How Much FA Cup Prize Money Teams Earn for Winning in Every Round

The FA Cup is one of the most celebrated and respected cup competitions in all football. It’s a wonderful tradition in England and one that’s brought some incredible moments over the years. From some of the truly great teams to have got their hands on the trophy, to the electric finals and absurd moments, to some of the biggest upsets we’ve ever seen, there’s a reason the competition is so special and cherished.

One particular reason it means so much to football fans is the inclusion of non-league teams. It’s the rare occasion that teams further down the football pyramid have a chance to compete against some of the biggest names in the sport.

Getting to those latter stages in the tournament can be massive for a club. Not just for the experience, but the financial implications as well. Teams are given money for each round they surpass in the FA Cup and while it might not be considered much to the biggest sides in the country, who compete for so much more in the Champions League, it’s the sort of income that could seriously help some teams.

As City and Crystal Palace battle it out to be crowned winners of the FA Cup for the 2024/2025 season, below is a breakdown of just how much teams earn for each round of the FA Cup.

FA Cup Qualifying Rounds Prize Money

The lowest-ranked teams in the entire FA Cup will have to fight their way through six qualifying games if they’re to make it to the proper tournament. The extra preliminary round is the very first stage, with 223 teams entering the draw at that time. Just taking part in the qualifiers has its benefits for the lower-ranked teams as they gain money whether they win or lose their game at this stage. Winning the extra preliminary round pockets clubs £1,125 while losing it still sees them earn £375.

The next round, the preliminary round, sees the teams who win and progress pick up another £1,444, while those eliminated at this stage still get £481. We’re into the actual qualifying stages now, and the victors of the first round qualifying win £2,250, while the losers take home £750 as they exit the competition. The second-round qualifying winners land £3,375, and even the losers win more than a grand this time, gaining £1,125 for their troubles. The third round qualifying sees things continue to heat up and if a side has made it all the way to this stage, they’ve already made some nice cash for their level. The winners at this stage will win £5,625, while the losers still earn £1,875.

The final qualifying round of the FA Cup is a huge one. Teams that win will not only make it to the actual FA Cup tournament, where they stand a chance of facing significantly higher opposition, but they’ll also win another £9,325. Falling at the final hurdle isn’t nice for any team, but the £3,125 that the losers still win at this stage sure makes things a little easier to stomach. All in all, if you started at the very earliest stage of the tournament, and you’ve made it to the FA Cup proper, you’ve already earned £23,194.

FA Cup Prize Money – First Round Onwards

The FA Cup proper is where the big money starts coming into play. Any single win at this stage changes things drastically for a non-league side. Winning the first round alone pockets you £47,750. This is the sort of money that some clubs down at that level spend in a year. 40 sides enter the draw at this stage, with League One and League Two teams also joining the fold.

The second round sees Championship teams also added to the mix and the rise in the quality of opponents also sees the prize money jump. Winning the second round earns clubs another £79,500. That’s right, just winning the first two FA Cup games will pocket a team well over £100,000, which is crazy money for non-league sides. The third round is where things really get interesting. The Premier League shows up and a meeting with one of the biggest teams in the country, and maybe even the world, like Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea is potentially on the cards.

At this stage, facing one of the biggest clubs at their stadium is the best bet for non-league teams, with the financial implications of taking home half of their ticket sales from the match very, very lucrative. This was the case for non-league side Macclesfield, who stunned Premier League outfit and current cup holders Crystal Palace 2-1 at home in 2025/26, in what may have been the greatest cupset in history.

With £121,500 up for grabs if a team makes it past the third round, Macclesfield have enjoyed a huge amount of financial success from the tournament so far, and things could get even better if they can beat Brentford. The fourth-round winners will take home another £127,000, and if a club makes it past the fifth, they’ll win £238,500.

Prize money for the first, second and third rounds was increased for the 2024/25 season to help compensate clubs for the loss of replays, and has gone up even more in 2025/26. The FA announced in April 2024 that it was scrapping replays from the first round proper in the current campaign onwards as the English game sought to tackle fixture congestion created by the expansion of international tournaments such as UEFA competitions. Replays have always produced additional income, and increased prize money was added to try and soften the blow.

In the quarter-finals, the possibility of actually winning the whole thing is likely on the minds of anyone involved, but even just getting beyond that stage is enough to pocket another £477,000. It will also, by default, grant you at least another £530,000 as the losers of the semi-finals are guaranteed half a million pounds, while the winners, who book a trip to Wembley will win another £1,060,000.

Last year, Crystal Palace stunned most to pick up their first ever major trophy, beating Manchester Citt in the FA Cup final. They took home £2m, alongside the joy and pride of lifting the trophy, but this year’s winner will make a little more in prize money, with £2,120,000 now up for grabs.

Wrexham are among the team hoping to go far in 2026, having reached the FA Cup fifth round for the first time in 29 years. As a result, they’ve already made £121,500 for beating Nottingham Forest in the thrid round, and now a further £127,000 with their recent 1-0 win over Ipswich Town. That’s a total of £248,500 just for winning two games.

Mega-Money for Maidstone in 2023/24

Underdog stories are what makes the FA Cup so special and Maidstone were a recent fairytale. The National League South team had a stellar tournament. They came into the competition in the second qualifying round and made it all the way to the fifth round of the FA Cup proper, the furthest they had ever gone.

Most notably, the Stones dispatched Championship side Ipswich Town in the fourth round. The Tractor Boys were 98 places above them in the English football pyramid at the time and would earn automatic promotion to the Premier League four months later. It was a miraculous result and the memories they made from the iconic victory will live long in the minds of personnel related to the club and fans alike for a very long time. Sadly, their FA Cup journey came to an end after losing 5-0 to Coventry City in the fifth round.

A bonus to the achievement is just how much money Maidstone has made from their cup antics. A team in the National League South has very limited resources and, more often than not, isn’t even full-time. The money they make is nowhere near the level of the EFL, so the cash that the team has earned throughout the FA Cup will change their lives.

Having entered the tournament in the second qualifying round and having made it to the Fifth Round, Maidstone earned a total of £351,375. That was a sizeable bump for a club of their level and will go a long way into helping run the club in the foreseeable future.

All figures per The FA.