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Women's FA Cup
Football tournament From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Women's FA Challenge Cup[1] is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football.[2][3] Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup, and now Women's FA Cup (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reasons).
Designed as an equivalent to the FA Cup in men's football, the competition began in 1970–71 as the Mitre Challenge Trophy, organised by the Women's Football Association (WFA).[4] There were 71 entrants, including teams from Scotland and Wales.[5]
The WFA ran the competition for the first 23 editions, during which time Southampton won the cup eight times. The Football Association (FA) began administering English women's football in mid-1993.[6]
Arsenal holds the record for most titles overall, having won fourteen times.[7] The current cup holders are Chelsea, who defeated Manchester United 3–0 in the 2025 final to win their sixth FA Cup title.[8]
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Name
The competition, founded in 1970, was sponsored as the Mitre Challenge Trophy until April 1976.[9]
As a Women's Football Association competition until 1992–93, it was known as the WFA Cup or more informally as the Women's FA Cup. After the running of the competition passed to the FA in 1993–94, the Association renamed it as the FA Women's Cup,[10][11] until 2015.[12][13] The name was officially reworded as the Women's FA Cup in June 2015,[14] before that year's final.[15][16] The tournament rules, as in the men's FA Cup, name it the Women's FA Challenge Cup.[1]
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History
Previous national cup competitions included the English Ladies Football Association Challenge Cup in 1922, won by Stoke Ladies.
The first women's Mitre Challenge Trophy matches were played in 1970,[17] and the first final was held on 9 May 1971 at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.[9] The WFA was initially named the Ladies Football Association of Great Britain,[9] and Scottish clubs were successful in reaching the first three finals of this tournament (albeit as runners-up). Two of these clubs were runners-up in England while also winning the Scottish Women's Cup in the same season, Stewarton Thistle in 1971 and Westthorn United in 1973.
Southampton Women's F.C. won eight of the first 11 WFA Cup competitions.
Doncaster Belles reached nearly every final between 1982–83 and 1993–94, and won the trophy six times.[18]
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Format
The current entry points as of the 2024–25 season:[19]
- the second qualifying round for Tier 5 teams (92 teams)
- the third qualifying round for FA Women's National League Division One teams (48 teams)
- the second round proper for FA Women's National League North & South Premier Division teams (24 teams)
- the third round proper for Women's Championship teams (11 teams)
- the fourth round proper for Women's Super League teams (12 teams)
All other clubs enter in the first qualifying round.
Trophies
The original Mitre Challenge Trophy has "disappeared", according to the WFA History records.[9] This cup was replaced in May 1979 when the Football Association donated a new trophy for the competition's winners, to mark the WFA's tenth anniversary.[9]
1970–71 cup winner Sue Lopez said it was suspected that a player "tucked it away somewhere in a trophy cabinet", and she was trying to locate the original cup for the National Football Museum in 2015.[20]
The current Women's FA Cup trophy was one of the first prestigious trophies to be made in the Thomas Lyte silver workshop.[21]
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List of finals
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The following is a list of Women's FA Cup seasons and final results.[22][23]
- Finalists are primarily clubs from England, unless denoted with
for Scotland. - Where a season's Final is marked in bold, it has a specific article for the match.
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Results by team
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Media coverage
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United Kingdom
In the late 1980s[28] and early 1990s,[29] television coverage of the WFA final was provided by Channel 4.
Between 2001 and 2008, the final of the tournament was covered by the BBC and presented by Celina Hinchcliffe, Rebecca Lowe, Ray Stubbs and Jake Humphrey; the punditry team was usually current players like Sue Scott and commentary usually by Steve Wilson and Lucy Ward or Faye White and always played on the May Day bank holiday. The final was also simulcast on BBC Radio 5 Live. In 2009, the final was shown on most of the stations in the ITV1 network, with commentary from Jon Champion and Lucy Ward. Sky Sports secured a three-year deal for live coverage from 2010 until 2012.[30]
The BBC then picked up the rights in 2013 and that lasted until 2025.
On 16 May 2025, the FA officially announced that coverage would be moved to TNT Sports and also make a return back to Channel 4. Under the deal, which lasts until the 2027–28 season, TNT Sports will air 19 matches including one match in the first round and one in the second round for the first time in history. Channel 4 will televise one match per round starting in the third round, with all five of Channel 4's selected matches, and the Final also airing on TNT Sports, with both broadcasters having their own presenters, pundits and commentary teams.[31]
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Sponsorship
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Sponsors of the original WFA competition (1970–1993) included Mitre,[4] Pony Wines and Mycil.[29]
In the FA competition, the sponsors have been UK Living (1995–1998), Axa (1998–2002), Nationwide Building Society (2002–2006) and E.ON[32][33] (2006–2011). From 2007, Tesco obtained additional branding and advertising rights through their partnership agreement with the FA.[34]
Despite sponsorship by these major companies, entering the tournament has actually cost clubs more than they often get in prize money. In 2015 it was reported that even if Notts County had won the tournament outright the paltry £8,600 winnings would leave them out of pocket.[35] The winners of the men's FA Cup in the same year received £1.8 million, with teams not even reaching the first round proper getting more than the women's winners.[36] In September 2020, the FA announced that health and life insurance and investment company VitalityHealth had signed a deal to become the sponsor of the competition until July 2023.[37]
In November 2023, after three years with Vitality, the FA announced that Adobe Inc. would become the sponsor of the competition for three years, through to July 2026. The partnership would focus on "increasing fan engagement and raising the profile of the competition". In addition, all 460 clubs that participate in the competition would gain access to, and training on Adobe Express, a graphic design tool.[38]
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Notes
- Staged as a curtain-raiser to Queens Park Rangers' 1981–82 Football League Second Division fixture against Bolton Wanderers.
See also
References
External links
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