The FAI Cup is a cup competition in Ireland, with recorded coverage spanning seven seasons from 2019 to 2025. Visitors can follow live scores, fixtures and results, while reviewing standings plus player and team statistics across the available competition coverage. It offers a clear way to review match activity and performance data.
Upcoming matches, FAI Cup
Semi-finals
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- Semi-finals
Bohemians
Waterford
Dalymount Park -
- Semi-finals
Galway United
Derry City
Eamonn Deacy Park
Latest played matches, FAI Cup
Quarter-finals
Round of 16
FAI Cup Standings
FAI Cup Statistics
Top scorers 2026
| # | Player | Goals |
|---|
Top assists 2026
| # | Player | Assists |
|---|
Top key passes
Top tackles
Top yellow cards
Top red cards
FAI Cup teams participation since 2019
History
| Team | Nb participations |
|---|---|
| Dundalk | 7 |
| Shamrock Rovers | 7 |
| Cork City | 7 |
| Derry City | 7 |
| Bohemians | 7 |
| Finn Harps | 7 |
| Sligo Rovers | 7 |
| St Patrick's Athl. | 7 |
| UCD | 7 |
| Waterford | 7 |
| Athlone Town | 7 |
| Bray Wanderers | 7 |
| Cobh Ramblers | 7 |
| Drogheda United | 7 |
| Galway United | 7 |
| Longford Town | 7 |
| Shelbourne | 7 |
| Wexford | 7 |
| Treaty United | 5 |
| Killester Donnycarney | 4 |
| Lucan United | 4 |
| Maynooth University Town | 4 |
| Cabinteely | 3 |
| Crumlin United | 3 |
| Malahide United | 3 |
| St. Michaels | 3 |
| Cockhill Celtic | 3 |
| Kerry | 3 |
| College Corinthians | 3 |
| Usher Celtic | 3 |
| Ringmahon Rangers | 3 |
| Cobh Wanderers | 2 |
| Collinstown | 2 |
| Glebe North | 2 |
| St Mochta's | 2 |
| Bangor GGFC | 2 |
| Fairview Rangers | 2 |
| Liffeys Wanderers | 2 |
| Pike Rovers | 2 |
| Salthill Devon | 2 |
| Villa | 2 |
| Midleton | 2 |
| Bangor Celtic | 2 |
| Gorey Rangers | 2 |
| Kilbarrack United | 2 |
FAI Cup top scorer teams
FAI Cup About
FAI Cup is Ireland’s national football cup competition, a knockout tournament played within the football structure of the Republic of Ireland. It is distinct from the League of Ireland, which is the country’s professional league system, and provides a separate route to domestic cup honours for clubs competing in Irish football.
National role and identity
The competition exists to determine a national cup winner through knockout football rather than a league table. That gives the FAI Cup a different sporting character from the League of Ireland’s Premier Division and First Division, where clubs contest a season-long schedule for league position. In a cup, each tie carries immediate consequence: progress depends on winning the relevant round, while defeat ends a club’s involvement in that edition.
The tournament forms part of the wider Irish football ecosystem overseen by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). The association governs football in the Republic of Ireland, establishes competition and licensing frameworks, and connects domestic football with the broader European game. The FAI Cup therefore sits at the national level of the Irish pyramid and represents one of the country’s principal domestic honours.
How the competition fits Irish football
The FAI Cup should not be confused with the League of Ireland’s two-tier league championship. The League of Ireland is made up of the Premier Division and First Division, with licensed clubs playing a regular league programme. The FAI Cup is a separate cup competition, designed around elimination and the possibility of clubs meeting opponents from different levels of the domestic game. Its appeal comes from the contrast between established professional sides, ambitious clubs and the pressure of a decisive cup tie.
Participation is connected to the organised Irish football system and the eligibility requirements applied by the FAI. The wider national structure uses club licensing, competition regulations and standards covering matters such as finance, facilities and squad administration. Exact entry routes, draw arrangements and round dates can vary by edition, so those details should be read alongside the regulations for the relevant season rather than treated as permanent features of every FAI Cup tournament.
Knockout format and match stakes
The defining feature of the FAI Cup is progression through knockout rounds. Clubs are paired in successive ties, with winners advancing towards the final and losers eliminated. The format creates a different form of pressure from league football: a club can produce a memorable run over a limited number of matches, while one poor performance can end its campaign regardless of its league position.
Cup ties are settled under the competition regulations in force for the relevant edition. Where a match requires a winner, the applicable rules determine whether the tie is decided in normal time, through extra time or by a penalty shootout. The precise use of replays, two-legged rounds or other tie-specific arrangements should therefore be checked for the season concerned rather than assumed from the competition’s name alone.
Calendar and recorded coverage
The FAI Cup is contested as part of the Irish domestic football calendar, with its rounds and final scheduled around league commitments and the wider national season. Because cup rounds are staged at different points in the campaign, the competition can bring together clubs whose league schedules and competitive priorities differ. The final provides the tournament’s sporting climax and crowns the edition’s national cup winner.
Xtra-Stats records FAI Cup coverage from the 2019 season through the 2025 season, covering seven recorded seasons. This period provides a consistent window for comparing editions, clubs, matches and outcomes while keeping seasonal statistics tied to the appropriate tournament year.
Why the FAI Cup matters
The competition combines national prestige with the uncertainty that makes cup football distinctive. It offers clubs the chance to compete for a major Irish honour outside the league standings and gives supporters a clear knockout narrative from the opening rounds to the final. For historical and statistical purposes, the FAI Cup is best understood as a national Irish cup competition whose identity rests on elimination, opportunity and the pursuit of a place in domestic football history.