Editing FA Cup (section)

===Early years===
[[The Football League]] was founded in 1888, 16 years after the first FA Cup competition. Before its establishment as the dominant football competition in England, teams from rival leagues did make the final of the FA Cup. The Wednesday (later Sheffield Wednesday) in 1890 reached the final as a member of the [[Football Alliance]], two years before that competition merged with the Football League.<ref>{{cite web |last1=W |first1=Paul |title=The Football Alliance: Teams Who Didn't Make the League |date=4 April 2020 |url=https://the1888letter.com/the-football-alliance-teams-who-didnt-make-the-league/ |publisher=The 1888 Letter |access-date=14 March 2022 |archive-date=30 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130144219/https://the1888letter.com/the-football-alliance-teams-who-didnt-make-the-league/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Later, with the Football League predominantly in [[Northern England|the North]] and [[Midlands]] of England, leading clubs of the [[Southern Football League]] were of a level with Football League teams, and in 1901 Southern League members [[Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur]] became the only non-League side to win the Cup,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Medhurst |first1=James |title=Southern League Division 1, 1900–01 |url=https://www.wsc.co.uk/the-archive/23-Season-in-brief/1650-southern-league-division-1-1900-01 |publisher=When Saturday Comes |access-date=14 March 2022 |archive-date=2 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220702022328/https://www.wsc.co.uk/the-archive/23-Season-in-brief/1650-southern-league-division-1-1900-01 |url-status=live }}</ref> while fellow Southern League team [[Southampton F.C.|Southampton]] were losing finalists in 1900 and 1902. In [[1920–21 Football League|1920–21]], the Football League [[Football League Third Division|expanded]] to incorporate teams from the Southern League's first division, and the following year it added a [[Football League Third Division North|further division]] consisting of leading northern and midlands clubs. This consolidated the Football League's position as the leading competition in English football, and established the hierarchy in which non-League clubs in the [[English football league system]] competing in the FA Cup would face Football League teams as clear [[underdogs]].