The Football Association the world—in 1871. Fifteen participating clubs subscribed to purchase a trophy. The very first Cup Final was held at The Oval on 16 March 1872, fought between the Wanderers and the Royal Engineers (RE), watched by 2,000 spectators. This competition was initially contested by mostly amateur teams but by the end of the 19th century it was dominated by professional teams that were mostly members of the Football League that had been founded in 1888 and expanded during the 1890s. After many years of wrangling between the London Association and the Sheffield Football Association, the FA Cup brought the acceptance
1895–96 FA Cup 1895–96 FA Cup The 1895–1896 FA Cup was the 25th season of the world's oldest association football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (more usually known as the FA Cup). The cup was won by The Wednesday, who defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers 2–1 in the final of the competition, played at Crystal Palace in London. This was Wednesday's first victory in the FA Cup. Matches were scheduled to be played at the stadium of the team named first on the date specified for each round, which was always a Saturday. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played, a