British Columbia FA Cup

The British Columbia Football Association Challenge Cup, or BC FA Cup for short, is an annual knockout competition in men's association football. Modelled on the British (specifically, English) competition of the same name, it was established in 1891 and is the oldest national sports competition in British Columbia. A concurrent event is held for women, the British Columbia FA Women's Cup.

= Format = The current competition format was introduced in 1929, with the formation of the British Columbia Football League. Beginning in February, the competition proceeds as a knockout tournament throughout, consisting of eight rounds, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and a final in October. A system of byes ensures Football League clubs enter the competition at later stages. There is no seeding, the fixtures in each round being determined by a random draw. In the fifth round and before, matches ending in a draw are replayed once, at the home stadium of the away team; if the replay also ends in a draw after 90 minutes, a penalty shootout determines the winner. In the quarter- and semi-finals, if the replay ends in a draw, a second replay is played at a neutral venue; if the second replay also ends in a draw after 90 minutes, a penalty shootout determines the winner. If the final is drawn after 90 minutes, 30 minutes of extra time are played, followed by a penalty shootout if necessary.

The previous season's top eight finishers in each of the six Regional Championship groups receive a bye through the Qualifying Round; this includes teams who were relegated from Division Three after the previous season. The remaining teams are drawn into the Qualifying Round. As the number of Regional Championship clubs can vary from season to season, a number of other clubs are drawn by random lottery from the various lower-tier amateur leagues to ensure that there are a total of 32 teams in the pot.

The sixteen Qualifying Round winners advance to the First Round, where they are joined by the forty-eight clubs that had received a bye through the Qualifying Round. The thirty-two winners advance to the Second Round, which leaves sixteen clubs in the competition. These sixteen are joined by all forty-eight Football League clubs (Divisions One through Three), for a total of sixty-four teams in the Third Round. The competition proceeds through the Fourth Round, the Fifth Round, the Quarter Finals, and the Semi Finals through to the Final, which is held on the third Sunday of October at Centennial Stadium in Victoria.

= 2021 Season =

Qualifying Round
Two lower-level clubs were invited to bring the number of participating teams to 32. Ninety-seven clubs entered the lottery, of which the winners were Connaught Heights FC of New Westminster, playing in the Vancouver Metro Premier League, and West Kelowna FC of the Okanagan Premier League.

Second Round
The greatest upset of the Second Round saw local-league amateur side Connaught Heights defeat Chichester 1:0. The amateurs won a penalty in the 49th minute, then successfully managed to shut the professional Chichester side down to hold on to the shock victory.

Third Round
Local-league side Connaught Heights continued their Cinderella run with a remarkable 3:2 win away at Vancouver City. Another famous upset came from another Westminster club, Division Three's Royal City FC, who eliminated a lethargic-looking Nanaimo Thistle with a convincing 3:0 win. The third major upset was fourth-tier Cassiar City's 2:0 away win over Second Division Kamloops City.

Fourth Round
Having been drawn as the home team for this round, Connaught Heights sought and received permission to play the match at Queen's Park Stadium instead of their usual home at Grimston Park - a pitch with an earthen embankment on one side upon which around 200 people can congregate. Drawing a capacity crowd of 21,124, the amateurs continued their giant-killing ways by seeing Division One side Nanaimo City off with a 1:0 victory thanks to a 63rd minute red card and penalty against Nanaimo. Interestingly, Connaught Heights drew a larger attendance than did Queen's Park's usual tenants Royal City FC, who had 18,429 on hand to witness their victory against Castlegar United. Meanwhile, fourth-tier Rapid Vienna's run was ended in a 0:1 loss away to Third Division side Kitimat & Kemano United. Third Division side Southgate FC of Kamloops came close to an upset, forcing a replay against Coquitlam Town, but ultimately falling to the D1 side in the penalty shootout.

Local derbies were a big feature of the fourth round, including one resuming after a pause of nearly twenty years, and another involving two Vancouver clubs meeting for the first time ever. Second Division Victoria West drew a capacity crowd for the first time since their relegation from Division One in 2004, as they were drawn as the home side against arch-rivals Victoria United. The first installation of the Victoria Derby in seventeen years saw the Westsiders eke out a scrappy 2:1 win over the Ministers to advance to the last sixteen for the first time since 1993. In Vancouver, Division Three side Shaughnessy Shamrocks met Vancouver United for the first time ever, drawing home against the giants, but they were unable to achieve a similar upset and lost 0:1 to United at Prince of Wales Park. Vancouver Rowing Club, relegated from Division Two at the end of the previous season, faced cross-town rivals Kitsilano, who'd finished fourth in D2; hosting at Brockton Oval, the Oarsmen handed Kits a comprehensive 3:0 defeat.

Fifth Round
The 2021 edition of the FA Cup was one which well illustrated the unpredictable nature of the single-knockout format that makes it so popular with football fans: of all the clubs to reach the final sixteen, only six were from the top division, whilst five were from Division Three; along with the three Division Two teams to reach this stage were one Regional-level side, as well as the fairy story of the year, a city league club.

Connaught Heights benefitted from the luck of the lottery, drawing as hosts once again, and this time against Division Three side Kitimat & Kemano United. Having captured the hearts of Westminsterites and football fans around the Lower Mainland, there was once again a packed house on hand to witness the amateur side's 4:2 victory over the visitors from the North Coast.

Quarter Finals
Four of the six Division One clubs advanced into the Quarter Finals; the remaining four teams were two from Division Two, one from Division Three, and Connaught Heights of the Vancouver Metro Premier League, whose remarkable Cinderella run came to an end at BC Place. Despite the loss, the club cemented its place in history by becoming the first non-league club ever to reach the last eight.

Semi Finals
Royal City FC's wonderful run came to an end after having become only the fourth Division Three team to reach the semi-finals.