FA Cup 2014-15

The 2014–15 FA Cup, also called the 2014–15 FA Challenge Cup is scheduled to be the 134th occurrence of the FA Cup, the main domestic cup in English football and the oldest knockout competition in the world. The main sponsor is not yet confirmed, the contract between The Football Association and Budweiser expired at the end of the 2013–14 season. It will be also the first season when the BBC and BT Sport hosted televised matches, seven years after the BBC lost the rights to ITV. The 2014–15 season's cup also marks the first time that 3G (third generation) artificial pitches are allowed in all rounds of the competition, designed to lower costs for maintenance. After Queens Park Rangers (the first English artificial pitch, from 1981 to 1988), Luton Town, Oldham Athletic and Preston North End trialled artificial pitches in the 1980s, they were made illegal in 1995.

The defending champions are Premier League side Arsenal, after they beat Hull City 3–2 in the previous final on 17 May 2014.

The winner of the FA Cup will earn automatic qualification to the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League group stages. If, however, the winner of the Cup is already qualified for the Champions League or Europa League (through position in domestic league), then the lowest place team in the 2014–15 Premier League not already Europe-qualified will claim this Europa League place. In a change to Europa League rules, qualifying slots for national cup winners no longer pass to the runners-up if the winners have already qualified through their league.

The semi-finals will take place at Wembley Stadium, as they have since 2008, to offset the cost of the new stadium, despite protestations from some supporters. The stadium will also host the final.

Qualifying rounds
All of the teams competing during the qualifying rounds that are not members of either the Premier League or the Football League had to compete in the qualifying rounds to win a place in the first round proper. The qualifying rounds continue until there are 32 teams left.