FA Cup history

The FA Cup is the oldest football competition in the world - and one of the most prestigious. The current holders Manchester City beat Stoke City at Wembley on 14 May 2011 to come out top of the 762 teams who entered the draw.

First held in the 1871-72 season, one of the most enthralling aspects of the Cup is the prospect for seeing Premisership teams playing lowly opposition - and in a few cases coming off second best.

Tales of FA Cup giant-killing are legend in the game - in the 1988-89 season non-league Sutton United beat then top-flight Coventry City.

And in one of the most famous finals of all time, on 14 May 1988, unfancied Wimbledon beat the all-conquering Liverpool side of the eighties 1-0 causing one of the biggest-ever shocks in football history.

The game also goes down as the first time that a penalty was saved in the final, when Wimbledon captain Dave Beasant kept out John Aldridge’s shot.

There are a total of 14 rounds in the competition - six qualifying rounds, six rounds ‘proper’, two semi-finals and the final. The big guns first take part in November when those non-league teams which have battled their way into the draw, will be praying for a glamour tie against one of the Premiership teams - and the payday that goes with it.

And who’d bet against there being a few more upsets this year.