how many fa cup qualifying rounds are there
There are six FA Cup qualifying rounds.
Quick Scoop: FA Cup Qualifying Rounds
Before the big-name clubs even step in, the FA Cup has a long non-league qualifying phase designed to whittle hundreds of clubs down to a manageable number for the “proper” rounds.
The 6 Qualifying Rounds
These are the FA Cup qualifying stages, in order:
- Extra preliminary round
- Preliminary round
- First qualifying round
- Second qualifying round
- Third qualifying round
- Fourth qualifying round
After these six, the competition moves into the First Round Proper , where League One and League Two clubs enter, followed later by Championship and Premier League sides.
Why So Many Qualifiers?
- Hundreds of non-league clubs from levels 5–10 of the English pyramid enter at these stages.
- The rounds are regionalised to keep travel costs down for small clubs and to keep local derbies and stories alive.
- By the end of the fourth qualifying round, 32 non-league teams usually progress to join the professional clubs in the First Round Proper.
Quick HTML Table of Rounds
| Phase | Round Name | Typical Month |
|---|---|---|
| Qualifying | Extra preliminary round | August |
| Qualifying | Preliminary round | August |
| Qualifying | First qualifying round | Late August / September |
| Qualifying | Second qualifying round | September |
| Qualifying | Third qualifying round | Late September / October |
| Qualifying | Fourth qualifying round | October |
TL;DR
- How many FA Cup qualifying rounds are there?
→ Six: extra preliminary, preliminary, and first to fourth qualifying rounds.
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.