The Greatest Sports Tournament There Is

Last Saturday, the greatest sporting event in the world kicked off. No, I’m not talking about any strictly American sport, nor am I talking about MMA, basketball, or baseball, cricket, or any other sporting event that immediately comes to mind. Am I talking about the UEFA Champions’ League, the soccer glamour competition that ESPN and Fox Sports have created into a pretty common event in America? The answer remains no.

What I’m talking about is a competition that gets little coverage in the USA, but one that excites so many who know about it to no end. We’re talking about England’s FA Cup, which finally kicked off last weekend.

But what makes this event so special and so deserving of your time? The simple fact that it is so large and so unpredictable and that literally anything can happen in any round between any two teams. 762 teams compete for the FA Cup through 14 different rounds (six qualifying rounds, six rounds of the FA Cup “proper,” along with the semifinal and the final, which will be held at Wembley Stadium in London again this year). Any team in the top 9 levels of the English football pyramid (if we were to somehow, place this in the context of American football, it would essentially be like all American football teams from high school and above) can enter the tournament. All matches are single knock out, with the losing team going home and the winning team advancing. Through the 14 rounds of the FA Cup, literally anything can happen.

It is entirely possible for huge upsets to happen (including teams known as “minnows” stunning bigger teams). It is entirely possible, if the 9th tier team were to survive that long, that Manchester United could travel to the equivalent of a high school team in American football. Can you imagine the New England Patriots coming to town and playing your local high school? While that is strange to American sports fans and would never happen in this country that is entirely possible in the FA Cup. Upsets are also commonplace. Two years ago, Barnsley FC (a second tier team) made it into the Final Four of the FA Cup, beating giant Liverpool on the road and then beating another giant in Chelsea at home.

Giant killers have become urban legends, to a certain extent, in FA Cup history. In the 1988-1989 FA Cup, non-league(meaning that they were below the 4thtier of English soccer)Sutton United upset top flight team Coventry City. In 1969, third division Mansfield Town upset West Ham United (who were currently sixth in the top division) 3-0. Perhaps no better giant killing story exists than the story of 1975 Wimbledon FC. The team, who was a non-league team at the timebeat top division team Burnley 1-0 in the third round and then followed that up by holding reigning first division champion Leeds to a 0-0 draw before narrowly losing the replay.

The unpredictability, as shown in just some of the examples above, is what makes it so special. The fact that a team such as Chelsea traveled to Coventry City last year makes the event special. Could you imagine the Packers traveling to play an Arena Football League team? Literally every team has a chance, if they keep winning, to get a huge game like that at home. Once the teams take the field, anything can happen.

The best thing I can compare it to on an American level is March Madness, only over 10 times the size. Think about the way that the 16 seeds get a chance to play behemoths like UNC, and how exciting it is for them. This brings it all to a completely new level. The possibilities are endless.

To make it even better, this tournament lasts for 10 months per year. Everyone loves March Madness, and expresses their sadness once the two weeks end. This can’t even compare when you look at the length. Watch this wonderful event if you possibly can, you won’t regret it.

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