In 1863, the newly founded Football Association (the FA) published the Laws of the

Game of Association Football, unifying the various different rules in use before
then. On 20 July 1871, in the offices of The Sportsman newspaper, the FA Secretary
C. W. Alcock proposed to the FA committee that "it is desirable that a Challenge
Cup should be established in connection with the Association for which all clubs
belonging to the Association should be invited to compete". The inaugural FA Cup
tournament kicked off in November 1871. After thirteen games in all, Wanderers were
crowned the winners in the final, on 16 March 1872. Wanderers retained the trophy
the following year. The modern cup was beginning to be established by the 1888�89
season, when qualifying rounds were introduced.[3]

Following the 1914�15 edition, the competition was suspended due to the First World
War, and did not resume until 1919�20. The 1923 FA Cup Final, commonly known as the
"White Horse Final", was the first final to be played in the newly opened Wembley
Stadium (known at the time as the Empire Stadium). The 1927 final saw "Abide with
Me" being sung for the first time at the Cup final, which has become a pre-match
tradition.[4] Due to the outbreak of World War II, the competition was not played
between the 1938�39 and 1945�46 editions. Due to the wartime breaks, the
competition did not celebrate its centenary year until 1980�81; fittingly the final
featured a goal by Ricky Villa which was later voted the greatest goal ever scored
in an FA Cup Final, but has since been replaced by Steven Gerrard.[5]

Having previously featured replays, the modern day practice of ensuring the semi-
final and final matches finish on the day was introduced in 2000. Redevelopment of
Wembley saw the final played outside of England for the first time, the 2001�2006
finals being played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The final returned to
Wembley in 2007, followed by the semi-finals from 2008.