About The FA Women's Cup

Almost exactly a hundred years after the men’s inaugural FA Cup Final was played at Kennington Oval, the first Women’s FA Cup competition took place in the 1970-71 season under the auspices of the now-defunct Women’s FA.

The 71 entrants to the new competition were placed in eight geographical groups and they included a sprinkling of teams from both Scotland and Wales. Southampton beat Scottish side Stewarton 4-1 in The Final at the Crystal Palace National Recreation Centre in London.

The FA took over the running of the competition before the 1993-94 season. It was now called “The FA Women’s Challenge Cup” and there was an initial entry of 147 teams (this season’s competition accepted 306 entrants). Doncaster Belles defeated Knowsley United 1-0 in The Final, watched by 1,674 fans at Scunthorpe United’s Glanford Park ground.

Hope Powell, the England Women’s Head Coach, starred for Croydon in their Final win over Liverpool at The Den in 1996. Hope started the game in midfield and scored the south Londoners’ only goal as the game finished 1-1 after extra-time. In goal for Liverpool that day was 15-year-old Rachel Brown, now Everton and England’s No.1. Powell also tucked away her spot-kick as Croydon ran out 3-2 winners.

In 2001 a then-record crowd of 13,824 turned up at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park home to watch a London derby between Arsenal, the established favourites, and Fulham, the young pretenders. The Fulham professionals missed a penalty and England striker Angie Banks grabbed the goal that won The Cup for Arsenal.

But Fulham would not be denied for long and they did manage to get their hands on the trophy a year later. A BBC TV audience of 2.5 million saw them beat the Belles 2-1, again at Selhurst Park, and they retained the trophy at the same ground after a comprehensive 3-0 win against Charlton Athletic in 2003.

Scottish international striker Julie Fleeting scored a superb hat-trick in the rain at Loftus Road as Arsenal lifted The Cup in the following season. Once again Charlton lost by a 3-0 scoreline. Remarkably, Julie had played for Scotland against world champions Germany on the previous day – and scored her 88th international goal.

Eniola Aluko, an 18-year-old A-level student, hit a fairytale winner as Charlton made it third time lucky at Upton Park in The 2005 Final against Everton. Three days after pulling out of the England squad to concentrate on her revision, Eniola cooly struck the 58th-minute goal that won The Cup for the Addicks. The youngster enthused: “It was the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life”.

Holders Arsenal have now won five of the last six competitions and they have a record haul of ten Final victories. A record crowd of 24,582 saw them defeat Leeds United 4-1 in the 2008 showpiece in Nottingham.

Previous Finals