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The 1912–13 FA Cup was the 42nd season of the world's oldest association football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (more usually known as the FA Cup). Aston Villa won the competition for the fifth time, beating Sunderland 1–0 in the final at Crystal Palace, London. Villa's triumph ended a series of new FA Cup winners which had occurred since 1909.

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.^[1]

The 12 teams winning through to the first round proper from the fifth qualifying round were Glossop and Stockport County from the Football League Second Division, as well as non-league sides Rochdale, Halifax Town, Gillingham, London Caledonians, Barrow, Southend United, South Shields, Croydon Common, Chesterfield and Gainsborough Trinity. Rochdale, Halifax Town and South Shields qualified for the main competition for the first time, while London Caledonians had not appeared at this stage since 1887-88.

Of the 86 clubs entered in this season's extra preliminary round, the most successful were Willenhall Pickwick and Kingston-on-Thames who both progressed to the fourth qualifying round. Willenhall's vanquished opponents included non-league heavyweights Brierley Hill Alliance and Worcester City before they went out to Stockport County, while Kingston-on-Thames had wins over Dorking and Nunhead before losing to Southall at Western Road.

37 of the 40 clubs from the First and Second Divisions joined the 12 clubs who came through the qualifying rounds. The other three League clubs, Glossop, Stockport County and Lincoln City were entered in the fourth qualifying round, with Lincoln going out in the fifth qualifying round to South Shields.

To bring the number of teams up to 64, fifteen Southern League First Division clubs were given byes to the first round. These were: Swindon Town, Southampton, Reading, Northampton Town, Stoke, West Ham United, Norwich City, Queens Park Rangers, Bristol Rovers, Portsmouth, Brighton & Hove Albion, Coventry City, Plymouth Argyle, Millwall and Crystal Palace.

The 32 matches were played on various dates between Saturday 11 January and Saturday 18 January 1913, with nine replays and a second replay being played on various dates between Wednesday 15 January and Wednesday 22 January.

Source:^[2]

+ ^{Match played at Stamford Bridge}

15 of the 16 second-round matches were played on Saturday 1 February 1913. Four matches were drawn, with the replays taking place in the following midweek . One of these went to a second replay the following week.^[2]

+ match played at neutral venue (Stamford Bridge).

The eight third-round matches were played on Saturday 22 February 1913. There were two replays, played in the following midweek.^[2]

The four fourth-round (quarter-final) matches were played on 8 March 1913. There was one replay, the Tyne-Wear derby between Newcastle United and Sunderland, played on 12 March. This went to a second replay, which Sunderland won.^[3]

The semi-finals were played on 29 March 1913. The Burnley–Sunderland match went to a replay, which Sunderland won, going on to meet Aston Villa in the final.^[3]

Replay

The final was contested by Aston Villa and Sunderland on 19 April 1913 at London's Crystal Palace. Aston Villa won 1–0, with a goal by Tommy Barber assisted by a crossed ball from Charlie Wallace. Wallace had earlier missed a penalty, something that would not occur again in FA Cup Final, until the 1988 final between Wimbledon and Liverpool.

19 April 1913
15:00 BST

Aston Villa	1–0	Sunderland
Tommy Barber 78'

Crystal Palace

Attendance: 121,919

Referee: Mr. A. Adams (Nottingham)

Aston Villa

Sunderland