Man City FA Cup Titles

Of all the competitions that Manchester City have entered over the years, none have given the club quite such a complete emotional range as the FA Cup. Seven wins across twelve final appearances, the first in 1904 and the most recent in 2023, sit alongside a broken neck, a last-minute Wembley sucker punch and a defeat to a non-league side playing on a pitch that had to be shovelled clear of snow.

FA Cup Wins

Manchester City have lifted the FA Cup eight times, a return bettered by only two English clubs and spread across more than a century of the competition, from a disputed goal in front of a Crystal Palace crowd to a Wembley rout that completed a first men’s domestic treble. In between sit a broken neck, two late smash-and-grabs, and the fastest final goal in the competition’s history.

1903-1904: Meredith’s Goal Beats Bolton

City’s first FA Cup trophy win came on the 23rd of April 1904, when Billy Meredith scored the only goal against Bolton Wanderers at Crystal Palace. Twenty minutes in, Meredith took a pass from Livingstone and dribbled through to finish, watched by a crowd of around 62,000. Bolton’s players believed him offside and said so at length, but the referee disagreed and so the goal stood.

1933-1934: Tilson Delivers on His Promise

City’s second FA Cup arrived at Wembley on the 28th of April 1934, thanks to a 2-1 win over Portsmouth in front of 93,258 supporters. Portsmouth led from Septimus Rutherford’s 28th-minute goal, and City’s twenty-year-old goalkeeper, Frank Swift, was struggling to settle. Fred Tilson told him not to worry, he’d ‘plonk two in’ during the second-half, going on to do exactly that. He scored an equaliser with 16 minutes left and the winner in the 88th minute. Swift fainted with relief at the final whistle and had to be revived before he could collect his medal.

1955-1956: Trautmann Plays on with a Broken Neck

City beat Birmingham City 3-1 at Wembley on the fifth of May 1956, with goals from Joe Hayes, Bobby Johnstone and Jack Dyson either side of Noel Kinsey’s equaliser for Birmingham. The scoreline is almost beside the point. With 17 minutes left, goalkeeper Bert Trautmann collided with Birmingham’s Peter Murphy and played on regardless, still claiming crosses and closing down attackers. Only after the final whistle, when the pain hadn’t eased, did an X-ray show he had broken his neck. He finished the game and picked up a winners’ medal for it.

1968-1969: Neil Young Settles a Tight Final

City won 1-0 against Leicester City at Wembley on the 26th of April 1969. Mike Summerbee crossed from the right in the 24th minute and Neil Young, the footballer rather than the musician, met it with a left-footed shot past Peter Shilton and into the roof of the net. Neither side threatened to turn the game into a rout, though, and Young’s strike was enough on its own to bring City their third FA Cup.

2010-2011: Touré ends a 35-year wait

City’s fourth FA Cup, which was also the first trophy of the Abu Dhabi ownership era, came on the 14th of May 2011 with a 1-0 win over Stoke City at Wembley. Yaya Touré scored the only goal from 12 yards in the 74th minute, which was a moment that mattered as much for what it ended as for what it started. It confirmed that the new owners weren’t just there to make up the numbers, as well as handed City their first major trophy in 35 years.

2018-2019: Watford Swept Aside to Seal the Treble

On the 18th of May 2019, City beat Watford 6-0 at Wembley to complete their first men’s domestic treble, having already secured the Premier League and League Cup that season. David Silva, Gabriel Jesus (twice), Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling (twice) shared the goals. Watford, appearing in their first final in 35 years, were finished as a meaningful opponent by half-time.

2022-2023: Gündogan’s 12-Second Goal Settles the Derby Final

City’s seventh FA Cup came against Manchester United on the third of June 2023, won 2-1 in front of 83,179 fans at Wembley. Ilkay Gündogan volleyed City ahead inside 12 seconds, the which was the fastest goal in FA Cup final history, going on to add a second in the 51st minute after Bruno Fernandes had levelled from the penalty spot. The win completed a domestic double on the way to a treble sealed in Istanbul the following week.

2025-2026: Semenyo Strike Seals Cup Double

After defeating Arsenal in the 2026 League Cup Final, Manchester City beat another London side in Chelsea in May 2026 to secure a domestic cup double. In a tight affair, the match was settled by a moment of brilliance from Antoine Semenyo, who had only signed from Bournemouth in January. The winger flicked an Erling Haaland cross backwards past Levi Colwill and the outstretched hand of Robert Sánchez.

Near Misses & Losing Finals

For every FA Cup City have won, there has very nearly been another added. City have finished runners-up five times, which is a run of near misses stretching from the 1920s to the 2010s, several of them memorable for the wrong reasons entirely.

1925-1926: First Finalists Relegated in the Same Season

City lost 1-0 to Bolton Wanderers at Wembley on the 24th of April 1926, with David Jack scoring the only goal. Bolton were the stronger side on the day, but worse soon followed. City finished the 1925-1926 season relegated to the Second Division, becoming the first FA Cup finalists in the competition’s history to suffer that particular fate.

1932-1933: Everton Complete a Rout

Seven years later and City lost again, this time ending up on the losing end of a 3-0 defeat to Everton at Wembley on the 29th of April 1933, with Jimmy Stein, Dixie Dean and Jimmy Dunn amongst the scorers. It was the first FA Cup final in which players wore numbered shirts, Everton given 1 to 11 and City 12 to 22, which meant that City at least made history, if not in the way anyone at the club wanted.

1954-1955: Milburn’s 45-Second Sucker Punch

Newcastle United beat City 3-1 at Wembley on the seventh of May 1955, with Jackie Milburn heading in after just 45 seconds, which was the fastest goal in a Wembley final at the time. Bobby Johnstone equalised before half-time, but City were already down to ten men after right-back Jimmy Meadows had been stretchered off with a serious knee injury in the 17th minute. Substitutes were not permitted in at the time, leaving them short on the pitch. Bobby Mitchell and George Hannah scored either side of the hour mark to put the game out of reach.

1980-1981: Ricky Villa’s Wonder Goal Wins it for Spurs

City drew 1-1 with Tottenham Hotspur in the final on the ninth of May 1981, thanks to Tommy Hutchison scoring at both ends, before going on to lose the replay 3-2 five days later in the first Wembley replay since 1970. City twice came from behind, through Steve MacKenzie and a Kevin Reeves penalty, but Ricky Villa settled it with a goal that has outlived the result. He picked the ball up 30 yards out, beat four City defenders and then rolled it past Joe Corrigan. It is a goal that is still shown every time the competition needs reminding what it is all for.

2012-2013: Wigan’s Stoppage-Time Sucker Punch

City lost 1-0 to Wigan Athletic at Wembley on the 11th of May 2013, in what is considered one of the biggest modern day upsets. Ben Watson headed in from a corner in the 88th minute, moments after the board had gone up for three added minutes. It remains one of the competition’s great shocks. Wigan had been fighting relegation all season and would go on to be relegated from the Premier League three days later after losing at Arsenal. They were the first club to win the FA Cup and go down from the top-flight in the same week.

Disasters & Upsets

City’s FA Cup history also has a healthy stock of shocks and abject afternoons, the kind of results that separate a giant-killing from a humiliation only by which side of the fixture you support.

1979-1980: Non-league Halifax End the Run

City’s third-round tie away to Fourth Division Halifax Town on the fifth of January 1980 should have been a formality. It was not. Playing on a Shay pitch that volunteers had to clear of snow before kick-off, Halifax won 1-0, which was one of the biggest shocks the competition had seen in years and a result City supporters of a certain age still wince at.

2014-2015: Middlesbrough Stun the Champions

Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City were beaten 2-0 at home to Championship side Middlesbrough in the fourth round on the 24th of January 2015, with Patrick Bamford opening the scoring early in the second-half before substitute Kike settled it in stoppage time. It was the kind of scoreline that made a mockery of the two divisions separating the sides.

2017-2018: Wigan do it Again, This Time in League One

On the 19th of February 2018, ten-man City lost 1-0 to League One Wigan Athletic in the fifth round. Will Grigg scored the only goal of the game in the 79th minute after Fabian Delph’s contentious red card. City had 29 shots and 83% of possession and lost anyway, their quadruple bid ending at the same club that had beaten them in a Wembley final five years before. It was enough for some to declare Wigan as an unlikely bogey team for the perennial winners.