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
2004–05 FA Cup qualifying rounds First Round Proper, where League teams tiered at Levels 3 and 4 entered the competition. See 2004-05 FA Cup for details of the rounds from the First Round Proper onwards. 2004–05 FA Cup qualifying rounds The 2004–05 FA Cup Qualifying Rounds opened the 124th season of competition in England for 'The Football Association Challenge Cup' (FA Cup), the world's oldest association football single knockout competition. A total of 661 clubs were accepted for the competition, unchanged from the previous season. The large number of clubs entering the tournament from lower down (Levels 5 through 10) in the English football pyramid