last team to win fa cup outside top flight
Arsenal West Ham United
title: FA Cup text: Cup Final and were also the cup holders from the previous year as well as just having finished 4th in the First Division, whereas West Ham had ended the season 7th in Division 2. This also marked the last time (as of 2017-18) a team from outside the top division won the FA cup. Uniquely, in 2008 three of the four semi-finalists (Barnsley, Cardiff City and West Bromwich) were from outside the top division, although the eventual winner was the last remaining top-flight team, Portsmouth. West Bromwich (1931) are the only team to have won the FA Cup and earned title: FA Cup text: of the Football League in 1888, the final has never been contested by two teams from outside the top division, and there have only been eight winners who were not in the top flight: Notts County (1894); Tottenham Hotspur (1901); Wolverhampton Wanderers (1908); Barnsley (1912); West Bromwich Albion (1931); Sunderland (1973), Southampton (1976) and West Ham United (1980). With the exception of Tottenham, these clubs were all playing in the second tier (the old Second Division) – Tottenham were playing in the Southern League and were only elected to the Football League in 1908, meaning they are the only non-League title: History of the FA Cup text: in the 1973 FA Cup Final, Sunderland were the first Cup winners from outside the top flight since West Bromwich Albion in 1931. The feat was repeated twice over the next seven seasons (by Southampton in 1976 and West Ham United in 1980) but has not been accomplished since. In 1980, West Ham United became the last side to date to win the competition from outside the top division in football. They were a Second Division outfit when they beat holders Arsenal 1–0 thanks to a goal by Trevor Brooking. Four second level clubs – Queens Park Rangers in 1982, title: FA Cup text: winners of the FA Cup since the League's creation. Other than Tottenham's victory, only 24 finalists have come from outside English football's top tier, with a record of 7 wins and 17 runners-up: and none at all from the third tier or lower, Southampton (1902, then in the Southern League) being the last finalist from outside the top two tiers. Sunderland's win in 1973 was considered a major upset, having beaten Leeds United who finished third in the top flight that season., as was West Ham's victory over Arsenal in 1980 as the Gunners were in their third successive FA title: 1979–80 in English football text: than league championships. Arsenal faced Valencia of Spain in the European Cup Winners' Cup final, days after their FA Cup final loss. It finished goalless after extra time, and Arsenal lost the penalty shoot-out after misses from Liam Brady and Graham Rix. Second Division West Ham United, managed by John Lyall, won the FA Cup, beating Arsenal 1–0 with a Trevor Brooking goal. They are the last team to win the FA Cup from outside the top division. Wolverhampton Wanderers overcame the challenge of European champions Nottingham Forest to lift their second League Cup. The match finished 1–0 with a