1996–97 FA Cup 1996–97 FA Cup The 1996–97 FA Cup (known as The FA Cup sponsored by Littlewoods for sponsorship reasons) was the 116th season of the FA Cup. The tournament started in August 1996 for clubs from non-league football and the competition proper started in October 1996 for teams from the Premier League and the Football League. The tournament was won by Chelsea with a 2–0 victory over Middlesbrough in the final at Wembley stadium. The First Round featured those non-league teams who had come through the qualifying rounds and the teams from the third and fourth tiers of the English football
2008 FA Cup Final 1927 and Portsmouth in 1939. Had Cardiff won, they would have been the first club from outside the top division of English football to have won the competition since West Ham United in 1980. The match had an attendance of 89,874, a record which still stands as the largest ever for an FA Cup Final at the new Wembley Stadium. For winning the competition, Portsmouth received £1 million in prize money, as well as qualification to the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, their first foray into European football. It was suggested prior to the game that Cardiff City would not have been