Football’s oldest and most prestigious competition is back on our screens this weekend as ITV and BT Sport present the First Round Proper of the 2013-14 FA Cup with Budweiser.
On one of the busiest weekends of the football calendar, minnow teams from the lower tiers of English football will vie to make their mark on this season’s competition as they take on big names from Leagues One and Two.
The 2013-14 competition began in August with the Extra Preliminary Round and featured 737 clubs from across England and Wales.
After a further five more rounds of qualifying, the FA Cup now reaches the First Round Proper and the road to Wembley begins for the 124 now left in the competition.
Three live First Round ties will be broadcast this weekend, two of which will shown on BT Sport as it begins to broadcast the world’s oldest domestic cup competition for the first time, while ITV screens one game in what will be its final season covering the FA Cup for the foreseeable future.
The current FA Cup holders are Championship side Wigan Athletic, who beat Manchester City 1–0 with a dramatic injury time winner by Ben Watson in the 2013 Final back in May.
Wigan were the first team to win the FA Cup and to be relegated from the Premier League in the same season, it was also the first time that they had won the FA Cup in their history.
They will enter the competition in the third round in the first weekend of January 2014, alongside all the Premier League and Championship teams.
Follow the road to Wembley with ITV and BT Sport’s comprehensive coverage throughout the 2013/14 season.
ITV will broadcast the pick of the first and second round games while new FA Cup rights holders BT Sport will screen at least two live matches during the opening two rounds, as well as replays if required.
From rounds three to six, ITV will show the 1st and 4th pick games, with BT Sport holding the 2nd, 3rd and fifth choice matches (excluding round six).
The first pick of the replays during this phase of the competition will be shown on ITV, while additional replays will be broadcast by BT Sport.
ITV also has first pick of the semi-finals with the other screened by BT Sport.
Both channels will share live coverage of the 2014 FA Cup Final at Wembley on Saturday, May 17.
This will be the last season in which ITV will screen live FA Cup games for at least the next four years after the BBC regained terrestrial TV rights to the competition from 2014 to 2018.
Full details of when and where to watch all three live FA Cup 4th Round ties on TV below:
.
.
|
Bishop’s Stortford v Northampton Town Sunday 10 November |
14:00 |
|
ITV will kick off its live coverage of the 2013/14 FA Cup with Budweiser with the clash between Bishop’s Stortford and Northampton Town.
Bishop’s Stortford’s reward for their Fourth Round Qualifying win at Forest Green Rovers is a date with the struggling League Two side.
Rod Stringer’s Conference South outfit sealed their place in the hat for the First Round proper thanks to captain Reece Prestedge’s second-half strike against their Conference Premier rivals.
After Gerard Houllier and Ray Parlour paired them with League Two Northampton Town in the first round draw, ITV selected the encounter in Hertfordshire as their game of the round.
Only a superior goal-difference over Accrington Stanley keeps the Cobblers off the foot of the Football League.
A trip to the ProKit UK Stadium on Sunday, November 10, will therefore represent a tricky afternoon for Aidy Boothroyd’s men against the high-flying Blues.
As well as a chance to appear live of national television, Bishop’s Stortford’s opponents are currently struggling in League Two, meaning there be an opportunity for another famous cup upset.
Adrian Chiles presents ITV’s live coverage from Woodside Park, while commentary comes from Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend.
The draw for the Second Round of the competition will be conducted after ITV’s live game at approximately 4.15pm, presented by Mark Pougatch from Wembley Stadium.
In addition to the live game, the best of the action from Saturday’s First Round ties will be shown in a special 90-minute highlights programme on ITV at 10.50pm, presented by Matt Smith.
A further highlights show on Sunday at 10.35pm will round-up the weekend’s action, plus reaction to the Second Round draw.
.
|
AFC Wimbledon v Coventry City Friday 8 November |
19:45 |
|
|
Shortwood United v Port Vale Monday 11 November |
19:45 |
|
BT Sport launches its FA Cup coverage with two live games from the First Round this weekend.
The new channel’s first live game sees two teams with a rich FA Cup heritage, noted for giant-killings of their own, and both will kick-off a busy weekend of action in the world’s oldest domestic cup competition.
AFC Wimbledon, whose predecessor Wimbledon FC famously beat Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup Final, entertain Coventry City at the Kingsmeadow Stadium.
The Dons, who only formed in 2002, have enjoyed a rapid rise with five promotions in nine seasons, are now managed by former Wimbledon FC favourite, Neal Ardley.
For League One side Coventry City, winners back in 1987 after memorably beating Tottenham Hotspur 3-2, it has been a turbulent season having moved their home ground from the Ricoh Arena to Northampton Town’s Sixfields Stadium, but they will be looking to build on an unbeaten run during October.
Then on Monday night, the lowest ranked team left in this season’s FA Cup, Shortwood United, will feature in BT Sport’s second live tie from the First Round when they take on Port Vale at the Meadowband Ground.
The minnows from the Southern League Division One South & West shocked Aldershot 2-1 in a replay on Tuesday to book a place against their League One opponents.
Shortwood had been on the verge of exiting the competition last Saturday before Sean Lawson’s last gasp penalty forced a replay back at Aldershot.
Goals from Darren Culley and Adam Mann humbled the Conference side on Tuesday and put the Woods in the national spotlight.
Commenting on the launch of BT Sport’s FA Cup coverage, channel boss Simon Green said: “The FA Cup First round is one of the very best moments in the sporting calendar, pitting non-league sides who in some cases have played several qualifying rounds already, against League One and League Two sides wary of a headline-grabbing upset.
“BT Sport will look to bring fans the very unique atmosphere and experience of these early FA Cup rounds in our inaugural FA Cup with Budweiser season.”
.
.
ITV′s live match coverage, as well additional video clips, interviews and analysis, is available to watch for free via the ITV football website.
BT Sport subscribers can watch the channel’s live matches on BT Sport 1 via its online streaming service at btsport.com or on the BT Sport app for mobile and tablet devices.
Keep up to date with all the latest FA Cup reports, goal flashes and results by following ITV Football on Twitter (@itvfootball) and BT Sport’s feed (@BTSport).
Online streaming available to UK users only.
.
.
The FA Cup draw returns to Wembley Stadium this Sunday and will feature two former players who made their names with clubs from the capital – Tore Andre Flo and Perry Groves.
Flo had only just broken into the Norwegian national squad when he left Brann for Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge in 1997.
The Norwegian would go on to make over 100 appearances for Chelsea, playing under Ruud Gullit and Gianluca Vialli, before heading north to sign for Glasgow Rangers.
He also picked up a FA Cup winner’s medal as a second-half sub in Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Aston Villa in 2000.
Flo, who scored for Norway in a 2-1 win over Brazil at the 1998 World Cup, would end his UK football career with MK Dons.
The League One side will be hoping that they are in the Second Round draw on Sunday – they play Halifax Town from the Conference Premier at Stadium:mk on Saturday.
Flo will be joined by former Arsenal midfielder Groves, who was nominated for the draw by talkSPORT’s Colin Murray Show this week.
Groves made his name at George Graham’s Arsenal in the mid-Eighties and was in the squad that famously won the Division One title at Anfield in 1989 before lifting the championship again two years later.
Groves began his career at Colchester United who will be looking to get past Nigel Clough’s Sheffield United in the First Round on Saturday.
The FA Cup Second Round draw will be presented by Mark Pougatch at Wembley and will take place on ITV at 4.10pm, following their live broadcast tie between Bishop’s Stortford and Northampton Town, which kicks off at 2.00pm.
Second round ties will be played over the weekend of December 7-8.
.
DRAW NUMBERS
|
. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 |
. Morecambe or Southend Utd Walsall Boreham Wood or Carlisle Mansfield Town Milton Keynes Dons Bristol Rovers or York City Tamworth Grimsby Town or Scunthorpe Bury or Cambridge Utd Dover Athletic Sheffield United Oxford United or Gateshead Hartlepool United Wrexham Chesterfield Bristol City Coventry City Preston North End B. Stortford or Northampton Burton Albion or Hereford
|
. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 |
. Rotherham United Gillingham or Brackley Town Salisbury City Tranmere Rovers Brentford Stevenage Shortwood Utd or Port Vale Leyton Orient Peterborough United Torquay United or Rochdale Braintree Town or Newport County Oldham Athletic or Wolves Lincoln City or Plymouth Argyle Kidderminster Harriers Hednesford Town or Crawley Town Stourbridge Welling United Macclesfield Town Wycombe W or Crewe Alexandra Fleetwood Town |
.
