The FA Cup is the greater of the two English domestic cup competitions, and the one that most fans actually care about. The Football Association Challenge Cup is a knock-out tournament that involves ALL English football clubs all the way down to Level 10 of the English football pyramid. There’s nothing else quite like it.
After several preliminary rounds and a First and Second Round Proper, we’re at the stage of the competition where Championship and Premier League clubs enter the competition. Here’s where it gets fun. All the clubs go into a big fishbowl, and the teams are drawn out at random, home and away. The next round will be played January 6-9, 2017.
What does this mean for Tottenham Hotspur? Well, not much. Spurs could draw a 7th tier club (Stourbridge, still in the competition pending a replay) on the road, or it could draw Arsenal. There’s no seeding, no preference to large clubs. It’s ping-pong balls and dumb luck. It’s capricious and totally random. It’s also kind of awesome.
Spurs will have ball number 39.
How to Watch
The good news is if you’re in Britain you can watch the draw live on BBC 2 and BT Sport. The bad news is if you’re an American you’re pretty much screwed unless you find (*cough*) alternate means, and no, we’re not going to help you with that. However, what we WILL do is embed the FA’s Twitter feed right into this post. It should update automatically.
Time: 7:10 p.m. GMT, 2:10 p.m. ET
Location: BT Tower, London, UK
TV Channels: BBC 2, BT Sport (UK)
Streaming: BT Sport, BBC iPlayer