By Tony Attwood
As you will probably know Arsenal have not won the league more than most other clubs – although all things considered they haven’t done too badly. But they have one particular area where the club has outshone everyone else: the FA Cup, winnig it 14 times out of 21 final appearances. True Manchester United have appeared in the final more often than Arsenal (22 times in the final for Man U ) but they keep losing finals.
Arsenal also share the lead for the most final appearances without losing, at seven of the finals, curiously shared with Tottenham Ho who have won it eight times overall – but that is quite a few less than the 14 for Arsenal. If Tottenham get to the final they win in the majority of cases, but mostly they get knocked out beforehand.
Arsenal’s last FA Cup final appearance was in 2020, since when the Cup has been won by Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester C (twice), Manchester U, and Crystal Palce. Mancehester C have actually appeared in all four of the last four FA Cup Finals, losing two and winning two.
So Arsenal have now had a run of six years without winning the FA Cup, which follows a run from 2014 to 2020 when Arsenal appeared in four of the seven FA Cup finals, and won the Cup in each and every case. This in turn came after five years without making it to the final.
In 2014 to 2017 Arsenal won the FA Cup in three seasons out of four, repeating the feat of 2002 to 2005. Indeed in the yeas 1978 to 1980 Arsenal appeared in theree consecutive finals, but only won one of them.
And to round the history bit up, Arsenal’s first final was in 1927 and by 1932 they had been in three finals, so they had clearly started to get the taste for it.
So Arsenal have won the FA Cup 14 times and appeared in the final, but lost, seven times. Manchester United have appeared in the final 22 times but only won 13 times. After that there is quite a drop in terms of the numer of final appearances, with Chelsea on 17 finals, but only eight wins. Arsenal have been in the semi-finals 30 times, beaten only by Manchester United with 32 appearances.
And just in case you are particularly curious the first final was in 1872 wherein the Wanderers beat Royal Engineers 1-0 at Kensington Oval in front of a crowd estimated at 2,000. Other winners that might take you a little bit by surprise include Oxford University, Royal Engineers, Clapham Rovers, Notts County, Barnsley, Old Carthusians, Blackburn Olympic and Wimbledon.
But to return to Arsenal here is something that tends to make them somewhat different from the rest of the winners of the FA Cup. Or actually several someethings.
Perhaps the first point that is often missed is the fact that Arsenal have had equal success in each competition, winning the first division or Premier League 14 times and winning the FA Cup 14 times.
Going back we can see that Arsenal’s success started in 1930 with an FA Cup win which was followed the next season by their first League title. By the outbreak of the second world war at the end of the 1930s Arsenal had won the league five times and the FA Cup twice.
There were a couple more of post-war trophies – the league in 1948 and again in 1953, and the FA Cup in 1950. But post 1953 and indeed throughout the 1960s there were barren days for Arsenal in terms of trophies.
We started the 1970s with a bang however winning the first double – not just the first for Arsenal but the first since prior to the first world war. But again Arsenal could not keep it going – another FA Cup followin 1979 but that was it for the 70s and indeed for the 1980s except for the league title of 1989.
So it certainly appeared that yes Arsenal could win the odd trophy, but it was a bit of a rarity. Except that there was a suggestion of a pick up in the 1990s with the League in 1991 and 1998 and the FA Cup in 1993 and 1998, and you may actually have noticed another double.
So enough of this ancient history – what has Arsenal achieved in the 21st century? Well of course you know abut last season’s league title – and you will know from all the media repetition of the fact, that this was our first title in 22 years. But it was also our third of this century (2002, 2004 and 2026)
But what about FA Cup wins in the 21st century? Strangely the media doesn’t really seem to mention this much, although there have been seven of them in the 21st century… 2002, 2003, 2005, 2014, 2015, 1017, and 2020.
Which makes 14 FA Cups and 14 league titles on y Arseenal. That is more FA Cup wins than anyone else, and only exceeded in league wins by Liverpool and Manchester United on 20 each. Although we might note in passing that Arsenal started wining the league quite a bit later than its rivals.
So there we are. What makes Arsenal special? 14 FA Cups and 14 League titles – and the fact that Arsenal didn’t win their first FA Cup final until 1930 and their first league title until 1931. We did give the rest of them quite a start.
