The first round of the FA has produced a major shock. QPR have lost to Vauxhall Motors. Where else in the world can you have a result like that?
Match Report (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/2502973.stm)

Vauxhall now go on to face Macclesfield Town (Away) in the second round. If they win that then they could possibly face Liverpool, Arsenal or Manchester United. This is the magic of the FA cup.

Originally posted by MrPresident
Where else in the world can you have a result like that?

In other national Cups. ;) :p

But it is indeed a remarkable thing, and the best reason to love such cups. :goodjob:

Originally posted by MrPresident
Where else in the world can you have a result like that?


Originally posted by Hitro
In other national Cups.


Exactly!
Last Sunday Benfica was eliminted from the portuguese cup loosing (home!:eek: ) against Gondomar by 1-0. Gondomar is in the 4th division or something. Benfica's coach has already been fired.
Needless to say, since I suport FC Porto, which are Benfica's main rivals, I spent the last days laughing until hurting!:lol:

Last year, Leixões, who are in the 3rd division got to the final, and they were by far the better team against Sporting, the league champions. And this year they won one round of the UEFA Cup and the home match in the following round against PAOK of Greece.

Gondomar is in the 4th division I don't think you understand how lowly Vauxhall Motors are. And remember in the first round there was a team of students (from Bath).
In other national Cups.
Do you have non-league, part-time teams in other national cups?

I don't think you quite understand how large the FA cup is. Anyone can enter provided they have 11 players and around 200 pounds entrance fee. Over 600 clubs play every year, dwarfing any other cup competition in the world. Every year you get the few non-league teams getting into round 1 or 2, it's great when they knock out an established team in Div 2 or 3 who are 4 or 5 steps up the pyramid from them.

I really don't know how low they are. In the list I found in the football quiz thread it seems that there are 136 teams from premier league to Dr Martens league. They must be lower than that. Over here you have the I Liga which has 18 clubs as does the II Liga. Then the II-B has 60 clubs and the III has 120. That makes more than 200 clubs. Then it's the regionals. Gondomar may be better than Vauxhal Motors, but QPR certainly isn't a top club right now, is it? Benfica is in 3rd place in the league, yet they lost at home.
But I agree, only in the national cups this is possible.

Do you have non-league, part-time teams in other national cups?

What do you mean by non league? Here there are teams from the regional divisions, filled with local amateur players.

Hmm, you can't really measure the English league structure in that way since progression is not always linear. You get several seperate leagues at the same level and the like. It is not so much a linear system of leagues as so much a pyramid system, which is why it is called the Non-League pyramid. :) (Non-League means any team outside the top 4 divisions - The Premiership and Divsions 1-3) So for Vauxhall Motors the progression they must go through is:

Premiership
Nationwide Division 1
Nationwide Division 2
Nationwide Division 3
Nationwide Conference
Unibond Premier Division

But Team Bath, in another part of the country must go:

...
Nationwide Conference
Dr. Martens Premier Division
Dr. Martens Division 1
Screwfix Direct Western League

Damn, all that typing, only to then find out a website that explains it all... http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/r.j.gerrard/football/nl/pyramid.html it is a bit out of date with the names though and doesn't sow the tiers inside seperate leagues, but does the job quite well.

Originally posted by MrPresident
Do you have non-league, part-time teams in other national cups?
Hard to compare, because of the (supposedly) different sports infrastructure. Here everything is organized in private clubs or teams, from professional to so-called "pub teams". Schools and universities don't take part in it, so a team of students is not very likely. But theoretically everyone can take part in it.
For example here in Bremen, one team from the local area joins the round (no idea which it is) where the professional teams start to participate. Now this team is determined in a number of pre-tournaments (or rather earlier rounds of the cup on local level).
The same is done in all other regions so there are always some local bakers and lawyers facing Bundesliga teams, which repeatedly results in the elimination of said Bundesliga teams.