FA Cup semi-finals

The FA Cup semi-finals are played to determine which teams will contest the FA Cup Final. They are the penultimate phase of the FA Cup, the oldest football tournament in the world.

Location

Since 2008, the new Wembley Stadium has been the home of the FA Cup semi-final.

The semi-finals are contested at neutral venues; in the past these have usually been the home grounds of teams not involved in that semi-final, such as Villa Park in Birmingham, Old Trafford in Manchester and Hillsborough in Sheffield.

The 1991 semi-final between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur was the first to be played at Wembley, the traditional venue for the FA Cup Final. Two years later both semi-finals were held at Wembley after the Steel City derby between Sheffield clubs Wednesday and United was switched from the original venue of Elland Road, Leeds. This was repeated in 1994, although a replay between Manchester United and Oldham Athletic was held at Maine Road, Manchester.

From 1995 to 1999 and from 2001 to 2004 other neutral grounds were used, though in 2000 both matches were played at the old Wembley, in its final year of operation. In 2005 both semi-finals were played at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. However, in 2006 the FA decided to revert to the neutral ground system, with Villa Park and Old Trafford hosting the games.

In 2003, it was announced that all future semi-finals would be played at the new Wembley Stadium, once it had opened;^[1] this took effect in 2008. The decision was mainly for financial reasons, to allow the FA to recoup some of the costs of rebuilding the stadium. However, the move was to the disappointment of traditionalists and drew criticism from some supporters' groups.^[2][3]

Format

Highfield Road in Coventry (1982 image) hosted the only semi-final third replay in 1979–80.

In the past a replay match was played if the first semi-final ended in a draw. If the replay match also ended in a draw a second replay match would take place. In theory an unlimited number of games could be played to determine the outcome of a tie. For example, in 1980 it took four games to decide the winner between Arsenal and Liverpool. This is the most games needed to settle an FA Cup Semi-final, although there were several occasions where three games were played. Prior to the 1992 semi-finals, the only semi-final played under different rules to this was the rearranged 1989 semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, for which it had been declared in advance that the game would be decided by extra-time and penalties if necessary.

In 1991 the FA decided that only one replay should be played (starting with the 1991–92 competition). If this game ended in a draw, extra time would be played, followed by penalty kicks if the match was still even. In 1999 it was decided that the semi-finals should be decided in one game, with extra time and penalties used to determine the outcome if the game ended in a draw (replays are still used in earlier rounds, however). The last FA Cup Semi-final replay, in 1999, saw Manchester United take on Arsenal at Villa Park. This turned out to become one of the most memorable semi-finals of all time, with Peter Schmeichel saving a last-minute penalty from Dennis Bergkamp and a Ryan Giggs extra time goal deciding the outcome in Manchester United's favour. In 2003 this goal was voted the greatest ever in FA Cup history.

Queen's Park chose not to contest the 1871–72 replay match with Wanderers. There were no semi-finals played in the 1872–73 competition, while between 1877–1881 only one semi-final was played.

The 1989 semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough, Sheffield, turned into tragedy when 96 supporters were killed in the stands due to overcrowding. The Hillsborough disaster had wide-ranging effects on future stadium design.

Records

Villa Park in Birmingham hosted 55 semi-final matches between 1901 and 2007, more than any other stadium.

Villa Park is the most used stadium in FA Cup semi–final history, having hosted 55 semi–finals.

The highest attendance for an FA Cup semi-final is 88,141 for Everton's penalty win over Manchester United on 19 April 2009.^[4] It was the fourth semi-final to be played at the new Wembley Stadium.

The highest winning margin was Newcastle United's 6–0 victory over Fulham in the 1908 Anfield semi-final. The highest post-war winning margin was Stoke City's 5–0 victory over Bolton Wanderers in the second 2011 semi-final on 17 April 2011. The highest-scoring match was Hull City's 5–3 victory over Sheffield United in the second 2014 semi-final.

List of FA Cup semi-finals

Semi-final Key

1870s

¹ Queen's Park could not afford a second trip to London for their semi-final replay and were forced to withdraw
² Queen's Park once again withdrew from the FA Cup at the semi-final stage.

1880s

1890s

1900s

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Semi-finals table

Playing the first of their 28 semi-finals, Woolwich Arsenal (in dark shirts) faced Newcastle United (in striped shirts) at the Victoria Ground, Stoke in 1906.

Arsenal against Blackburn Rovers was one of the 2005 semi-finals held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, taking the fixture out of England for the first time since 1885.

The pre-match line-ups at Villa Park for Middlesbrough versus West Ham United, 2006

Blackburn Rovers v Chelsea at Old Trafford in 2007: the last FA Cup semi-final before the event was moved to the new Wembley Stadium.

Arsenal versus Chelsea in 2009 was one of several London derbies held at the national stadium

Manchester clubs City and United have reached the FA Cup semi-final a combined 40 times. The Manchester derby has twice been a semi-final.

In amongst Hull City fans at the 2014 all-Yorkshire semi-final against Sheffield United

Teams shown with an asterisk beside their name are no longer in existence. This table is updated after 2016–17 FA Cup.

Venues

Semi-finals were held at Sheffield Wednesday's home ground Hillsborough for 85 years.

Maine Road (1985 image), dubbed the Wembley of the North, was used for semi-finals between 1928 and 1994.

In the 19th century, seventeen FA Cup semi-final matches were held at the Kennington Oval (1891 image).

Bramall Lane (1965 photo) hosted 17 semi-finals from 1889 to 1938; Sheffield has been host city on 51 occasions.

The original Wembley Stadium began hosting semi-finals in 1991 with the North London derby.

Meadow Lane, The City Ground and Trent Bridge in 2003: the extant three of Nottingham's four FA Cup semi-final hosts.

Venues that no longer exist or regularly host football matches are denoted with an asterisk.

See also

• FA Cup
• FA Cup Final
• FA Cup Third-fourth place matches
• Hillsborough Disaster

Notes

References

• FA Cup statistics