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
1871–72 in English football 1871–72 in English football The world's first national-level football competition the Football Association Challenge Cup (now better known as the FA Cup), was played for the first time in 1871–72. As such, this marks 1871-72 as the first 'season' of English football, although the use of the term is an anachronism. Furthermore at that time, with no other football associations operating, the FA Cup attracted entrants from all over the UK; it was not for many years that both the FA and the FA Cup came to be solely English institutions. The first FA Cup final was won 1–0 by