10 of the best FA Cup final goals, from Ricky Villa to Gerrard

The FA Cup survives the Premier League era because it still turns one strike into a shared national memory. First played in the 1871-72 season, football’s oldest active competition has kept changing stage, from Wembley to Cardiff and back again, but its final still decides how whole generations remember a season.

1. Ricky Villa’s replay winner

The 1981 final was the competition’s 100th, and it needed a replay after Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City drew 1-1 after extra time at Wembley on 9 May 1981. Five days later, Villa settled it with the decisive goal in Spurs’ 3-2 replay win, a finish that still feels like the purest version of the cup final as national theatre.

2. Steven Gerrard’s Cardiff volley

Liverpool were 3-2 down to West Ham United in the 2006 final at the Millennium Stadium when Gerrard struck in the second minute of injury time, forcing extra time before Liverpool won on penalties. The FA was right to call it the “Gerrard Final”: one low, straight volley from 30 yards turned a defeat into a broadcasted legend.

3. Charlie George’s double-sealer

Deep into extra time in the 1971 final, Charlie George drove a thunderous 20-yard effort beyond Ray Clemence to beat Liverpool and complete Arsenal’s first league and FA Cup double. It is still one of the competition’s defining images, because it captures the old Wembley era at full grain, when a cup final goal could freeze an entire club identity in a single celebration.

4. Didier Drogba’s first new-Wembley winner

Chelsea’s 2007 extra-time winner against Manchester United was the first FA Cup final goal at the rebuilt Wembley, and Drogba finished it off with the kind of clipped, decisive strike that made him a cup-final specialist. The symbolism mattered as much as the scoreline: the FA Cup had found its modern home again, and Drogba gave it a new signature.

5. Ray Parlour’s Cardiff curler

Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Chelsea in the 2002 final at the Millennium Stadium was already a statement, but Parlour’s 70th-minute opener made it sing. Picking up the ball just inside Chelsea’s half, he drove forward and curled a finish into the top corner beyond Carlo Cudicini, a goal that made a usually understated midfielder part of final-day folklore.

6. Roberto di Matteo’s rocket

Chelsea needed only 43 seconds to take control of the 1997 final against Middlesbrough, and Di Matteo’s opener set the tone for a 2-0 win at Wembley. At the time, it was the fastest goal ever in a Wembley FA Cup final, a reminder that the competition’s drama can begin before the crowd has settled into its seats.

7. Michael Owen’s late rescue

The first FA Cup final in Cardiff in 2001 became an instant reference point because Owen scored twice in the last seven minutes to rescue Liverpool from a losing position and beat Arsenal. His 83rd-minute equaliser and winner five minutes later showed how the cup was adapting to a new venue without losing its old gift for sudden, nationwide shocks.

8. Louis Saha’s 25-second opener

Everton’s Louis Saha scored after just 25 seconds in the 2009 final against Chelsea, the fastest goal ever in an FA Cup final. That record-breaking start did not bring the trophy, but it showed why the final still matters: before tactics can settle and commentary can harden into narrative, one early strike can rewrite the emotional market of the match.

9. Kevin Keegan’s 1974 finisher

In Bill Shankly’s last major cup final in charge of Liverpool, Keegan scored the brilliant third goal in a 3-0 win over Newcastle United at Wembley. It was less chaotic than some of the others on this list, but it mattered because the FA Cup can also be a coronation, not just a comeback, and Keegan’s finish sealed one of Liverpool’s great final days.

10. Stuart Pearce’s 1991 free-kick

Tottenham’s 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest after extra time is remembered for the full scale of the contest, but Pearce’s free-kick made Forest’s case from the start. The FA has long treated that 1991 strike as one of the cup’s notable set-piece moments, and it fits this list because it proves the final can still be won by a moment of nerve as much as by open-play brilliance.

These goals matter because they bridge eras. They belong to old Wembley, Cardiff’s temporary home, and the rebuilt national stadium, but they all do the same thing: they turn the FA Cup from a competition into memory, and memory into part of British football identity.