We took every tie of the competition proper, from the first round to the final, and gave each club its tier that season: 1 for the Premier League, 2 for the Championship, 3 and 4 for League One and League Two, 5 for the National League and so on down the pyramid. A giant-killing is any tie won by the lower-tier club, replays and shootouts included.
FA Cup giant-killings at a glance
- Lower-tier clubs won 692 of 2,614 ties against higher-tier opponents, 26.5 percent.
- Premier League clubs went out to lower-division sides 162 times, 5.4 a season, 19 percent of such ties.
- Non-league clubs beat league clubs 223 times in 955 meetings, 23 percent, about seven a season.
- No lower-tier club won a semi-final or a final in the period: 0 of 15 and 0 of 2.
How often lower-league teams win, round by round
Upsets are most common in the first round, 29.5 percent, where the gaps are usually one or two tiers. In the first two rounds together the lower-tier club won 28.6 percent of the time; from the third round, when the 20 Premier League and 24 Championship clubs come in, 24.0 percent.
The rate holds at around 22 percent in the fourth and fifth rounds, and 10 of 43 mixed quarter-finals went to the lower-tier club. Then it stops. The 15 semi-finals between clubs from different tiers all went to the higher one, including Chesterfield in 1997, Wycombe Wanderers in 2001 and Sheffield United in 2014, the three third-tier semi-finalists of the period.
The gap in divisions: from one tier to seven
The size of the gap matters more than the round. One tier apart, the lower club won 31.9 percent of the time; two tiers, 23.9 percent; three, 16.1 percent; four, 13.3 percent. Five tiers apart, it happened 3 times in 31 ties.
| Gap between the clubs | Ties | Lower-tier club won | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 tier | 1,431 | 456 | 31.9% |
| 2 tiers | 664 | 159 | 23.9% |
| 3 tiers | 361 | 58 | 16.1% |
| 4 tiers | 120 | 16 | 13.3% |
| 5 tiers | 31 | 3 | 9.7% |
| 6 or 7 tiers | 7 | 0 | 0.0% |
The seven ties across six or seven tiers all went to the bigger club. The widest gap of all came in the third round of 2020-21, when eighth-tier Marine hosted Tottenham Hotspur and lost 5-0.
The biggest FA Cup shocks by tier gap
Nineteen ties in 30 seasons were won by a club at least four tiers below its opponent. Thirteen came in the first two rounds, mostly non-league sides from the seventh and eighth tiers beating League One or League Two clubs. Three were five-tier gaps: Bedlington Terriers over Colchester United in 1998, Chasetown over Port Vale in 2007, and Macclesfield over Crystal Palace in January 2026.
That last one stands apart. Macclesfield, of the sixth-tier National League North, beat the holders 2-1 in the third round, a gap of 117 league places by the FA's count, and became the first non-league side to knock out the Cup holders in 108 years. They are the only club in our 30 seasons to beat a Premier League side from the sixth tier or lower; they lost 1-0 at home to Brentford in the fourth round.
| Season | Round | Winner (tier) | Beaten (tier) | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | Third round | Macclesfield (6) | Crystal Palace (1) | 2-1 |
| 2007-08 | Second round | Chasetown (8) | Port Vale (3) | 1-0, replay |
| 1998-99 | First round | Bedlington Terriers (8) | Colchester United (3) | 4-1 |
| 2016-17 | Fifth round | Lincoln City (5) | Burnley (1) | 1-0 |
| 2012-13 | Fourth round | Luton Town (5) | Norwich City (1) | 1-0 |
| 2023-24 | Fourth round | Maidstone United (6) | Ipswich Town (2) | 2-1 |
| 2020-21 | Third round | Chorley (6) | Derby County (2) | 2-0 |
| 2021-22 | Third round | Kidderminster Harriers (6) | Reading (2) | 2-1 |
| 2016-17 | Second round | Stourbridge (7) | Northampton Town (3) | 1-0 |
| 2004-05 | First round | Slough Town (7) | Walsall (3) | 2-1 |
| 2005-06 | First round | Burscough (7) | Gillingham (3) | 3-2 |
| 2008-09 | First round | Curzon Ashton (8) | Exeter City (4) | 3-2 |
| 2010-11 | First round | FC United of Manchester (7) | Rochdale (3) | 3-2 |
| 2014-15 | First round | Warrington Town (8) | Exeter City (4) | 1-0 |
| 2019-20 | First round | Maldon & Tiptree (8) | Leyton Orient (4) | 2-1 |
| 2020-21 | First round | Marine (8) | Colchester United (4) | 1-1, pens |
| 2022-23 | First round | Alvechurch (7) | Cheltenham Town (3) | 2-1 |
| 2023-24 | First round | Horsham (7) | Barnsley (3) | 3-0, replay |
| 2024-25 | First round | Kettering Town (7) | Northampton Town (3) | 2-1 |
How far non-league clubs have gone in the FA Cup
A non-league club reached the fourth round in 17 of the 30 seasons, and six clubs got as far as the fifth round. Lincoln City went furthest: in 2016-17 the National League club knocked out Championship sides Ipswich Town and Brighton & Hove Albion, then won 1-0 at Burnley to become the first non-league quarter-finalists since 1914. Arsenal ended the run 5-0. In the same season Sutton United beat Leeds United and also reached the last 16.
| Season | Club (tier) | Reached | Knocked out by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-11 | Crawley Town (5) | Fifth round | Manchester United |
| 2012-13 | Luton Town (5) | Fifth round | Millwall |
| 2016-17 | Lincoln City (5) | Quarter-final | Arsenal |
| 2016-17 | Sutton United (5) | Fifth round | Arsenal |
| 2021-22 | Boreham Wood (5) | Fifth round | Everton |
| 2023-24 | Maidstone United (6) | Fifth round | Coventry City |
Reaching the third round, where the top two divisions enter, is the usual target: 2017-18 is the only one of the 30 seasons with no non-league club there, and 2008-09 had eight. Two eighth-tier clubs made it, Chasetown in 2007-08 and Marine in 2020-21.
Premier League clubs knocked out by lower-league teams
Premier League clubs lost 162 ties to lower-tier opposition, 77 of them in the third round. The Championship did most of the damage, 102 times, followed by League One clubs with 43 and League Two clubs with 14. Only three non-league clubs did it: Luton Town against Norwich City in 2013, Lincoln City against Burnley in 2017 and Macclesfield against Crystal Palace in 2026.
The worst seasons for the top flight were 1999-00 and 2007-08, with 10 Premier League clubs knocked out by lower-division sides each; the mildest was 2015-16, with two.
Are there fewer FA Cup upsets than there used to be?
Our numbers do not show a decline. Split into three ten-season blocks, the lower-tier win rate was 25.1 percent, 27.4 percent and 26.9 percent, and Premier League clubs went out to lower-division sides 55, 54 and 53 times. Non-league wins over league clubs edged up, from 70 to 75 to 78.
Single seasons swing much more. The high was 2007-08, 31 upsets in 88 mixed ties, 35.2 percent, the season Barnsley knocked out Liverpool and Chelsea. The low was 1998-99, 16 in 88, 18.2 percent.
FA Cup replays scrapped: what changed for the underdog
From 2024-25, ties in the competition proper are settled on the day: the FA and the Premier League agreed in April 2024 to extend to every round proper the no-replay rule that already applied from the fifth round, and 35 ties went to penalties in the two seasons since. The qualifying rounds keep replays. Our data shows how replays had been cut back: the last quarter-final replay came in 2015-16, the last fifth-round replay in 2017-18 and the last third- and fourth-round replays in 2023-24. 2020-21, played during the pandemic, had none.
Replays were often called a second chance for the bigger club, but the numbers are not clear-cut. In the 27 seasons with replays the lower-tier club won 26.4 percent of mixed ties; in the two seasons since they were scrapped it won 26.3 percent, 46 of 175. Two seasons is too short a sample to call. Of the 19 mixed ties settled on penalties in those two seasons, the lower-tier club won 9.
The 2026-27 FA Cup so far
The 2026-27 competition has finished its qualifying rounds. A total of 743 clubs were accepted, and the fourth qualifying round on Saturday, October 17, with replays on Tuesday, October 20, left 32 non-league clubs. Stafford Rangers, of the eighth tier, beat fifth-tier Gateshead 5-0 in a replay, and seventh-tier Berkhamsted won 2-1 at Southend United. The first round is played across the weekend of Saturday, November 7, drawn on October 19; the lowest-ranked clubs left are two from the eighth tier, Stafford Rangers and AFC Rushden & Diamonds, per the qualifying results.
- First round proper: Saturday, November 7, 2026, when the 32 qualifiers meet the 48 League One and League Two clubs.
- Second round: Saturday, December 5, 2026.
- Third round: Saturday, January 9, 2027, when the Premier League and Championship clubs enter.
- Final: Saturday, May 22, 2027, at Wembley Stadium.
Follow every tie as the rounds are drawn on our FA Cup fixtures and results page, and the likely giant-killers in the Championship table, the League One table and the National League table. Our study of points needed for promotion from second divisions compares the Championship with other second tiers.
FA Cup giant-killings: frequently asked questions
How often does the lower-league team win in the FA Cup? In ties between clubs from different tiers, 26.5 percent of the time from 1996-97 to 2025-26: about one in three when the gap is a single division, one in ten when it is five.
What is the furthest a non-league club has gone in the FA Cup recently? The quarter-finals: Lincoln City in 2016-17, the first non-league side to get that far since 1914. Five other non-league clubs reached the fifth round in this period.
What is the biggest FA Cup giant-killing by tier gap? Five tiers, done three times: Bedlington Terriers over Colchester United in 1998, Chasetown over Port Vale in 2007 and sixth-tier Macclesfield over Premier League holders Crystal Palace in 2026.
Are there still replays in the FA Cup? Not in the competition proper since 2024-25: a tie level after 90 minutes goes to extra time and penalties. Replays remain in the qualifying rounds.
How this was built: all 3,689 ties of the FA Cup proper from 1996-97 to 2025-26, read from the Wikipedia FA Cup season articles through the MediaWiki API on October 7, 2026, with each club's tier as given there; for 1996-97 and 1997-98 we took the tiers of league clubs from the final Football League tables. Each season checks out with 24 third-tier and 24 fourth-tier clubs in the first round and 20 Premier League and 24 Championship clubs entering in the third. The winner of a tie is the club that played in the next round, so replays and shootouts count; Darlington's 1999-00 lucky-loser place and two expulsions (Bury in 2006-07, Droylsden in 2008-09, whose replay win over Chesterfield was overturned) follow the official result. 2026-27 facts were checked on October 7, 2026.