1908–09 FA Cup

Tournament details
Country	England  Wales
Defending champions	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Final positions
Champions	Manchester United (1st title)
Runner-up	Bristol City
← 1907–08 1909–10 →

The 1908–09 FA Cup was the 38th staging of the world's oldest association football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (more usually known as the FA Cup). Manchester United won the competition for the first time, beating Bristol City 1–0 in the final at Crystal Palace, through a goal from Sandy Turnbull.

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 replay would take place at the stadium of the second-named team later the same week. If the replayed match was drawn further replays would be held at neutral venues until a winner was determined. If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played in a replay, a 30-minute period of extra time would be played.

The format of the FA Cup for the season had two preliminary rounds, five qualifying rounds, four proper rounds, and the semi-finals and final.

An extra preliminary round of seven ties, featuring 14 clubs from the north-west of England, was required at the beginning of this year's tournament to accommodate the growing popularity of association football in that region. The round included former Football League side Darwen and future League members Southport, Nelson and Macclesfield Town but Colne was the most successful club from this stage, progressing to the third qualifying round before losing to Accrington Stanley.

The 12 teams winning through to the competition proper from the fifth qualifying round were Gainsborough Trinity and Chesterfield from the Football League Second Division, along with non-league sides Carlisle United, Wrexham, Luton Town, Workington, Croydon Common, Hastings & St Leonards United, Lincoln City, Exeter City, Watford and Kettering. Exeter City and Croydon Common were making their first appearances in the main draw, while Wrexham had not successfully navigated the qualifying rounds since 1888-89 and Workington had not featured in the first round since 1887-88. Workington's success also meant that, for the first time, two clubs from Cumberland were featuring in the main FA Cup competition.

37 of the 40 clubs from the First and Second divisions joined the 12 clubs who came through the qualifying rounds. Of the League sides not given byes to this stage, Bradford Park Avenue was entered in the fourth qualifying round, but lost to Croydon Common in the fifth qualifying round, while Chesterfield and Gainsborough Trinity were entered in the fifth qualifying round.

Fifteen other non-league sides were given byes to the first round to bring the total number of teams up to 64. These were:

Stoke, having resigned from the Football League, was competing in the Birmingham & District League while the rest were Southern League First Division members.

32 matches were scheduled to be played on Saturday, 16 January 1909, except for one game which was played three days later. Ten matches were drawn and went to replays in the following midweek fixture, of which one went to a second replay.

The sixteen second round matches were played on Saturday, 6 February 1909. Six matches were drawn, with the replays taking place in the following midweek fixture.

The eight third-round matches were scheduled for Saturday, 20 February 1909. There were two replays, played in the following midweek fixture.

The four quarter final matches were scheduled for Saturday, 6 March 1909, although only two games were played on this date. The Burnley–Manchester United (the game was played 5 March and was abandoned for bad weather conditions after 72 minutes at 1-0 for Burnley) and Derby County–Nottingham Forest ties were played instead four and seven days later, respectively. The other two games were drawn, and replayed on 10 March.

The semi-final matches were played on Saturday, 27 March 1909. Bristol City and Derby County drew their match, and went on to replay it four days later. Bristol City won this tie, and so went on to meet the other semi-final winner, Manchester United, in the final.

Replay

The final was played on 24 April 1909 at Crystal Palace, and was contested by Manchester United and Bristol City, both of the First Division. Manchester United won by a single goal, scored by Sandy Turnbull midway through the first half. This was the first of United's twelve FA Cup titles to date.

24 April 1909

15:30 UTC+0

Bristol City	0–1	Manchester United
	Report	S. Turnbull 22'

Crystal Palace, London

Attendance: 71,401

Referee: J. Mason (Staffordshire)^[1]

Bristol City

Manchester United[2]

• FA Cup final results 1872-

General

• Official site; fixtures and results service at TheFA.com
• 1908-09 FA Cup at rsssf.com
• 1908-09 FA Cup at soccerbase.com

Specific