FA Cup prize money
Winning the FA Cup final is worth £2,120,000. Winning a tie in the extra preliminary round, where it starts, is worth £1,125. Between those two, £23.5m is shared across 742 ties and the 743 clubs that enter.
The FA sets the whole schedule before the competition starts, so every amount on this page is a fixed rate for 2026/27 rather than a share of what came in. There is no entry payment and no table to finish in: a club is paid for winning a tie, and in most rounds a smaller amount for losing one.
Every round, from the extra preliminary
fourteen ties, from an August afternoon in the ninth tier to Wembley in May
| ROUND | PAYS | RUNNING TOTAL |
|---|---|---|
| Winning the extra preliminary round | £1,125 | £1,125 |
| Winning the preliminary round | £1,444 | £2,569 |
| Winning the first qualifying round | £2,250 | £4,819 |
| Winning the second qualifying round | £3,375 | £8,194 |
| Winning the third qualifying round | £5,625 | £13,819 |
| Winning the fourth qualifying round | £9,375 | £23,194 |
| Winning the first round proper | £47,750 | £70,944 |
| Winning the second round proper | £79,500 | £150,444 |
| Winning the third round proper | £121,500 | £271,944 |
| Winning the fourth round proper | £127,000 | £398,944 |
| Winning the fifth round proper | £238,500 | £637,444 |
| Winning the quarter-final | £477,000 | £1,114,444£1.1m |
| Winning the semi-final | £1,060,000£1.1m | £2,174,444£2.2m |
| Winning the final | £2,120,000£2.1m | £4,294,444£4.3m |
The other roads through it
The qualifying rounds
six rounds from August, played out before a Football League club enters
| ROUND | WINNERS | LOSERS | TIES | ROUND POT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extra preliminary roundExtra prelim the largest round in the competition, and the smallest payment in it | £1,125 | £375 | 219 | £328,500 |
| Preliminary roundPreliminary | £1,444 | £481 | 136 | £261,800 |
| First qualifying round1st qualifying | £2,250 | £750 | 112 | £336,000 |
| Second qualifying round2nd qualifying | £3,375 | £1,125 | 80 | £360,000 |
| Third qualifying round3rd qualifying | £5,625 | £1,875 | 40 | £300,000 |
| Fourth qualifying round4th qualifying the last round before the Football League arrives | £9,375 | £3,125 | 32 | £400,000 |
The rounds proper
League One and League Two enter in November, the Premier League and the Championship in January
| ROUND | WINNERS | LOSERS | TIES | ROUND POT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First round proper1st round the payment jumps five-fold, and 48 clubs enter: all of League One and League Two | £47,750 | £15,800 | 40 | £2,542,000£2.5m |
| Second round proper2nd round | £79,500 | £21,200 | 20 | £2,014,000£2.0m |
| Third round proper3rd round the Premier League and the Championship enter, 44 clubs in one round | £121,500 | £26,500 | 32 | £4,736,000£4.7m |
| Fourth round proper4th round losing pays nothing from here to the semi-final | £127,000 | — | 16 | £2,032,000£2.0m |
| Fifth round proper5th round | £238,500 | — | 8 | £1,908,000£1.9m |
| Quarter-finalQuarter-final | £477,000 | — | 4 | £1,908,000£1.9m |
| Semi-finalSemi-final played at Wembley, and the first round since the third to pay the beaten club | £1,060,000£1.1m | £530,000 | 2 | £3,180,000£3.2m |
| FinalFinal the winners take exactly twice what the runners-up take | £2,120,000£2.1m | £1,060,000£1.1m | 1 | £3,180,000£3.2m |
Where the clubs come in
743 clubs enter the FA Cup, and they do not all start together
The competition narrows by half at every round, so the number of clubs entering at each one follows from the number of ties in it. The two jumps are the ones the calendar is built around: 48 clubs come in at the first round proper, which is League One and League Two, and 44 at the third, which is the Premier League and the Championship.
Frequently asked questions
How much do the winners of the FA Cup get?
£2,120,000 for winning the final, and £4,144,000 across every round on the way there for a club entering at the third round proper.
How much is the FA Cup prize fund?
£23,486,300 for 2026/27, shared across 742 ties and the 743 clubs that enter.
Does the FA Cup pay anything for losing?
In most rounds, yes. Losing the final is worth £1,060,000 and losing a first round proper tie £15,800. The rounds from the fourth round proper to the quarter-final are the exception and pay the beaten club nothing.
What does a non-league club get for reaching the third round?
£271,944, from winning all nine ties between the extra preliminary round in August and the third round proper in January.
How much do the losing finalists get?
£1,060,000 for the final itself, and £3,084,000 for the whole run from the third round proper. The winners take exactly twice the runners-up payment.
How does the FA Cup compare with league money?
It is a fraction of it. Southampton finished bottom of the Premier League in 2024/25 and still collected £109,200,000 in central payments, which is more than the entire FA Cup prize fund of £23,486,300. A cup run is worth having, and it is not what pays for a squad.
Are these figures for 2026/27?
Yes. The FA sets the schedule before the competition starts, so every amount here is the rate in force for 2026/27 rather than what any club happened to collect.
Where to next
The rest of the money a club plays for
The other cup we hold a schedule for: Carabao Cup prize money. In Europe, see Champions League prize money, Club World Cup prize money, Europa League prize money and Conference League prize money. For what a club is paid at home, see Premier League prize money, La Liga prize money and La Liga 2 prize money, or Bundesliga prize money for a league that publishes its formula rather than its payments . For what a relegated club is paid after it leaves, see Championship parachute payments. Where a league publishes the shares and not the payments, see Serie A prize money. Where a competition pays for where a team finished rather than for every round it won, see World Cup prize money. Or look at every league we track.