1996–97 FA Cup 1996–97 FA Cup The 1996–97 FA Cup (known as The FA Cup sponsored by Littlewoods for sponsorship reasons) was the 116th season of the FA Cup. The tournament started in August 1996 for clubs from non-league football and the competition proper started in October 1996 for teams from the Premier League and the Football League. The tournament was won by Chelsea with a 2–0 victory over Middlesbrough in the final at Wembley stadium. The First Round featured those non-league teams who had come through the qualifying rounds and the teams from the third and fourth tiers of the English football
2000–01 FA Cup qualifying rounds teams from Fourth Round Qualifying progressed to the First Round Proper, where League teams tiered at Levels 3 and 4 entered the competition. See 2000-01 FA Cup for details of the rounds from the First Round Proper onwards. 2000–01 FA Cup qualifying rounds The 2000–01 FA Cup Qualifying Rounds opened the 120th season of competition in England for 'The Football Association Challenge Cup' (FA Cup), the world's oldest association football single knockout competition. This season saw invites extended to some teams from Level 10 in the English football pyramid. With the larger number of clubs entering the tournament from non-League