The FA Cup preliminary round played out on Saturday 22 August, with 136 ties across steps 5 to 8 of English football. For fans following the amateur and semi-professional game, this round always throws up the kind of stories that make grassroots football worth watching.
Wythenshawe Keep Their Run Alive
Wythenshawe, the North West Counties League Premier Division champions and the club behind the star-studded veterans side we’ve covered before, beat Clitheroe 3-1 at Hollyhedge Park to reach the next round.
It’s Wythenshawe’s second cup win in as many weeks. They opened their FA Cup campaign with a 2-0 win over Padiham in the extra preliminary round, before following it up with today’s result against a Clitheroe side playing two tiers higher in the National League North West.
For a club that spent last season celebrating a league title, back-to-back cup wins are a strong early signal. Their reward is a trip into the first round qualifying stage, scheduled for Saturday 5 September.
Why the Preliminary Round Matters
At this stage of the FA Cup, every tie carries real weight for the clubs involved. Prize money for preliminary round winners sits at £1,444, with losing clubs still picking up £481 — a meaningful sum for teams operating on tight budgets, often run entirely by volunteers.
Beyond the money, a strong cup run gives smaller clubs something rare: a shot at facing much bigger opposition further down the line, and the kind of local buzz that a normal league fixture rarely generates.
What’s Next
136 winners now move forward into first round qualifying on Saturday 5 September, where step 3 clubs enter the competition for the first time this season. That’s when the gap in quality really starts to show, and when cup shocks become genuine national news rather than local talking points.
For clubs like Wythenshawe, every round survived is another step toward a tie that could put their name in front of a much wider audience — and another reason for the Sunday league fans following their story to keep paying attention.