The biggest FA Cup shocks involving non-league sides in recent decades

Manchester City claimed the 2025-26 FA Cup, but across the competition’s recent history, the road to Wembley has been anything but smooth for the biggest names in the game. Several Premier League clubs have been knocked out by sides they were expected to beat, and there have been moments that reminded the whole country why the cup format produces results no league table ever could.

The FA Cup has always had the power to level the playing field. As an online operator covering sport and racing, Virgin Bet knows better than most how the competition captures the public’s imagination, partly because the gap between the favourites and the underdogs can close without warning. On the rare occasion, it is a non-league side that truly shocks the footballing world.

Those moments are few and far between, but when they arrive, they stay with supporters for years. Here are some of the most remarkable FA Cup upsets involving non-league clubs in recent decades.

Hereford United 2-1 Newcastle United, 1972

No list of FA Cup upsets is complete without Hereford United’s third-round replay win over Newcastle United. Newcastle were one of the strongest sides in the First Division, with Malcolm Macdonald leading the line, and Hereford were a Southern League club who had already held them to a 2-2 draw in the first tie. The replay at a waterlogged Edgar Street was supposed to be a formality. Macdonald gave Newcastle the lead, but Ronnie Radford equalised with a fierce long-range drive through the mud and Ricky George scored the winner in extra time. The scenes that followed, with hundreds of supporters spilling onto the pitch, captured something about the FA Cup that no professional fixture could replicate.

Sutton United 1-0 Coventry City, 1989

Sutton United were competing in the Conference when they beat top-flight Coventry City in the third round. Matthew Hanlan scored the only goal as Sutton held firm to win 1-0, ending the reign of the defending champions at the first hurdle. Coventry had lifted the FA Cup just two years earlier, which made the defeat all the more surprising. For a part-time club with a fraction of the resources of their opponents, it remains one of the most significant results in non-league FA Cup history.

Sutton United 1-0 Leeds United, 2017

Sutton United delivered another FA Cup shock against Leeds United in the fifth round in 2017, winning 1-0 to reach the last 16 of the competition for the first time in the club’s history. At the point of the match, there were 83 league places separating the two sides. A penalty from captain Jamie Collins proved enough, and Sutton held on to eliminate a club that had spent much of their recent past in the Championship. The win drew national attention to a club operating far below the professional game.

Crawley Town 3-0 Leeds United, 2021

Leeds United were back in the Premier League when they travelled to face Crawley Town in the FA Cup third round. Crawley, competing in League Two at the time after recently moving up from the National League, produced a dominant display that few anticipated. Goals from Jordan Tunnicliffe, Tyler Frost and Nick Tsaroulla secured a 3-0 victory that left little room for debate about who deserved the win. The result drew considerable attention to Crawley and their celebrity investor group, who had arrived at the club months earlier.

Tamworth and Tottenham, 2025

Tottenham Hotspur needed extra time to beat National League Tamworth 3-0 in the FA Cup third round in January 2025. The scoreline flatters Spurs considerably. Tamworth, who were operating eight tiers below their opponents in the football pyramid, held them goalless through 90 minutes and only succumbed in extra time. It fell well short of an upset on paper, but the fact that a full-strength Tottenham side could not find a way past a non-league club for the full duration of the match captured how competitive the FA Cup can be for sides prepared to defend and fight.

Macclesfield 2-1 Crystal Palace, 2026

The 2025-26 FA Cup produced what many regard as the greatest upset in the competition’s history. Macclesfield, a National League North side competing at the sixth tier of English football, beat reigning holders Crystal Palace 2-1 at Moss Rose in the third round in January 2026. They became the first non-league side to knock out the reigning champions since 1909. Paul Dawson gave the hosts the lead before half time, and Isaac Buckley-Ricketts doubled it after the break, with Yeremy Pino’s 90th-minute goal arriving too late to change the outcome.

The 117 league places between the two clubs set a new record for the largest gap in any FA Cup fixture, surpassing the previous mark set by Chasetown against Port Vale in 2008. Managed by John Rooney, younger brother of Wayne Rooney, and playing their first season back at Moss Rose as a phoenix club, Macclesfield’s run carried additional weight given that striker Ethan McLeod had died in a car accident in December 2025, weeks before the Palace tie. The victory was the loudest statement non-league football has made in the FA Cup for decades.

The FA Cup’s appeal rests in part on results like these. For every occasion a lower-league side comes close or causes a shock, the competition earns another chapter in its history. Non-league clubs have limited time to prepare and far fewer resources, but the cup format offers them a level playing field that the league table never will.