FA Cup Makes Headlines

The David and Goliath aspect of the FA Cup always grabs attention even as most mismatches play out as one would expect. The competition pits clubs from all levels of English football against each other. Thus, you see outcomes such as Manchester City’s 10-1 demolition of Exeter City, a romp which featured Manchester City’s newest weapon Antoine Semenyo both scoring and assisting a goal. The competition also provides opportunities for top tier sides having a rough season to flex versus lower tier sides. Premier League doormat Wolverhampton pounded League Two side Shrewsbury 6-1 on Saturday. Relegation bound Burnley was a 5-1 winner over second tier Millwall.

You also have random matchups of Premier League clubs which provide an expected high level of play and competitiveness. Such was the case when Sunderland came back to eliminate Everton in penalty kicks. Newcastle also knocked off a Premier League rival in penalty kicks, requiring seven players to find the net in a shootout before sending Bournemouth packing. Manchester United was a 2-1 loser to Brighton as former Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck bagged the winner for the Seagulls. So heated was the match between Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur that a full out brawl erupted between players after Villa’s 2-1 win.

The storied tournament, however, also delivers the kind of special fairytale moments often hoped for but only occasionally realized. One such story was literally right out of Hollywood when Wrexham was a winner over Premier League side Nottingham Forest, in penalty shootout fashion, over the weekend. The true shocker, however, took place before roughly 5,000 amazed onlookers when non-league Macclesfield defeated defending FA Cup champion Crystal Palace. The Premier League Eagles were an underdog story themselves last season when they won the first significant silverware in the club’s long history, defeating Premier League heavyweight Manchester City in the FA final at Wembley. Now the Eagles have crash landed in perhaps the FA Cup’s greatest upset. Macclesfield plays in the sixth tier of English football. The club was in administration as recently as 2020 before reforming as a ninth-tier club in the pyramid of English football and then ascending thorough promotion to its current level, one which still often dictates that many players hold down other jobs to support themselves.

🎥 | BEHIND THE SCENES: MACCLESFIELD FC 2-1 CRYSTAL PALACE

🔍 We take you behind the curtain for a closer look at the unseen bits and angles of Saturday’s momentous occasion at the https://t.co/fL99QEEJ4D Stadium

🔗 Watch here: https://t.co/7Zs5h05ijn#AgainstAllOdds 💙 pic.twitter.com/swk7El0Lw3

— Macclesfield FC (C) (@thesilkmen) January 13, 2026

Others have vagabond type careers reflecting a star-crossed journey across the lower tier geographies of English football. Within the pyramidal hierarchy of English football, including the semiprofessional level of Macclesfield, there are currently 117 places separating Crystal Palace from “The Silkmen.” That disparity makes the Silkmen’s 2-1 victory over the Eagles on Saturday the greatest upset in FA Cup history based on comparative league position. The match had drama from the start as the first goal was scored by Macclesfield captain Paul Dawson via a header from a noggin that was heavily bandaged from a head injury sustained just seconds into the match. Those bandages were adjusted by a teammate just moments before the 43rd minute goal which broke up a scoreless match. Isaac Buckley-Ricketts would provide an insurance goal for the upstarts, a cushion which proved necessary when Crystal Palace’s Yeremy Pino brought the Eagles to within a goal with his 90th minute free kick strike. Buckley-Ricketts, who began his football journey in Manchester City’s academy, has played for seven different clubs in England, most in the lower echelons of the English league system. His goal proved the winner as Macclesfield, managed by Wayne Rooney’s brother John, held firm in the closing minutes to capture the win and dethrone the reigning FA Cup champions.

After the match, Rooney dedicated the title to Ethan McLeod a 21-year-old Macclesfield player tragically killed in a car accident just last month, further fueling the emotions surrounding a shocking result. The last time a defending FA Cup champion lost to a sixth-tier side was 1909.