1895–96 FA Cup

1895–96 FA Cup
	Sheffield Wednesday team members with the FA Cup
Tournament details
Country	England; Wales
Defending champions	Aston Villa
Final positions
Champions	The Wednesday (1st title)
Runner-up	Wolverhampton Wanderers
	← 1894–95 1896–97 →

The 1895–96 FA Cup was the 25th season of the world's oldest association football competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (more usually known as the FA Cup). The cup was won by The Wednesday, who defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers 2–1 in the final of the competition, played at Crystal Palace in London. This was Wednesday's first victory in the FA Cup.

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.

Calendar

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

Round	Start Date
Preliminary round	Saturday 5 October 1895
First round qualifying	Saturday 12 October 1895
Second round qualifying	Saturday 2 November 1895
Third round qualifying	Saturday 23 November 1895
Fourth round qualifying	Saturday 14 December 1895
First round proper	Saturday 1 February 1896
Second round proper	Saturday 15 February 1896
Third round proper	Saturday 29 February 1896
Semi-finals	Saturday 21 March 1896
Final	Saturday 18 April 1896

First round proper

The First Round Proper contained sixteen ties between 32 teams. The 16 First Division sides were given a bye to this round, as were Notts County, Darwen, Burton Wanderers, Liverpool, Newton Heath and Woolwich Arsenal from the Second Division. The other Second Division sides were entered into the first qualifying round. Of those sides, only Grimsby Town, Newcastle United, Crewe Alexandra and Burton Swifts qualified to the FA Cup proper. Non-league sides Blackpool, Chesterfield, Kettering, Tottenham Hotspur, Millwall Athletic and Southampton St Mary's also qualified, with Tottenham Hotspur and Kettering appearing at this stage for the first time.

The matches were played on Saturday, 1 February 1896. Two matches were drawn, with the replays taking place in the following midweek.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
1	Blackpool	4–1	Burton Swifts	1 February 1896
2	Chesterfield	0–4	Newcastle United	1 February 1896
3	Darwen	0–2	Grimsby Town	1 February 1896
4	Burnley	6–1	Woolwich Arsenal	1 February 1896
5	Liverpool	4–1	Millwall Athletic	1 February 1896
6	Stoke	5–0	Tottenham Hotspur	1 February 1896
7	Nottingham Forest	0–2	Everton	1 February 1896
8	Blackburn Rovers	1–2	West Bromwich Albion	1 February 1896
9	Wolverhampton Wanderers	2–2	Notts County	1 February 1896
Replay	Notts County	3–4	Wolverhampton Wanderers	5 February 1896
10	Crewe Alexandra	0–4	Bolton Wanderers	1 February 1896
11	Sunderland	4–1	Preston North End	1 February 1896
12	Derby County	4–2	Aston Villa	1 February 1896
13	Burton Wanderers	1–1	Sheffield United	1 February 1896
Replay	Sheffield United	1–0	Burton Wanderers	6 February 1896
14	Newton Heath	2–1	Kettering	1 February 1896
15	Small Heath	1–4	Bury	1 February 1896
16	Southampton St Mary's	2–3	The Wednesday	1 February 1896

Second round proper

The eight Second Round matches were scheduled for Saturday, 15 February 1896. There were three replays, played in the following midweek.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
1	Blackpool	0–2	Bolton Wanderers	15 February 1896
2	Burnley	1–1	Stoke	15 February 1896
Replay	Stoke	7–1	Burnley	20 February 1896
3	The Wednesday	2–1	Sunderland	15 February 1896
4	Grimsby Town	1–1	West Bromwich Albion	15 February 1896
Replay	West Bromwich Albion	3–0	Grimsby Town	20 February 1896
5	Wolverhampton Wanderers	2–0	Liverpool	15 February 1896
6	Everton	3–0	Sheffield United	15 February 1896
7	Newton Heath	1–1	Derby County	15 February 1896
Replay	Derby County	5–1	Newton Heath	19 February 1896
8	Newcastle United	1–3	Bury	15 February 1896

Third round proper

The four Third Round matches were scheduled for Saturday, 29 February 1896. There were no replays needed.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
1	The Wednesday	4–0	Everton	29 February 1896
2	Bolton Wanderers	2–0	Bury	29 February 1896
3	Wolverhampton Wanderers	3–0	Stoke	29 February 1896
4	Derby County	1–0	West Bromwich Albion	29 February 1896

Semi-finals

The semi-final matches were both played on Saturday, 21 March 1896. The Wednesday and Wolverhampton Wanderers went on to meet in the final at Crystal Palace.

21 March 1896

The Wednesday	1–1	Bolton Wanderers

Goodison Park, Liverpool

Replay

28 March 1896

The Wednesday	3–1	Bolton Wanderers

Town Ground, Nottingham

21 March 1896

Wolverhampton Wanderers	2–1	Derby County

Wellington Road, Birmingham

Final

The final took place on Saturday, 18 April 1896 at Crystal Palace. Less than 50,000 supporters attended the match. The match finished 2–1 to The Wednesday, through two early goals from Fred Spiksley. Between the two goals, David Black had equalised for Wolves.

Match details

18 April 1896

The Wednesday	2–1	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Spiksley 1' 18'		Black 8'

Crystal Palace, London

Attendance: 48,836

Referee: William Simpson

The Wednesday

Wolverhampton Wanderers^[1]

References

General

Specific

^ FA Cup Final kits, 1890-1899

[1] FA Cup Final kits, 1890-1899

[1]

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Finals	1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
History List of finals Semi-finals Final referees Winning managers Non-English clubs Scottish clubs Non-League clubs in the 5th Round Giant-Killing Award

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