page_title: FA Cup semi-finals
section_title: Format
hierarchical_section_title: FA Cup semi-finals / Format
caption_attribution_description: English: Highfield Road StadiumCoventry City moved from Highfield Road in 2005.
context_page_description: The FA Cup semi-finals are played to determine which teams will contest the FA Cup Final. They are the penultimate phase of the FA Cup, the oldest football tournament in the world.
context_section_description: In the past, there would be a replay if a semi-final match was drawn. If the replay was also drawn, there would be a second replay. In theory, an unlimited number of games could be played to obtain a winner. For example, in 1980 it took four games to decide the tie between Arsenal and Liverpool. This was the most games needed to settle an FA Cup semi-final, although there were several occasions when three games were played. Prior to the 1992 semi-finals, the only semi-final played under different rules to this was the rearranged 1989 semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, for which it had been declared in advance that the game would be decided by extra time and penalties if necessary due to the Hillsborough Stadium disaster. 
  Queen's Park chose not to contest the 1871–72 replay match with Wanderers.
  There were no semi-finals played in the 1872–73 competition. Under the rules at the time, holders Wanderers received a bye to the final. Queen's Park again decided not to contest a semi-final, so Oxford University advanced automatically.
  Between 1877–1881 only one semi-final was played due to the format of the competition leaving three teams remaining.
  In 1991 the FA decided that only one replay should be played (starting with the 1991–92 competition). If this game ended in a draw, extra time would be played, followed by penalty kicks if the match was still even. In 1999 it was decided that the semi-finals should be decided in one game, with extra time and penalties if the score was level after 90 minutes. Replays are still used in earlier rounds, however, though they were eliminated in the quarter-finals in 2016. The last FA Cup semi-final replay, in 1999, saw Manchester United take on Arsenal at Villa Park. This turned out to become one of the most memorable semi-finals of all time, with Peter Schmeichel saving a last-minute penalty from Dennis Bergkamp and a Ryan Giggs extra time goal deciding the outcome in Manchester United's favour. In 2003 this goal was voted the greatest ever in FA Cup history.
  From 2016 to 2017, a fourth substitute was allowed in semi-final matches if the game went into extra time.
caption: Highfield Road in Coventry (1982 image) hosted the only semi-final third replay in 1979–80.
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