2008–09 FA Youth Cup

The 2008–09 FA Youth Cup was the 57th FA Youth Cup. A record 474 clubs participated in the competition. The competition started in September 2008 with the preliminary round and concluded with the final on 22 and 26 May 2009.

2008–09 FA Youth Cup

Tournament details
Teams	474
Final positions
Champions	Arsenal
Runners-up	Liverpool
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

Arsenal knocked out holders Manchester City en route to the final, where they beat 2006 and 2007 winners Liverpool 6–2 on aggregate to lift the FA Youth Cup for the 7th time.

Calendar

Qualifying ties played in the week commencing; proper ties played by the closing date.

Round	Date	Fixture(s)	Clubs	New entries
Preliminary Round	8 September 2008	119	474 → 355	238
First Round Qualifying	15 September 2008	132	355 → 223	145
Second Round Qualifying	6 October 2008	66	223 → 157
Third Round Qualifying	20 October 2008	33	157 → 124
First Round	11 November 2008	40	124 → 84	47
Second Round	26 November 2008	20	84 → 64
Third Round	15 December 2008	32	64 → 32	44
Fourth Round	20 January 2009	16	32 → 16
Fifth Round	7 March 2009	8	16 → 8
Sixth Round	16 March 2009	4	8 → 4
Semi-finals	First leg: 16 April 2009 Second leg: 22 April 2009	2	4 → 2
Final	First leg: 22 May 2009 Second leg: 26 May 2009	1	2 → 1

First round

The League One and League Two teams will enter at this round except Notts County which did not apply, along with the winners of the previous round.

Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 1 Grimsby Town 0–1 Lincoln City 2 Bradford City 1–0 Scunthorpe United 172 3 Rochdale 1–0 Huddersfield Town 302 4 Hartlepool United 1–4 Carlisle United 116 5 Bury 0–2 Crewe Alexandra 237 6 Worksop Town 0–3 Rotherham United 91 7 Darlington 2 – 3(aet) Tranmere Rovers 210 8 Nantwich Town 5–0 Curzon Ashton 157 9 York City 2–3 Stockport County 155 10 Chester City 0–2 Leeds United 247 11 Macclesfield Town 4–1 Morecambe 89 12 Accrington Stanley 3–1 Wakefield 275 13 Fleetwood Town 0–3 Oldham Athletic 120 14 Shrewsbury Town 2–0 Chesterfield 110 15 Leicester City 2–1 Port Vale 330 16 Coventry Sphinx 2–3 Milton Keynes Dons 196 17 Solihull Moors 2–0 FCV Reds 95 18 Oadby Town 2–1 Hinckley United 110 19 Mansfield Town 3–2 Peterborough United 124 20 Rushden & Diamonds 1–2 Northampton Town 215

Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 21 Walsall 5–3 Hednesford Town 299 22 Millwall 2–0 Luton Town 23 Gillingham 3–0 Eastbourne Borough 425 24 Brighton & Hove Albion 5–1 Dover Athletic 88 25 Southend United 3 – 3(8–9p) Brentford 252 26 Stevenage Borough 2–3 Thurrock 122 27 Banbury United 1–2 Dagenham & Redbridge 203 28 Cambridge United 4–1 Colchester United 171 29 Lewes 2–0 Histon 187 30 Boreham Wood 0–5 Leyton Orient 151[1] 31 Hayes & Yeading United 1–2 Croydon Athletic 96 32 Burgess Hill Town 0–2 Wycombe Wanderers 205 33 Basingstoke Town 0–2 Barnet 172 34 Aldershot Town 1–4 Havant & Waterlooville 169 35 Didcot Town 2 – 2(1–4p) Cirencester Town 126[2] 36 Cheltenham Town 5–1 Newport County 232 37 AFC Bournemouth 0–1 Bristol Rovers 38 Swindon Town 4–1 Eastleigh 229 39 Yeovil Town 4–1 Hereford United 147 40 Woking 1 – 2(aet) Exeter City 147[3]

Second round

The winners from the first round matches will progress to second round.

Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 1 Accrington Stanley 0–3 Carlisle United 245 2 Oldham Athletic 2–0 Rotherham United 152 3 Walsall 4 – 3(aet) Rochdale 155 4 Solihull Moors 0–2 Tranmere Rovers 167 5 Nantwich Town 2–1 Macclesfield Town 478 6 Stockport County 3 – 3(2–4p) Crewe Alexandra 236 7 Lincoln City 3–1 Mansfield Town 105 8 Shrewsbury Town 2–0 Bradford City 135 9 Oadby Town 0–3 Leeds United 521 10 Leicester City 3–1 Milton Keynes Dons 292

Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 11 Swindon Town 3–0 Exeter City 175[4] or 350 12 Yeovil Town 1–2 Cirencester Town 144[5] 13 Cambridge United 0–2 Northampton Town 252 14 Lewes 3–0 Croydon Athletic 195 15 Barnet 3–1 Havant & Waterlooville 92 16 Brentford 6–2 Thurrock 253 17 Bristol Rovers 3–1 Brighton & Hove Albion 140 18 Millwall 5–1 Dagenham & Redbridge 372 19 Cheltenham Town 0–1 Gillingham 240 20 Wycombe Wanderers 1–2 Leyton Orient 215

Third round

The 20 Premier League and 24 Championship teams enter at this stage, along with the winners of the second round.

Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 1 Swansea City 0–3 Manchester City 945 2 Brentford 1–2 Middlesbrough 356 3 Manchester United 2–3 Chelsea 1,246 4 Cardiff City 3–0 Blackpool 325 5 Swindon Town 1–5 Crystal Palace 388[6] 6 Reading 0–1 Preston North End 303 7 Tottenham Hotspur 3–0 Sheffield United 2,662[7] 8 Portsmouth 2–1 Gillingham 166 9 Leyton Orient 0–4 Watford 328[8] 10 Barnsley 2–3 Walsall 130 11 Norwich City 1–0 Wigan Athletic 405 12 Sunderland 2–1 Cirencester Town 253[9] 13 Leeds United 1–2 Liverpool 908 14 Carlisle United 1–3 Crewe Alexandra 267 15 Sheffield Wednesday 1–3 Millwall 329 16 Coventry City 2 – 3(aet) Stoke City 335

Tie no Home team Score Away team Attendance 17 Ipswich Town 1–0 Shrewsbury Town 411 18 Bolton Wanderers 2–0 Doncaster Rovers 876 19 Burnley 3–1 West Bromwich Albion 470[10] 20 Northampton Town 0–3 Tranmere Rovers 212 21 Aston Villa 2–3 Arsenal 1,060 22 Southampton 3 – 1(aet) Derby County 327 23 Barnet 1–2 Bristol Rovers 72 24 Plymouth Argyle 2–1 Fulham 355 25 Newcastle United 2–1 Oldham Athletic 1,171 26 Lewes 1–2 Hull City 529[11] 27 Queens Park Rangers 5 – 3(aet) Bristol City 239 28 Everton 2–0 Nantwich Town 798 29 Birmingham City 2 – 1(aet) Lincoln City 136 30 Leicester City 2–3 Wolverhampton Wanderers 448 31 Charlton Athletic 2 – 1(aet) Blackburn Rovers 807 32 Nottingham Forest 3–1 West Ham United 472

Fourth round

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance
1	Ipswich Town	4 – 2(aet)	Crystal Palace	413[12]
2	Arsenal	3–1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	712[13]
3	Preston North End	0 – 1(aet)	Sunderland	565
4	Chelsea	5–1	Walsall	217
5	Queens Park Rangers	1–3	Newcastle United	517
6	Norwich City	1 – 1(4–2p)	Stoke City	817
7	Southampton	0–1	Watford	586
8	Plymouth Argyle	3–2	Millwall	443
9	Bristol Rovers	2 – 2(2–4p)	Liverpool	2,459
10	Bolton Wanderers	4–0	Hull City	947[14]
11	Burnley	1–3	Everton	478
12	Middlesbrough	1–2	Nottingham Forest	686
13	Charlton Athletic	0–3	Tottenham Hotspur	968[15]
14	Birmingham City	3–2	Crewe Alexandra	171
15	Portsmouth	0–1	Manchester City	276
16	Cardiff City	0 – 0(5–4p)	Tranmere Rovers	485

Fifth round

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance
1	Ipswich Town	2 – 3(aet)	Watford	1,823
2	Liverpool	1–0	Chelsea	2,193[16]
3	Sunderland	0–4	Arsenal	1,207[17]
4	Plymouth Argyle	0–3	Tottenham Hotspur	2,111[18]
5	Everton	1 – 1(1–3p)	Norwich City	249
6	Manchester City	4–2	Newcastle United	905[19]
7	Nottingham Forest	0–2	Bolton Wanderers	450
8	Cardiff City	0–2	Birmingham City	499

Quarter-finals

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Report	Attendance
1	Birmingham City	1–0	Watford	Report	2,404[20]
2	Manchester City	1–0	Norwich City	Report	3,254[21]
3	Tottenham Hotspur	1–3	Arsenal	Report	19,084[22]
4	Liverpool	4–2	Bolton Wanderers	Report	2,676

Semi-finals

First leg

18 March 2009

19:00 GMT

Manchester City	1–2	Arsenal
Nimely-Tchuimeni 41'	Report	Emmanuel-Thomas 71' Sunu 82'

City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester

Attendance: 2,615

Referee: Andy Penn (West Midlands)

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16 April 2009

19:00 BST

Birmingham City	0–3	Liverpool
	Report	Dalla Valle 12', 28' Amoo 24'

St Andrew's, Birmingham

Attendance: 4,238

Referee: Mark Haywood (West Yorkshire)

Second leg

22 April 2009

19:00 BST

Arsenal	4–1	Manchester City
Watt 1', 31' Wilshere 20' (pen.) Bartley 29'	Report	Benali 45'

Emirates Stadium, London

Attendance: 9,266

Referee: Keith Woolmer (Northamptonshire)

Arsenal won 6–2 on aggregate.

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24 April 2009

19:45 BST

Liverpool	3–1	Birmingham City
Dalla Valle 17', 58' Kačaniklić 53'	Report	Sammons 44'

Anfield, Liverpool

Attendance: 4,449

Referee: Clive W. Oliver (Northumberland)

Liverpool won 6–1 on aggregate.

Final

First leg

22 May 2009

20:00 BST

Arsenal	4–1	Liverpool
Sunu 21' Wilshere 35' (pen.) Watt 57' Emmanuel-Thomas 66'	Report	Kačaniklić 37'

Emirates Stadium, London

Attendance: 33,662

Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire)

Arsenal

Liverpool

ARSENAL: 1 James Shea 2 Craig Eastmond 3 Thomas Cruise 4 Kyle Bartley 5 Emmanuel Frimpong 6 Luke Ayling 7 Henri Lansbury 8 Francis Coquelin 9 Gilles Sunu 10 Jack Wilshere 11 Jay Emmanuel-Thomas (c) Substitutes: 12 Rhys Murphy 13 Charlie Mann 14 Sanchez Watt 15 Conor Henderson 16 Cedric Evina Manager: Steve Bould

LIVERPOOL: 1 Dean Bouzanis 2 Karl Clair 3 Christopher Buchtmann 4 Daniel Ayala 5 Joe Kennedy (c) 6 Andre Wisdom 7 David Amoo 8 Steven Irwin 9 Lauri Dalla Valle 10 Tom Ince 11 Alexander Kačaniklić Substitutes: 12 Nathan Eccleston 13 Deale Chamberlain 14 Michael Roberts 15 Alex Cooper 16 Jack Robinson Manager: Hughie McAuley

Second leg

26 May 2009

19:45 BST

Liverpool	1–2	Arsenal
Dalla Valle 52'	Report	Watt 25' Ayala 70' (o.g.)

Anfield, Liverpool

Attendance: 7,792

Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire)

Liverpool

Arsenal

LIVERPOOL: 1 Dean Bouzanis 2 Steven Irwin 3 Jack Robinson 4 Daniel Ayala 5 Joe Kennedy (c) 6 Andre Wisdom 7 David Amoo 8 Christopher Buchtmann 9 Lauri Dalla Valle 10 Tom Ince 11 Alexander Kačaniklić Substitutes: 12 Nathan Eccleston 13 Deale Chamberlain 14 Alex Cooper 15 Michael Roberts 16 Karl Clair Manager: Hughie McAuley

ARSENAL: 1 James Shea 2 Craig Eastmond 3 Thomas Cruise 4 Kyle Bartley 5 Francis Coquelin 6 Luke Ayling 7 Henri Lansbury 8 Jack Wilshere 9 Gilles Sunu 10 Sanchez Watt 11 Jay Emmanuel-Thomas (c) Substitutes: 12 Rhys Murphy 13 Charlie Mann 14 Conor Henderson 15 Oğuzhan Özyakup 16 Cedric Evina Manager: Steve Bould

Arsenal won 6–2 on aggregate.

See also

• 2008–09 Premier Academy League
• 2008–09 Premier Reserve League
• 2008–09 FA Cup
• 2008–09 in English football