Cardiff City v Portsmouth
The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON
The Final
3pm, Saturday 17 May 2008
Wembley Stadium
Winning clubs will receive £1,000,000 from The FA
Seating plan - click here



Everyone is aware that both of this season's FA Cup Finalists are playing in their first Final for a very long time.

Cardiff City last featured 81 years ago, in 1927, when they took The Cup out of England after edging Arsenal 1-0 at the old Wembley.

Portsmouth were FA Cup winners 69 years ago, beating favourites Wolves at the same venue in 1939. Pompey kept the trophy through the war years, but hadn't reached the Final again before this year.

We checked to see if there were any similarities between those historic runs through to the Wembley showpiece and the current ones.

Portsmouth won five games out of five in both 1939 and 2008, i.e. without the need for any replays. And in each year they only conceded one goal.

But the stand-out similarity is that Pompey met West Bromwich Albion and Preston North End in both competitions!

Back in '39 they beat West Brom 2-0 at Fratton Park in the Fourth Round and Preston 1-0, also at home, in the Sixth Round. This time round it was a last-minute Darren Carter own goal that accounted for Preston in the Fifth Round and Nwankwo Kanu's tap-in that sank West Brom in the Wembley Semi.