BIG MATCH FACTS
This will be the 140th FA Cup final, with Chelsea and Leicester City becoming the 117th different pairing in the competition’s showcase.
This season’s FA Cup final will take place before the end of the Premier League season. The last time this happened was in 2012-13, when Wigan beat Manchester City 1-0 to lift the trophy.
Chelsea will be appearing in their 15th FA Cup final, with only Arsenal (21) and Manchester United (20) reaching the competition’s showcase on more occasions. Only the Gunners (14) and the Red Devils (12) have won the trophy on more occasions than Chelsea (8).
This will be Leicester’s fifth FA Cup final and their first since 1969. The Foxes have lost on all four previous occasions, the most appearances a side has made in the final without winning the trophy.
Chelsea have reached the FA Cup final in four of the last five seasons (W1 L2), with the Blues finishing runners-up in last season’s competition to Arsenal. The last side to lose in consecutive FA Cup finals was Newcastle in 1998 and 1999.
Including replays, Chelsea have only played more FA Cup matches without ever losing against Hull City (11) than against Leicester (9 – W7 D2), progressing from each of their previous seven ties against the Foxes in the competition.
Leicester have reached the final of a major cup competition for the first time since 2000, when they beat Tranmere 2-1 to win the League Cup.
Chelsea have reached the final of a major domestic/European cup competition in five consecutive seasons for the first time in the club’s history (2017 FA Cup final, 2018 FA Cup final, 2019 League Cup and Europa League final, 2020 FA Cup final and 2021 FA Cup and Champions League final).
Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers – who won the Scottish FA Cup with Celtic in 2017 & 2018 – could become the first manager to win both the English and Scottish FA Cup since Sir Alex Ferguson (four Scottish FA Cups with Aberdeen and five English FA Cups with Man Utd).
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel will become the first ever German manager to lead his side out for an English FA Cup final.
Christian Pulisic opened the scoring for Chelsea in last season’s final against Arsenal – the last player to score in consecutive FA Cup finals was Didier Drogba, also for Chelsea, in 2009 and 2010.
Since his first appearance in the competition in January 2016, Kelechi Iheanacho has scored more FA Cup goals than any other player (14, excluding qualifiers).
Should he feature, Chelsea’s Olivier Giroud will appear in his sixth FA Cup final, a tally bettered only by Ashley Cole (8), Ryan Giggs and Roy Keane (7 each) in the post WWII era.