FA Cup 2025/26: All you need to know including FA Trophy and FA Vase dates and draws

All you need to know about the 2025/26 FA Cup and all the draws for the FA Trophy and FA Vase is right here on Football in Berkshire.

The early round draws were made at 1pm on Friday 4th July for the FA Cup, FA Trophy, FA Vase and FA Youth Cup and we’ve dissected it all down for the Berkshire teams.

When does the FA Cup and FA competitions start in 2025/26?

The FA announced round dates for each competition a week ago, but here’s when the opening rounds start for each:

• FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round: Saturday 2 August 2025
• FA Trophy Preliminary Round – Saturday 24th August 2024
• FA Vase First Round Qualifying: Saturday 23 August 2025
• FA Youth Cup Preliminary Round: Monday 1 September 2025

Dates for all rounds are here: FA Cup | FA Trophy | FA Vase | FA Youth Cup

What about exemptions? When will my team start in the FA Cup this season?

For each competition there are exemptions and we spent a bit of time breaking it down for each competition. The full list for Berkshire is here across the Trophy, Vase and Youth Cup. But we’ve pulled out the FA Cup below:

• Ascot United (Preliminary Round)
• Binfield (Extra Preliminary Round)
• Bracknell Town (First Qualifying Round)
• Burnham (Extra Preliminary Round)
• Eversley & California (Extra Preliminary Round)
• Holyport (Extra Preliminary Round)
• Hungerford Town (First Qualifying Round)
• Maidenhead United (Second Qualifying Round)
• Reading (First Round Proper)
• Reading City (Extra Preliminary Round)
• Slough Town (Second Qualifying Round)
• Tadley Calleva (Extra Preliminary Round)
• Thatcham Town (Extra Preliminary Round)
• Virginia Water (Extra Preliminary Round)
• Wallingford & Crowmarsh (Extra Preliminary Round)
• Windsor & Eton (Extra Preliminary Round)
• Wokingham Town (Extra Preliminary Round)

All the draws will be live on our dedicated FA Cup | FA Trophy | FA Vase | FA Youth Cup pages when they are released at 1pm.