The first ever women's cup began in 1970-71 season and was callled the Women's Football Association Mitre Challenge Trophy.
The inaugural men's cup final was played at the Kennington Oval nearly 100 years earlier in 1872.
The 71 entrants were placed in eight geographical groups including teams from Scotland and Wales. Southampton WFC met the Scottish side Stewarton and Thistle in the final played at London's Crystal Palace sports arena on the 9th May.
Southampton WFC won the game 4-1 with a hatrick from Pat Davies and a goal from Dot Cassell. There was very little media coverage of the historic occasion but the foundations were laid. Southampton WFC went on from this early victory to become the most successful team in the competition, winning the title eight times in the 70's and 80's.
The Doncaster Belles have competed in the finals a record 13 times, winning six.
The FA Competition's Department took over the running of the cup in the 1993-94 season with 147 clubs entering. The competition was renamed The FA Women's Challenge Cup. Doncaster Belles beat Knowsley United 1-0 in the final.
The 1999-2000 AXA FA Women's Cup was won by Croydon (now Charlton) when they beat Doncaster Belles 2-1 at Sheffield United's Bramall Lane. The game which was screened live by Sky, covered by Radio 5 and reported in all national papers.
In May 2001 a record attendance of 13,824 turned out at Crystal Palace FC to see a London derby between Arsenal and Fulham. The professionals of Fulham went down 1-0 to an Angie Banks goal, as Arsenal collected their second trophy in a phenomenal treble-winning season.
It wasn't long however, before the west London club got their hands on The Cup. In 2002 they beat Doncaster Belles 2-1, then retained the honour a year later with a 3-0 victory over Charlton Athletic at Selhurst Park.
The Cup stayed in London in 2004 when Julie Fleeting's hat-trick helped Arsenal to lift The Cup for the first time in three years. Charlton were the victims for a second year-running in the Loftus Road final.