The 2022–23 FA Youth Cup was the 71st edition of the FA Youth Cup.
The competition consisted of several rounds and was preceded by a qualifying competition, starting with two preliminary rounds which was followed by three qualifying rounds for non-League teams. The Football League teams entered the draw thereafter, with League One and League Two teams entered in the first round proper, and Premier League and Championship teams entered in the third round proper.
120 teams took part in the extra preliminary round. Eleven teams withdrew from the tournament in this phase, and as a result, eleven walkovers occurred. The draw for the round took place on 8 July 2022.[3]
448 teams took part in the preliminary round, with 60 teams having progressed from the previous round along with 388 new teams joining in this round. 30 teams withdrew from the competition resulting in walkovers, while Woodford Town was removed from the tournament on appeal for using an ineligible player. The draw for the round took place on 8 July 2022.[3]
224 teams took part in the first qualifying round, with the all winners from the previous round participating. There were two walkovers in this round, and two teams were removed from the competition. South Park and Tilbury withdrew from the competition. Reading City was removed from the competition for fielding an ineligible player,[6] and Lancaster City was removed for an unknown appeal. The draw for this round took place on 2 September 2022.[7] There were 28 teams from the tenth tier of the football pyramid as the lowest remaining teams in the competition.
136 teams took part in the second qualifying round, with all the winners from the previous round and 24 teams from the National League being added for this round.
46 League One and League Two teams entered the first round proper, with the 34 non-league winners from the qualifying rounds joining them for this round. Only Wycombe Wanderers and Crawley Town did not participate in the first round as they did not apply. Salford City and Barrow were originally drawn, but Barrow withdrew from the first round so Salford City won 3–0 on a walkover.[8]
Stadium: Fratton Park Attendance: 382[27] Referee: Jordan McRitchie
Third round
64 teams competed in the third round with the 44 Premier League and EFL Championship clubs appearing in this round along with the 20 winners from the previous round.
Stadium: Meadow Park Attendance: 749 Referee: Shaun Barry
Note: Originally scheduled for 14 December 2022, but was postponed due to a frozen pitch. Moved to December 17, 2022, then rearranged again to December 19, 2022.
Note: Originally scheduled for 13 December 2022, but was postponed due to a frozen pitch to December 15, 2022, then postponed again to December 21, 2022.
Stadium: Kingsmeadow Attendance: 619 Referee: Paul Barber
Fourth round
32 teams participated in the fourth round proper with all 32 winners from the previous round participating. The draw for the fourth round was made on 9 December 2022.[45]
Note: Match was Originally scheduled for January 10, 2023 but was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. Match will be played on January 13, 2023 instead.
Note: Match originally played at Clitheroe FC's Shawbridge was postponed due to a frozen pitch. Match was moved to January 24th, 2023 instead at Padiham FC. Match was then moved to Leyland County Ground because Padiham Pitch was still frozen.[48]
Note: Match was Originally scheduled for January 19, 2023 but was postponed due to a highly anticipated frozen pitch. Match will be played on January 25, 2023 instead.[49]
Note: Match was originally scheduled for January 19, 2023, but was postponed because of damage to the Main Stand's roof. The match was postponed a second time and moved the match one more day ahead as there was an unexpected freezing temperatures.[50][51]
Stadium: Plough Lane Attendance: 1,074[52] Referee: Jack Bloxham
Note: Match was postponed due to a few areas of the pitch being deemed frozen. Match was moved to February 1, 2023.
Fifth round
16 teams participated in the fifth round proper with the 16 winners from the previous round participating. The fifth round draw was made on 13 January 2023.[53]
Stadium: Kassam Stadium Attendance: 756 Referee: Matthew Scholes
Note: Match was postponed because of a frozen pitch. Match will be moved to next Wednesday.[54]
Quarter-finals
Eight teams participated in the quarter-finals with all eight winners from the previous round participating. The draw for the quarter-finals was made on 3 February 2023.[55]
Stadium: London Stadium Attendance: 7,000[58] or 6,904 Referee: Samuel Allison
Final
The winners of the semi-finals advanced to the final to determine the winner of the FA Youth Cup. The draw to determine the home team was made on 24 February 2023.[57] The match was played on 25 April.
