1997 FA Cup Final 1997 FA Cup Final The 1997 FA Cup Final was the 116th final of the FA Cup. It took place on 17 May 1997 at Wembley Stadium and was contested by Chelsea and Middlesbrough, the North East club appearing in its first FA Cup Final. Chelsea won 2–0 to win the FA Cup for the second time, the first having come in 1970. Their Dutch manager, Ruud Gullit, thus became the first foreign or non-white manager to win a major trophy with an English club. It was the first major honour in the career of most Chelsea's player, but for
1999–2000 FA Cup qualifying rounds 1999–2000 FA Cup qualifying rounds The 1999–2000 FA Cup Qualifying Rounds opened the 119th season of competition in England for 'The Football Association Challenge Cup' (FA Cup), the world's oldest association football single knockout competition. A total of 558 clubs were accepted for the competition. The large number of clubs entering the tournament from lower down (Levels 5 through 9) in the English football pyramid meant that the competition started with five rounds of preliminary (1) and qualifying (4) knockouts for these non-League teams. The 32 winning teams from Fourth Round Qualifying progressed to the First Round Proper, where League