FA Trophy First Round Draw: When the 32 Ties Are Played and What's at Stake
- 🔑 The FA Trophy’s First Round Proper draw for 2026-27 was conducted on Monday 28 September 2026, producing 32 ties between non-league clubs from level 7 (the Southern League, Isthmian League and Northern Premier League) and level 8 of the English pyramid, all scheduled to be played on Saturday 24 October 2026.
- Winning clubs at this stage collect £3,000 from the FA’s prize fund, while losing sides still receive £775, part of an escalating scale that starts at £1,500 for a preliminary-round win in August and rises to £60,000 for the eventual final winner at Wembley Stadium next May.
- National League North and South clubs (level 6) do not enter the FA Trophy until the Second Round Proper on Saturday 14 November 2026, and National League clubs (level 5) join even later, at the Third Round Proper on Saturday 12 December 2026, under the competition’s staggered entry structure.
- Southend United are the reigning FA Trophy holders, having beaten Wealdstone in a goalless 2026 final at Wembley Stadium that was settled on penalties; as a National League club, Southend’s defence of the title will not begin until the Third Round Proper in December 2026.
- This piece reports only confirmed draw, schedule and prize-fund facts published by the FA; no betting odds, point spreads, or win-probability models of any kind appear anywhere on this page, in keeping with our approach across all sports coverage.
The FA Trophy’s First Round Proper draw for 2026-27 has been made, pairing 32 non-league clubs for matches on Saturday 24 October 2026. The draw was conducted by the FA on Monday 28 September 2026, straight after the qualifying rounds wrapped up, and it sets the last 64 clubs from steps 3 and 4 of the non-league pyramid on course for a place in November’s Second Round Proper. Here is what the draw produced, what is at stake financially, and where the competition goes from here.
What Is the FA Trophy, and Why Does This Draw Matter?
The FA Trophy is the FA’s knockout cup for non-league clubs at steps 1 to 4 of the English pyramid, roughly levels 5 to 8, sitting below the National League and the Football League proper. Now in its 58th season and known for sponsorship reasons as the Isuzu FA Trophy, it runs alongside the FA Cup and the lower-tier FA Vase but is a separate competition with its own draw, prize fund and Wembley final. The First Round Proper is the moment the clubs still standing after a summer of qualifying rounds find out who stands between them and a step closer to that final.
When Was the Draw Made, and When Are the Matches Played?
The draw was conducted on Monday 28 September 2026, with all 32 ties scheduled to be played on Saturday 24 October 2026. That follows directly from the Third Round Qualifying, played on Saturday 26 September 2026, which decided which clubs would progress into this round. As is standard in non-league football, fixtures are arranged and hosted by the club drawn at home, so supporters should check with their own club for confirmed kick-off times and ticketing rather than assuming a standard Saturday slot.
Which Clubs Are in the Draw?
All 32 First Round Proper ties pair clubs from level 7 — the Southern League, Isthmian League and Northern Premier League — against clubs from level 8 of the pyramid. The higher tiers join later: National League North and South clubs (level 6) enter at the Second Round Proper on Saturday 14 November 2026, and National League clubs (level 5) follow at the Third Round Proper on Saturday 12 December 2026, under the competition’s staggered entry structure. Among the ties confirmed in Monday’s draw:
| Home | Away |
|---|---|
| Dartford | Three Bridges |
| Whitehawk | St Albans City |
| Leatherhead | Eastbourne Borough |
| Bath City | Frome Town |
| Weymouth | Sholing |
| Kettering Town | Quorn |
The full 32-tie draw sheet, covering every pairing from level 7 and level 8 clubs across the country, is published by the FA as an official downloadable document alongside the draw announcement.
How Much Prize Money Is at Stake?
Winning clubs at the First Round Proper stage collect £3,000 from the FA’s prize fund, while the losing side in each tie still takes home £775. Those figures sit partway up an escalating scale that starts at £1,500 for a preliminary-round win back in August and rises with every round, reaching £6,000 for a Fifth Round Proper win in February and, eventually, £60,000 for whichever club lifts the trophy at Wembley Stadium next May, with £30,000 for the beaten finalist. For clubs at this level of English football, prize money of this size is a meaningful contribution to a season’s running costs, not just a bonus.
What Happens After This Round?
The winners of Saturday 24 October 2026’s ties move into the Second Round Proper on Saturday 14 November 2026, where they will be joined by the National League North and South clubs entering at that stage. From there, the calendar runs through a Third Round Proper on Saturday 12 December 2026 (when National League clubs finally join), a Fourth Round Proper on Saturday 16 January 2027, a Fifth Round Proper on Saturday 6 February 2027, a Sixth Round Proper on Saturday 6 March 2027, semi-finals on Saturday 3 April 2027, and the final at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 16 May 2027.
Who Won the FA Trophy Last Season?
Southend United go into the 2026-27 competition as the reigning champions, having beaten Wealdstone in the 2026 final at Wembley Stadium. That final finished goalless after normal time before Southend won on penalties to lift the trophy. As a National League club, Southend will not re-enter the competition until the Third Round Proper in December, meaning their defence of the trophy is still a couple of months away from beginning.
What’s Next
With the First Round Proper draw made and the fixture list confirmed, the next milestone is match day itself on Saturday 24 October 2026, when the 32 ties are settled and the road to the Second Round Proper draw begins. We’ll be watching how the non-league pyramid’s most consistent cup competition unfolds from here.
How we verified this
Primary-source confirmation: the draw date (Monday 28 September 2026), number of ties (32), match date (Saturday 24 October 2026), and prize money (£3,000 for winners, £775 for losers) were confirmed directly from the FA’s own official draw announcement and its separately published round-dates schedule, both fetched directly rather than taken from a secondary summary.
Fixture list: the individual First Round Proper pairings named in this piece were read directly from a football reference site’s competition page, which publishes the full draw sheet with each club’s league level; several of these were cross-checked against that same page’s Third Round Qualifying results to confirm the clubs who won through into this draw match the First Round Proper entrants listed.
Entry-point structure: the detail that National League (level 5) and National League North/South (level 6) clubs enter at later rounds rather than this one was derived from the FA’s own published round-by-round entrants table, which lists new club entries at the Second and Third Round Proper stages consistent with those tiers’ club counts.
Still unresolved at time of writing: the First Round Proper ties themselves had not been played as of publication; match day is Saturday 24 October 2026, and this piece describes the draw and schedule only, not results.
No betting odds, spreads, or win-probability models appear anywhere on this page.