There are several cup competitions for clubs at different levels of the football pyramid. The two major cup competitions are the FA Cup and the EFL Cup, with the winners of the FA Cup qualifying for the UEFA Europa League and the winners of the EFL Cup qualifying for the UEFA Conference League.
The FA Cup, first held in 1871, is the oldest national cup competition in the world. It is open to around 600 clubs in levels 1–10 of the football pyramid. The FA Community Shield (formerly Charity Shield), first held in 1908, is a single match played each August between the FA Cup winners and the Premier League champions. The EFL Cup (currently known as the Carabao Cup), first held in 1960, is England's second major cup competition, and is contested by the 92 Premier League and EFL clubs.
The EFL Trophy (currently known as the Vertu Trophy[30]), first held in 1983, is a competition for the 48 clubs in Football League One and Football League Two, and 16 Premier League and Championship under-23 sides. The FA Trophy, first held in 1969, is for clubs playing in levels 5–8 of the football pyramid (steps 1–4 of the National League System), i.e. the twelve divisions of the National League, the Southern Football League, the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League.
The FA Vase, first held in 1974, is for clubs in levels 9–10 of the football pyramid (steps 5–6 of the National League System) The FA Inter-League Cup (NLS Cup) was formed in the 2003–04 to provide an English representative in the UEFA Regions' Cup. It is contested by representative sides from leagues at level 11 of the English football pyramid (level 7 of the National League System), which is roughly the county level, together with a few other leagues permitted by the FA.
The first winner of the NLS Cup was the Mid Cheshire League, who beat the Cambridgeshire County League 2–0 in May 2004. A number of lower leagues organise their own cup competitions, such as the North West Counties Football League, who run a League Cup and a Division One Trophy. Many County Football Associations organise their own cup competitions involving Premier League and Football League clubs as well as non-league clubs in some counties.
Most league clubs tend to use reserve or youth teams, whereas non-league clubs will use their first team. County cups include the Sheffield and Hallamshire Senior Cup, which is one of the oldest surviving cup competitions in the world, the Birmingham Senior Cup which began in 1875 with its first final in 1876 making it the oldest known surviving regional football cup competition in the world and which has featured all of the major West Midlands clubs over the years with Aston Villa winning a record number of times, the Lancashire Senior Cup which is competed for by Premier League and Football League clubs from the historic county of Lancashire, including Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton and Burnley, along with Blackburn Rovers, Wigan Athletic, Bolton Wanderers, Blackpool, Preston North End, Oldham Athletic, Rochdale, Bury and Morecambe.
The Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy is for senior non-league clubs in the same county. Everton, Liverpool and Tranmere Rovers enter the Liverpool Senior Cup using their reserve or youth teams, along with local Merseyside non-league clubs, such as Burscough and Marine. Other competitions include the London Senior Cup and the Middlesex Senior Cup. The FA Sunday Cup began in 1964 and is a national knockout competition for all Sunday league teams.
The 2008 final was played at Anfield. The AFA Senior Cup is an amateur football competition organised by the Amateur Football Alliance and contested by the first teams of clubs affiliated to the Alliance. Although not an FA-affiliated contest, the Masters Football contest is a contest between former players and is refereed by former Premier League Referees There have also been a number of other cup competitions which are no longer run:
FA Amateur Cup (1893–1974) was for all teams outside the Football League, which in theory, were amateur Sheriff of London Charity Shield (1898–1907, 1931–1934 and 1965–66) was an early predecessor to the Community Shield Anglo-Italian Cup (1970–1973, 1976–1986 and 1992–1996) also involved Italian clubs Anglo-Italian League Cup (1969–1971, 1975–1976) involving FA Cup or League Cup winners and the Coppa Italia winners Watney Cup (1970–1973) was an invitational tournament for select clubs across Football League divisions Texaco Cup (1971–1975) was an invitational tournament also involving teams from Scotland and all Ireland Anglo-Scottish Cup (1975–1981) Super Cup (1985) Full Members' Cup (1985–1992) was for clubs in levels 1–2 and ended with the Premier League separation.
The Conference League Cup (1979–2009) was for clubs in level 5–6 i.e. the three divisions of the football conference.
