1999–2000 FA Cup

1999–2000 FA Cup

Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Final positions
Champions	Chelsea (3rd title)
Runner-up	Aston Villa
Tournament statistics
Top goal scorer(s)	Gustavo Poyet (6 goals)
← 1998–99 2000–01 →

The 1999–2000 FA Cup (known as The FA Cup sponsored by AXA for sponsorship reasons) was the 119th staging of the FA Cup. Both the semifinals and final of the competition were played at Wembley Stadium for the last time before reconstruction work began. The competition culminated with the final between Chelsea and Aston Villa. The game was won by a goal from Chelsea's Roberto Di Matteo, giving them a 1–0 victory.

The title holders Manchester United, withdrew from the 1999–2000 competition due to their participation in the 2000 FIFA Club World Championship in South America, to take place in early 2000,^[1] thus becoming the first FA Cup winners not to defend their title. Despite this being at the request of the Football Association (FA), they received criticism from journalists and television pundits.^[2] To keep the competition running smoothly, the FA chose to draw one team from among those lower-division teams defeated in the second round to progress as "lucky losers" to the third.^[3] Darlington were the team drawn.^[4]

The main competition started in November 1999 for clubs from the Football League and Premiership.

Calendar

Round	Date	Matches	Clubs	New entries this round	Prize money
Preliminary round	21 August 1999	166	558 → 392	161: 227th–387th	£1,000
First round qualifying	4 September 1999	116	392 → 276	66: 161st–226th	£2,250
Second round qualifying	18 September 1999	80	276 → 196	44: 117th–160th	£3,750
Third round qualifying	2 October 1999	40	196 → 156	none	£5,000
Fourth round qualifying	16 October 1999	32	156 → 124	24: 93rd–116th	£10,000
First round proper	30 October 1999	40	124 → 84	48: 45th–92nd	£16,000
Second round proper	19 November 1999	20	84 → 64	none	£24,000
Third round proper	11 December 1999	32	64 → 32	43: 2nd–44th‡	£40,000
Fourth round proper	8 January 2000	16	32 → 16	none	£60,000
Fifth round proper	29 January 2000	8	16 → 8	none	£120,000
Sixth round proper	19 February 2000	4	8 → 4	none	£300,000
Semi-finals	2 April 2000	2	4 → 2	none	£900,000
Final	20 May 2000	1	2 → 1	none	£1,000,000

‡ Manchester United, who were the winners the previous season, did not enter.

First round proper

This round is the first in which teams from the second Division and Third Division compete with non-League teams.

• Ties were played over the weekend of 30 and 31 October 1999.
• Replays were played on 8, 9 and 10 November 1999.

‡ - Oxford City's replay with Wycombe Wanderers was abandoned after extra time due to a fire within the stadium. The score was 1–1.^[5]

Second round proper

• Ties were played over the weekend of 20 and 21 November 1999.
• Replays were played on 30 November 1999.

^† = Darlington advanced as lucky losers

Third round proper

This round marked the first time First Division and Premier League (top-flight) teams played.

• Matches were played on the weekend of 11 and 12 December 1999.
• Replays were played on 21 and 22 December 1999.

Fourth round proper

• Ties played on weekend of 8 and 9 January 2000.
• Replays played on 18 and 19 January 2000.

Fifth round proper

• Ties played on weekend of 29 and 30 January 2000.
• The shock result of the round came when Division Two Gillingham (who had yet to play in the top two divisions) defeated Premier League side Sheffield Wednesday 3–1.

Sixth round proper

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Semi-finals

Aston Villa booked their first FA Cup final appearance since 1957 by beating Bolton Wanderers on penalties after a goalless draw, while Chelsea reached their first final after just three years with a narrow 2–1 win over Newcastle United (who had been finalists in the previous two seasons).

• Aston Villa win 4–1 on penalties. Steve Stone, Lee Hendrie, Gareth Barry and Dion Dublin all scored for Aston Villa. Dean Holdsworth scored for Bolton.

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Final

The 2000 FA Cup final was contested between Chelsea and Aston Villa at Wembley Stadium, with Chelsea coming out 1-0 winners. Roberto Di Matteo scored the winning goal 17 minutes from the end, three years after he had opened the scoring within the first minute of Chelsea's last FA Cup final win. This was Villa's first FA Cup final for 43 years.

Chelsea

Aston Villa

Media coverage

In the United Kingdom, ITV were the free to air broadcasters for the third consecutive season while Sky Sports were the subscription broadcasters for the twelfth consecutive season.^{[citation needed]}

The matches shown live on ITV Sport were:

• Huddersfield Town 0-2 Liverpool (R3)
• Arsenal 0-0 Leicester City (R4)
• Aston Villa 3-2 Leeds United (R5)
• Tranmere Rovers 2-3 Newcastle United (QF)
• Bolton Wanderers 0-0 Aston Villa (SF)
• Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa (Final)

The matches shown live on Sky Sports were:

• Rushden & Diamonds 2-0 Scunthorpe United (R1)
• Barnet 0-1 Burnley (R1)
• Kettering Town 0-2 Wrexham (R1 Replay)
• Luton Town 2-2 Lincoln City (R2)
• Hereford United 1-0 Hartlepool United (R2)
• Lincoln City 0-1 Luton Town (R2 Replay)
• Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Newcastle United (R3)
• Ipswich Town 0-1 Southampton (R3)
• Newcastle United 6-1 Tottenham Hotspur (R3 Replay)
• Manchester City 2-5 Leeds United (R4)
• Liverpool 0-1 Blackburn Rovers (R4)
• Leicester City 0-0 Arsenal (R4 Replay)
• Chelsea 2-1 Leicester City (R5)
• Blackburn Rovers 1-2 Newcastle United (R5)
• Everton 1-2 Aston Villa (QF)
• Chelsea 2-1 Newcastle United (SF)
• Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa (Final)

References

External links

• The FA website
• BBC FA Cup page