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FA TROPHY · THE FA PAYMENTS · 2026/27

FA Trophy prize money

Winning the FA Trophy final is worth £60,000. Winning a tie in the preliminary round, where it starts, is worth £1,500. Between those two, £1.3m is shared across 335 ties and the 336 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 every round a smaller amount for losing one.

PRIZE FUND £1.3m
SMALLEST PAYMENT £400
ROUNDS 12
THE LONGEST ROAD £112,700

Every round, from the preliminary

twelve ties, the road a step four club would have to take

2026/27
What a club collects at each round of the FA Trophy along the longest route to the trophy, with a running total.
ROUND PAYS RUNNING TOTAL
Winning the preliminary round £1,500 £1,500
Winning the first qualifying round £1,500 £3,000
Winning the second qualifying round £2,250 £5,250
Winning the third qualifying round £2,450 £7,700
Winning the first round proper £3,000 £10,700
Winning the second round proper £3,750 £14,450
Winning the third round proper £4,500 £18,950
Winning the fourth round proper £5,250 £24,200
Winning the fifth round proper £6,000 £30,200
Winning the quarter-final £7,500 £37,700
Winning the semi-final £15,000 £52,700
Winning the final £60,000 £112,700

The other roads through it

A National League club winning it £98,250 six ties from the third round proper, where the fifth tier enters
Losing the final, from the third round £68,250 the same five wins, and the runners-up payment instead of the winners

The qualifying rounds

four rounds from August, for steps three and four

£492,200 across this half
ROUND WINNERS LOSERS TIES ROUND POT
Preliminary roundPreliminary £1,500 £400 16 £30,400
First qualifying round1st qualifying pays the same as the round before it, and the largest round in the competition £1,500 £400 80 £152,000
Second qualifying round2nd qualifying £2,250 £575 40 £113,000
Third qualifying round3rd qualifying the 88 step three clubs enter £2,450 £625 64 £196,800

The rounds proper

the National League North and South enter at the second round, the National League at the third

£832,800 across this half
ROUND WINNERS LOSERS TIES ROUND POT
First round proper1st round £3,000 £775 32 £120,800
Second round proper2nd round the 48 National League North and South clubs enter £3,750 £1,000 40 £190,000
Third round proper3rd round the 24 National League clubs enter £4,500 £1,250 32 £184,000
Fourth round proper4th round £5,250 £1,500 16 £108,000
Fifth round proper5th round £6,000 £1,750 8 £62,000
Quarter-finalQuarter-final £7,500 £2,000 4 £38,000
Semi-finalSemi-final twice the quarter-final £15,000 £5,000 2 £40,000
FinalFinal played at Wembley, and four times what the semi-final pays £60,000 £30,000 1 £90,000

Where the clubs come in

336 clubs enter the FA Trophy, and they do not all start together

Preliminary round 32 all 32 of them, and the competition starts here
First qualifying round 144 144 clubs enter here, joining the 16 through from the round before
Third qualifying round 88 88 clubs enter here, joining the 40 through from the round before
Second round proper 48 48 clubs enter here, joining the 32 through from the round before
Third round proper 24 24 clubs enter here, joining the 40 through from the round before

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.

Frequently asked questions

How much do the winners of the FA Trophy get?

£60,000 for winning the final, and £98,250 across every round on the way there for a club entering at the third round proper.

How much is the FA Trophy prize fund?

£1,325,000 for 2026/27, shared across 335 ties and the 336 clubs that enter.

Does the FA Trophy pay anything for losing?

Yes, in every round. Losing the final is worth £30,000 and losing a tie in the preliminary round, where it starts, £400.

How does the FA Trophy 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 Trophy prize fund of £1,325,000. 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: DFB-Pokal prize money, FA Cup prize money, Carabao Cup prize money and FA Vase 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, Women's World Cup prize money, Copa América prize money, Africa Cup of Nations prize money, CAF Champions League prize money and CAF Confederation Cup prize money. Or look at every league we track.