1999 FA Cup Final three league games all season. They had also qualified for the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final against Bayern Munich, due to be played four days later on 26 May, and were unbeaten in their previous 31 matches in all competitions. By contrast, Newcastle United had finished 13th out of the 20 teams in the Premier League, and had been knocked out of the Cup Winners' Cup in the first round and the League Cup in the fourth round. It was Newcastle's second consecutive appearance in the FA Cup Final – having lost 2–0 to Arsenal in 1998 – and their
1999 FA Cup Final saw them face Premier League opposition in every round except the Fifth, and also the last ever FA Cup semi-final replay, against the Cup holders from the previous season, Arsenal; Manchester United won the replay 2–1 after a 0–0 draw in the original match. Meanwhile, Newcastle beat Tottenham Hotspur 2–0 in their semi-final. Since Manchester United qualified for the 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League as title holders and winners of the 1998–99 FA Premier League, England's place in the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup, now reserved for the FA Cup winners following the dissolution of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup at the end