), Jermaine Beckford (Leicester City, 24%), Robin van Persie (Arsenal, 4%) and Matt Tubbs (Crawley Town, 3%).

Fifth round proper

The winners of the fourth round matches progressed to this round. The draw was made live on ITV1 and ESPN on 29 January 2012, with the ties scheduled to be played on the weekend of 18–19 February 2012. Crawley Town were the lowest-ranked team in the fifth round for the second season running and the only club remaining from the fourth tier of the English league system.

• Player of the Round: Kieran Richardson (Sunderland, 60% of the vote).^[21]
  The other nominees were: Colin Doyle (Birmingham City, 19%), Mark Roberts (Stevenage, 10%), Curtis Davies (Birmingham City, 9%) and David Nugent (Leicester City, 1%).

Sixth round proper

The draw for the sixth round took place on 19 February 2012 following the match between Stevenage and Tottenham Hotspur.^[22] Ties were played on the weekend of 17–18 March.^[23] Leicester City were the lowest-ranked team in the sixth round, and were the only club remaining from the second tier of the English league system.

• Player of the Round: Nikica Jelavić (Everton, 63% of the votes).^[24]
  The other nominees were: Tim Cahill (Everton 15%), Stewart Downing (Liverpool, 12%), Fernando Torres (Chelsea, 6%) and Ádám Bogdán (Bolton Wanderers, 5%)

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¹ The match was abandoned after 41 minutes after Bolton's Fabrice Muamba suffered cardiac arrest on the pitch. He ultimately recovered after a month of recuperation at London Chest Hospital.^[25][26][27]

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Semi-finals

Ties were played on the weekend of 14–15 April. All four semi-final teams were from the Premier League, and both semi-finals were local derbies, with a London derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea, and a Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton both played at Wembley Stadium.

• Player of the Round: Didier Drogba (Chelsea, 39% of the votes).^[28]
  The other nominees were: Luis Suárez, Liverpool, 33%), Frank Lampard (Chelsea, 16%), Ramires (Chelsea, 6%) and Brad Jones (Liverpool, 6%).

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Final

Top scorers

Correct as of 5 May 2012.^[29]

Position	Player	Club	Goals
1	Jermaine Beckford	Leicester City	6
2	Ched Evans	Sheffield United	5
	Matthew Tubbs	Crawley Town
4	Juan Mata	Chelsea	4
	Adam Boyes[30]	Barrow
	Darius Henderson	Millwall
	Jeff Hughes	Notts County
	Matthew Phillips	Blackpool
	Ramires	Chelsea
	Andy Carroll	Liverpool
10	Luis Suárez	Liverpool	3
	Jermain Defoe	Tottenham Hotspur
	Clint Dempsey	Fulham
	Lewis Grabban	Rotherham United
	Dean Bowditch	Milton Keynes Dons
	Jon Nurse	Dagenham & Redbridge
	Jamie Vardy	Fleetwood Town
	Andy Morrell	Wrexham
	Stefan Brown	AFC Totton

Media coverage

From the first round proper onwards, selected matches from the FA Cup are broadcast live both in the UK and Ireland by ESPN and ITV1 while S4C broadcast in Wales. ESPN broadcast 25 live games including the final while ITV1 broadcast 16 live games also including the final and the draws for the next round. S4C , in Welsh.

These matches were broadcast live on television in the UK.

Round	ESPN	ITV (ITV1 unless otherwise stated)
First round proper	Newport County v Shrewsbury Town Morecambe v Sheffield Wednesday Stourbridge v Plymouth Argyle (replay) Bath City v Dagenham & Redbridge (replay)	FC Halifax Town v Charlton Athletic
Second round proper	Fleetwood Town v Yeovil Town Sutton United v Notts County Yeovil Town v Fleetwood Town (replay) Macclesfield Town v Chelmsford City (replay)	AFC Totton v Bristol Rovers
Third round proper	Birmingham City v Wolverhampton Wanderers Bristol Rovers v Aston Villa Arsenal v Leeds United Leicester City v Nottingham Forest (replay) Wrexham v Brighton & Hove Albion (replay)	Manchester City v Manchester United Peterborough United v Sunderland Wolverhampton Wanderers v Birmingham City (replay) Queens Park Rangers v Milton Keynes Dons (ITV4) (replay)
Fourth round proper	Watford v Tottenham Hotspur[31] Brighton & Hove Albion v Newcastle United[31] Arsenal v Aston Villa[31] Sheffield Wednesday v Blackpool (replay)[32]	Liverpool v Manchester United[31] Sunderland v Middlesbrough[31] Middlesbrough v Sunderland (replay)[32]
Fifth round proper	Chelsea v Birmingham City[33] Crawley Town v Stoke City[33] Liverpool v Brighton & Hove Albion[33] Tottenham Hotspur v Stevenage (replay)[34]	Sunderland v Arsenal[35] Stevenage v Tottenham Hotspur[35] Birmingham City v Chelsea (replay)[34]
Sixth round proper	Tottenham Hotspur v Bolton Wanderers[25][26][36] Chelsea v Leicester City[36] Tottenham Hotspur v Bolton Wanderers (rematch)[37]	Everton v Sunderland[36] Liverpool v Stoke City[36] Sunderland v Everton (replay)[38]
Semi-finals	Liverpool v Everton	Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea
Final	Liverpool v Chelsea

Welsh language channel S4C broadcast live coverage of selected matches involving a Welsh club, which ironically were two Wrexham matches. Their first round proper match at Cambridge United and their third round proper replay at home to Brighton & Hove Albion. Those were the only FA Cup matches that S4C broadcast.

International broadcasters

Country	Broadcaster
Albania	Tring Sport
Belgium	Prime
Canada	Sportsnet World
France	France Télévisions
Italy	SKY Italia
Netherlands	Eredivisie Live
Russia	Russia 2 & Sport-1

References

External links

• The FA Cup at thefa.com

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 1899–00 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 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 1999–00 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 Qualifying Rounds 1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00 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 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 1999–00 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 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 History Trophy List of finals FA Cup Third-fourth place matches Semi-finals Final referees Winning managers Non-English clubs Non-league clubs in the 5th Round

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