England - FA Women's Cup

About FA Women's Cup

FA Women's Cup History, Format, Organization, Media Coverage

The FA Women’s Cup is the premier annual club competition for women’s teams in English football. It was created in 1970 as the Mitre Challenge Trophy (from 1970 to 1976) and was organized by the Women’s Football Association up until 1993, when the Football Association (FA) took over administering women’s football in the country.

All teams competing in English women’s football’s pyramid are eligible to feature in the FA Women’s Cup, with over 450 teams taking part in the most recent editions. Teams playing in the FA Women’s Championship and the Women’s Super League receive a bye to the fourth round proper. Not surprisingly, the winners in this competition have been largely drawn from the top levels of English women’s football.

To date, Arsenal is the most successful team in FA Women’s Cup history, with more titles earned than any other team but in recent years, other teams such as Chelsea and Manchester City have also clinched the coveted prize.

Media coverage

Media rights to the Women’s FA Cup in the UK have varied over the years. In the early decades of the competition, broadcasts (namely of the final) were primarily shown on Channel 4, before BBC acquired the rights to show the final at the start of the 21st century. In the 2010s, both ITV and Sky Sports briefly acquired TV broadcast rights for the competition.

In 2019, the BBC successfully renewed its broadcast rights for the Women’s FA Cup in a multi-year deal that will see the public broadcaster continue to cover both semi-finals and the finals of the competition up until 2025. Meanwhile, the FA’s own in-house streaming provider, the FA Player offers live-streaming of the Women’s FA Cup final for audiences around the world, including in the United States.