THE FA Cup draw is one of those events that has football fans glued to their screens.
The practice of drawing teams out of a bag goes back decades – in a competition that is steeped in tradition.
The world’s oldest football competition has retained some of its old charm in an age of VAR, robot assistant referees and goal-line technology.
The FA’s draws look and feel very different to Uefa’s Champions League and Europa League draws, where paper team names are taken out of plastic balls.
Why have the FA Cup draw balls numbered?
The FA Cup numbers correspond to the tie winners from previous rounds.
So a team – or two teams – will be associated with that number.
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Here are a selection of numbers from the FA Cup fourth round draw in the 2022-23 season:
- 1 Preston North End
- 2 Brighton & Hove Albion
- 3 Chesterfield or West Bromwich Albion
- 4 Manchester City or Chelsea
- 5 Stockport County or Walsall
- 6 Boreham Wood or Accrington Stanley
- 7 Tottenham Hotspur
- 8 Derby County or Barnsley
- 9 Cardiff City or Leeds United
- 10 Brentford or West Ham United
- 11 Burnley, etc
If a tie has yet to be played or the tie from that round has been drawn and goes to a replay, two clubs are associated wit that number, such as Chesterfield or West Bromwich Albion.
How do they decide on the order for the numbers?
There are two criteria:
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- How early that team came out of the draw. So if a team came from the first round or second round and made it to the fourth round, they will have a low number.
- Alphabetical order. This usually gives Arsenal a low number and York City a higher number.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
