FA Competitions

The FA Cup

The FA Cup is one of the oldest cup competitions in the world, starting in 1871. The first FA Cup in 1871-72 featured 15 teams. Today, it features 758 teams from 48 leagues.

All teams from the first eight levels (Premier Division to the Regional First Divisions) automatically enter, but at Level 9 and 10, there are 400 teams chosen from their respective leagues. There are more teams entered at Level 9 than Level 10.

Here is my structure for the FA Cup for my files in Football Manager 2013:

Round	Date	Teams	Prize Money
First Qualifying Round	11/08/2012	400	£1,000
Second Qualifying Round	25/08/2012	332	£1,750
Third Qualifying Round	08/09/2012	232	£3,000
Fourth Qualifying Round	22/09/2012	160	£4,500
First Round	06/10/2012	80	£7,500
Second Round	20/10/2012	64	£12,500
Third Round	03/11/2012	80	£18,000
Fourth Round	01/12/2012	40	£27,000
Fifth Round	05/01/2013	64	£67,500
Sixth Round	26/01/2013	32	£90,000
Seventh Round	16/02/2013	16	£180,000
Quarter Final	09/03/2013	8	£360,000
Semi Final	13/04/2013	4	£900,000 (£450,000 for losers)
Final	11/05/2013	2	£1,800,000 (£900,000 for losers)

Note: There are some problems with the FA Cup at present, in terms of custom stages in cup competitions not working properly. So I have had to revert back to the normal stages. So instead of Football League teams entering at the First Round, they enter at the Third. The same applies to the Premier Division and Football League Championship, instead of joining at the Third Round, they enter at the Fifth. The cup still works the same as it does in real life, just the names of the rounds are wrong.

The FA Trophy

The FA Trophy is open to all non-league teams from Level 5 (Conference National) to Level 8 (Regional First Divisions). It features 266 teams.

Here is my structure for the FA Trophy for my files in Football Manager 2013:

Round	Date	Teams	Prize Money
First Qualifying Round	15/09/2012	108	£2,300
Second Qualifying Round	29/09/2012	144	£2,550
Third Qualifying Round	27/10/2012	72	£3,250
Fourth Qualifying Round	10/11/2012	80	£4,000
First Round	24/11/2012	64	£5,000
Second Round	15/12/2012	32	£6,000
Third Round	12/01/2013	16	£7,000
Quarter Final	26/01/2013	8	£8,000
Semi Final First Leg	16/02/2013	4	–
Semi Final Second Leg	23/02/2013	4	£16,000 (£8,000 for losers)
Final	24/03/2013	2	£50,000 (£25,000 for losers)

Note: There are some problems with the FA Trophy at present, in terms of custom stages in cup competitions not working properly. So I have had to revert back to the normal stages. In real life, there is a preliminary round and three qualifying rounds. In this file, there are four qualifying rounds. The preliminary round is the First Qualifying Round and so on. Everything else remains the same.

The FA Vase

The FA Vase is open to all non-league teams from the County Leagues at Levels 9 and 10. However, all teams are not selected for this competition. It features 543 teams, all of Level 9 and a selection of Level 10 teams.

Here is my structure for the FA Vase for my files in Football Manager 2013:

Round	Date	Teams	Prize Money
First Qualifying Round	01/09/2012	312	£500
Second Qualifying Round	15/09/2012	316	£750
First Round	13/10/2012	202	£900
Second Round	17/11/2012	128	£1,200
Third Round	08/12/2012	64	£1,500
Fourth Round	19/01/2013	32	£2,000
Fifth Round	09/02/2013	16	£2,500
Sixth Round	02/03/2013	8	£3,500
Semi Final First Leg	23/03/2013	4	–
Semi Final Second Leg	30/03/2013	4	£5,000
Final	04/05/2013	2	£15,000 (£7,500 for losers)