English Football Cup Competitions

English Football Cup Competitions:

English football clubs contest a dizzying array of competitions, surely more than any other country. There is everything from the venerable FA Cup to the

non-league FA Trophy all the way down to the county cups and league cups all across the country. The English love their cups! Out of all these there are a few

that are considerably more important than the rest.

* The FA (Football Association) Cup is the oldest surviving football competition in the world. Soon after the foundation of the Football Association a

knockout competition open to all its members was launched, the first winners being Wanderers 1-0 over Royal Engineers in 1872. While the number of entrants

continues to grow (762 for the 2009-10 edition) the FA Cup plays a distant second fiddle to the English Premier League in importance. Top-tier clubs enter at

the third round (of 64 clubs) which is traditionally played on the first weekend of January while the final takes place at Wembley Stadium in May and is

normally one of the last matches of the English football season.
* The League Cup is contested by all members of the English Premier League plus Football League Championship, League One and League Two, a total of

92 clubs. It is seen as a nuisance by many clubs, with low attendance and often second-string squads until the final rounds. Nonetheless it provides a trip to

Wembley for the finalists and a spot in the next season's Europa League.
* The Community Shield (originally the Charity Shield) is the traditional season-opener of the English football calendar and is contested (at Wembley)

between the previous season's English Premier League champion and FA Cup winner. While a trophy is a trophy, little significance is attached to winning or

losing and it's mainly just a moment to get the ball rolling.

List of Major Titles Won in English Football:

The FA Cup:

11 Manchester United
10 Arsenal
8 Tottenham Hotspur
7 Aston Villa
7 Liverpool
6 Blackburn Rovers
6 Newcastle United
5 Everton
5 The Wanderers
5 West Bromwich Albion
4 Bolton Wanderers
4 Chelsea
4 Manchester City
4 Sheffield United
4 Wolverhampton Wanderers
3 Sheffield Wednesday
3 West Ham United
2 Bury
2 Nottingham Forest
2 Old Etonians
2 Porstmouth
2 Preston North End
2 Sunderland
1 Barnsley
1 Blackburn Olympic
1 Blackpool
1 Bradford City
1 Burnley
1 Cardiff City
1 Charlton Athletic
1 Clapham Rovers
1 Coventry City
1 Derby County
1 Huddersfield Town
1 Ipswich Town
1 Leeds United
1 Notts County
1 Old Carthusians
1 Oxford University
1 Royal Engineers
1 Southampton
1 Wimbledon

The carling cup (League Cup):

7 Liverpool
5 Aston Villa
4 Chelsea
4 Nottingham Forest
4 Tottenham Hotspur
3 Leicester City
3 Manchester United
2 Arsenal
2 Manchester City
2 Norwich City
2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
1 Birmingham City
1 Blackburn Rovers
1 Leeds United
1 Luton Town
1 Middlesbrough
1 Oxford United
1 Queen's Park Rangers
1 Sheffield Wednesday
1 Stoke City
1 Swindon Town
1 West Bromwich Albion

The Community/Charity Shield:

17 (4) Manchester United
15 (5) Liverpool
12 (1) Arsenal
9 (1) Everton
7 (3) Tottenham Hotspur
4 Chelsea
4 (1) Wolverhampton Wanderers
3 Manchester City
2 Leeds United
2 (1) Burnley
2 (1) West Bromwich Albion
1 Blackburn Rovers
1 Bolton Wanderers
1 Brighton & Hove Albion
1 Cardiff City
1 Derby County
1 Huddersfield Town
1 Leicester City
1 Newcastle United
1 Nottingham Forest
1 Sheffield Wednesday
1 Sunderland
1 (1) Aston Villa
1 (1) Portsmouth
1 (1) West Ham United

NOTE: numbers in bracket represent runners up