2010 FA Cup final

For the women's event, see 2010 FA Women's Cup final.

The 2010 FA Cup final was the 129th final of the FA Cup, the world's oldest domestic football cup competition. The match took place on 15 May 2010,^[2] at Wembley Stadium, London, in front of a crowd of over 88,000 and a British television audience of over 5 million.^[3] The match was contested between the two most recent FA Cup winners, Chelsea (2009, also cup holders) and Portsmouth (2008), and was refereed by Chris Foy from Merseyside.^[1] Chelsea won 1–0.

2010 FA Cup Final

The match programme cover
Event	2009–10 FA Cup
Chelsea Portsmouth 1 0
Date	15 May 2010
Venue	Wembley Stadium, London
Man of the Match	Didier Drogba (Chelsea)
Referee	Chris Foy (Merseyside)^[1]
Attendance	88,335
← 2009 2011 →

Chelsea entered the final looking to complete the Double for the first time in their history, having been crowned as the winners of the 2009–10 Premier League the week before. Portsmouth entered the final in a markedly different position; they faced an uncertain future, having already been relegated from the Premier League on 10 April following financial troubles, which saw them become the first ever Premier League club to enter administration, incurring an automatic nine-point deduction.

After Kevin-Prince Boateng saw his penalty saved by Petr Čech in the 54th minute, Didier Drogba scored from a free kick in the 58th minute to lead Chelsea to a 1–0 victory, and their first Double despite a later penalty miss from Frank Lampard. Chelsea's Ashley Cole won the FA Cup for a record 6th time. It was the first final in which both teams missed a penalty. Frank Lampard's penalty miss was the first penalty to completely miss the target in an FA Cup Final since Charlie Wallace in 1913; Wallace's team also won 1–0. David James was the oldest goalkeeper to play in an FA Cup final, aged nearly 40.

The UEFA Europa League qualifying place normally given to the winners of the FA Cup became irrelevant for the 2010 final, after Chelsea qualified for the Champions League and Portsmouth were refused a UEFA licence due to their financial situation. With Manchester United having won the League Cup and qualified for the Champions League, the qualifying place due to the finalists instead passed to Liverpool, the seventh-placed Premier League team.

Background

Up to the 2010 final, Chelsea had reached the FA Cup Final nine times, winning five of them, while Portsmouth had won two of their four finals. Portsmouth were the latest side to reach the final of the FA Cup in the same season as being relegated from Premier League; the last team to do the same was Middlesbrough in 1997 who, coincidentally, were also beaten by Chelsea.^[4]

Chelsea won both of the games between the two sides in the 2009–10 Premier League, winning 2–1 at Stamford Bridge and 5–0 at Fratton Park. Chelsea and Portsmouth had been drawn together in the FA Cup twice before, each winning one tie; their first FA Cup encounter came in the Fifth Round in 1928–29, when Portsmouth won 1–0 in a replay at Fratton Park after they had drawn 1–1 at Stamford Bridge; Portsmouth went on to reach the final. Their next meeting was 68 years later, in the Sixth Round of the 1996–97 competition; Chelsea won the match 4–1 and went on to win the trophy.^[5]

Because Chelsea won the 2009–10 Premier League, and Portsmouth's appeal for a UEFA licence was rejected by the FA,^[6] their 2010–11 UEFA Europa League berth went to the team that finished in seventh place in the league, Liverpool.

Route to the final

See also: 2009–10 FA Cup

Chelsea		Round	Portsmouth
Watford [C] H 5–0	Sturridge 5', 68', Eustace 15' (o.g.), Malouda 22', Lampard 64'	Third Round	Coventry City [C] H 1–1	Boateng 45+1'
		replay	Coventry City [C] A 2–1	Wright 90' (o.g.), Mokoena 120+1'
Preston North End [C] A 2–0	Anelka 37', Sturridge 47'	Fourth Round	Sunderland [PL] H 2–1	Utaka 42', 57'
Cardiff City [C] H 4–1	Drogba 2', Ballack 51', Sturridge 69', Kalou 86'	Fifth Round	Southampton [L1] A 4–1	Owusu-Abeyie 66', Dindane 75', Belhadj 82', O'Hara 85'
Stoke City [PL] H 2–0	Lampard 35', Terry 67'	Sixth Round	Birmingham City [PL] H 2–0	Piquionne 67', 70'
Aston Villa [PL] Wembley Stadium, London 3–0	Drogba 68', Malouda 89', Lampard 90+5'	Semi-finals	Tottenham Hotspur [PL] Wembley Stadium, London 2–0 (aet)	Piquionne 99', Boateng 117'

[PL] = Premier League, [C] = Championship, [L1] = League One

Pre-match

 

2010 FA Cup Final banner

Match ball

The match ball for the 2010 FA Cup Final was the Umbro NeoPro. The ball has an irregular 14-panel configuration, and the panels are cut using lasers, which Umbro claim cause the ball to have a smoother flight through the air. The ball will be used for all matches in the 2010–11 FA Cup from the Second Round onwards.^[7]

Officials

Merseyside-based referee Chris Foy was named as the referee for the 2010 FA Cup Final on 13 April 2010. Foy's previous assignments as the primary referee at Wembley Stadium included the 2007 FA Trophy Final and the 2009 FA Community Shield. He was also the fourth official for the 2008 FA Cup Final.^[1]

His assistants for the 2010 final were John Flynn, representing the Royal Air Force Football Association, Shaun Procter-Green of the Lincolnshire Football Association, with Andre Marriner of the Birmingham County Football Association as the fourth official. The reserve match official was the Northamptonshire Football Association's Stuart Burt.^[1]

Kits

Since both sides' first-choice kits are blue, the toss of a coin was used to decide which team had choice of kit. Chelsea won the toss and wore their new blue home kit,^[8] while Portsmouth wore a new white change kit with burgundy and salmon pink trim.^[9]

Opening ceremony

Throughout the 2009–10 FA Cup season, the Football Association took the FA Cup trophy on a nationwide tour covering 30 venues. The tour began at AFC Bournemouth's Dean Court stadium on 12 November 2009 and culminated at Trafalgar Square on 13 May 2010, two days before the final. At the events, fans were able to have photos taken with the trophy as well as take part in other interactive activities.^[10]

Immediately before the match kicked off, there was a short opening ceremony in which the traditional FA Cup anthem, Abide with Me, was sung by 14-year-old Faryl Smith. The trophy was then placed on a plinth at the mouth of the players' tunnel before the players emerged and lined up along a red carpet. The players were then introduced to the final's chief guest and the official party, after which the national anthem was sung.^[11]

Match

Details

15 May 2010

15:00

Chelsea	1–0	Portsmouth
Drogba   59'	Report

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 88,335

Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside)^[1]

Chelsea

Portsmouth

GK 1   Petr Čech RB 2   Branislav Ivanović CB 33   Alex CB 26   John Terry (c) LB 3   Ashley Cole CM 8   Frank Lampard CM 13   Michael Ballack   44' CM 15   Florent Malouda RW 21   Salomon Kalou   71' LW 39   Nicolas Anelka   90' CF 11   Didier Drogba Substitutes: GK 40   Hilário DF 19   Paulo Ferreira DF 35   Juliano Belletti   44' MF 10   Joe Cole   71' MF 18   Yuri Zhirkov MF 24   Nemanja Matić FW 23   Daniel Sturridge   90' Manager:   Carlo Ancelotti

GK 1   David James (c) RB 16   Steve Finnan CB 3   Ricardo Rocha   90+1' CB 4   Aaron Mokoena LB 6   Hayden Mullins   81' RM 24   Aruna Dindane CM 11   Michael Brown CM 8   Papa Bouba Diop   81' LM 23   Kevin-Prince Boateng   36'   73' SS 5   Jamie O'Hara   90+1' CF 9   Frédéric Piquionne Substitutes: GK 21   Jamie Ashdown DF 18   Anthony Vanden Borre DF 26   Tal Ben Haim DF 39   Nadir Belhadj   81' MF 22   Richard Hughes FW 17   John Utaka   73' FW 27   Nwankwo Kanu   81' Manager:   Avram Grant

Man of the match Didier Drogba (Chelsea) Match officials Assistant referees: John Flynn (Royal Air Force)^[1] Shaun Procter-Green (Lincolnshire)^[1] Fourth official: Andre Marriner (West Midlands)^[1]

Match rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.

Statistics

	Chelsea	Portsmouth
Total shots	24	2
Shots on target	10	1
Ball possession	56%	44%
Corner kicks	6	2
Penalty kicks	1	1
Fouls committed	16	14
Offsides	1	2
Yellow cards	0	3
Red cards	0	0

Source: BBC Sport^[12]

Reactions

Criticism of pitch

The much-maligned Wembley pitch came in for criticism from Chelsea captain John Terry following the match. He said, "The pitch ruined the final. It's probably the worst pitch we've played on all year. It was not good enough for a Wembley pitch."^[13]

See also

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to FA Cup Final 2010.

• 2009–10 FA Cup
• 2010 Football League Cup Final
• 2010 FA Trophy Final

References

1. "FA Cup Final for Foy". TheFA.com. The Football Association. 13 April 2010. Archived from the original on 15 April 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
2. "FA Cup Round Dates". TheFA.com. The Football Association. Archived from the original on 21 April 2009. Retrieved 24 December 2009.
3. Deans, Jason (15 May 2010). "TV ratings: FA Cup final nets 5.6m viewers". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
4. Bandini, Paolo (18 April 2010). "Portsmouth v Aston Villa – as it happened". guardian.co.uk. London: Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
5. Barber, David (12 April 2010). "One win apiece". TheFA.com. The Football Association. Archived from the original on 16 April 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
6. "Portsmouth Europa League appeal rejected by FA". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 22 April 2010. from the original on 13 January 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
7. . Umbro.com. Umbro. 10 May 2010. Archived from the original on 26 May 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
8. "Blue is the Colour". chelseafc.com. Chelsea FC. 15 April 2010. from the original on 18 April 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
9. . portsmouthfc.co.uk. Portsmouth FC. Archived from the original on 3 May 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
10. "Trafalgar Square to welcome The FA Cup". TheFA.com. The Football Association. 10 May 2010. Archived from the original on 14 June 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
11. "The FA Cup Final". TheFA.com. The Football Association. 11 May 2010. Archived from the original on 14 May 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
12. McNulty, Phil (15 May 2010). "Chelsea; FA Cup Winners 2010". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
13. "John Terry: Wembley pitch ruined the final". Times Online. Times Newspapers. 15 May 2010. from the original on 31 May 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2010.