England’s FA Cup is the oldest football competition in the world and this season it has returned for the 138th time.
The tournament involves teams from the 10th level of the English football pyramid to the top and will see a total of 736 teams take part.
With a rich history stretching back to the 19th century, there have been plenty of moments to savour through the years and clubs will be eager to dabble in the ‘Magic of the Cup’.
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Reigning champions Chelsea and the tournament’s most successful side Arsenal were both knocked out at the hands of Premier League rivals Manchester United.
With one-off knockout games there is always, however, a chance of a ‘giant killing’.
With the 2018-19 edition under way, Goal brings you everything you need to know about this season’s FA Cup.
When did the FA Cup start & when is the final?
The first round proper of this season’s FA Cup began on Friday November 9, 2018 with 48 clubs from League One and League Two entering at that stage.
Premier League and Championship clubs do not enter the competition until the third round proper, which began on the weekend of Saturday January 5, 2019.
Before the first round proper, there were a number of qualifying rounds involving teams from the lower rungs of English football, beginning with the extra preliminary qualifying round, which was played on August 10.
Including the extra preliminary round, there were a total of six qualifying rounds before teams from the Football League enter.
The 2019 FA Cup final is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 18 and it will be held at Wembley.
FA Cup quarter-final
The draw for the FA Cup quarter-final round took place on February 18 with Manchester United having knocked out defending champions Chelsea in the fifth round with a 2-0 victory.
Wolves will host the Red Devils at Molineux, while Manchester City will travel to Swansea.
Fixtures set to take place the weekend of March 16-17.
*Dates subject to change.
FA Cup fifth round
FA Cup fifth round draw took place on January 28 following the likes of Everton getting knocked out by Championship side Millwall and West Ham also suffering an early exit at the hands of League One stragglers Wimbledon.
Chelsea hosted Manchester United at Stamford Bridge in a repeat of last season’s final.
Fixtures set to take place the weekend of February 15-18.
*Dates subject to change.
FA Cup fourth round
FA Cup fourth round draw took place on January 7 following Liverpool’s shock defeat at newly-promoted Premier League side Wolves.
Arsenal hosted Manchester United at the Emirates in the biggest match-up of the draw, with the Red Devils knocking out the North Londoners in an emphatic 3-1 away victory.
Fixtures set to take place the weekend of January 25-28 .
FA Cup fourth-round replays
*Dates subject to change.
FA Cup third round
The FA Cup third round draw was made on December 3, with Wolves vs Liverpool and Bournemouth vs Brighton the only two all-Premier League meetings.
The matches took place between January 4 and 7, with Wolves pulling off the upset of the tie after seeing Premier League leaders Liverpool off at Molineux.
FA Cup third-round replays
*Dates subject to change.
FA Cup second round
The second-round draw of the FA Cup took place on November 12 following the conclusion of the first round.
At that point, forty teams remained in the competition as sides fought it out for a place in round three, which is when sides from the Premier League and the Championship enter the fray.
The round required five games to go to a replay.
FA Cup second-round replays
FA Cup first round
The first-round draw of the FA Cup took place on Monday following the conclusion of the fourth qualifying round, which wrapped up on the weekend of October 20.
Forty-eight teams from League One and League Two enter the competition at this stage, where they will join the 32 winners from the previous round.
Among those in the pot are two teams from the seventh tier of English football, Southern League Premier Division side Metropolitan Police and Isthmian Premier’s Haringey Borough, and Weston Super-Mare of the sixth-tier National League South.
FA Cup first-round replays
FA Cup TV channel & stream
The FA Cup will be broadcast on the BBC and BT Sport in the United Kingdom.
Both networks will air the final and will share the rest of the competition, taking turns to select the games they wish to broadcast.
All matches shown by the BBC and BT Sport will be available to stream on their respective websites and apps.
In the United States, the rights to the FA Cup are owned by ESPN, but the games will exclusively be streamed online via ESPN+.
That means the games will not be shown live on television in the US.