On a chilly Saturday afternoon at Moss Rose, a modest stadium nestled in northwest England, football fans witnessed what many are already calling the greatest upset in the 154-year history of the FA Cup. Sixth-tier Macclesfield FC, a team plying their trade five divisions below the Premier League elite, stunned defending champions Crystal Palace with a dramatic 2-1 victory, etching their name into the annals of English football folklore.
The magnitude of this result cannot be overstated. The 117-place gap between Macclesfield and Crystal Palace in the English football pyramid is the largest ever for an FA Cup shock. Never before had a team so far down the ladder toppled a reigning champion, and the Silkmen—Macclesfield’s affectionate nickname—did so with grit, heart, and a touch of magic that has long defined this storied competition.
It all began to unfold in the 43rd minute. With bandages wrapped around his head, Macclesfield’s captain Paul Dawson rose to meet a deep free kick from Luke Duffy, thumping a powerful header past Palace’s goalkeeper Walter Benítez. The goal sent the 5,900-strong crowd into raptures, their voices echoing around the ground as the impossible suddenly seemed within reach. “Macclesfield means the world to me,” Dawson would later say, calling the result “an immense achievement.”
Crystal Palace, fielding a side brimming with top-flight talent, looked rattled. The Premier League giants struggled to break down a determined Macclesfield defense, and the home side’s confidence only grew as the minutes ticked by. Then, in the 60th minute, the Silkmen struck again. After a chaotic scramble in the penalty area, the ball pinged to Isaac Buckley-Ricketts—a product of the Manchester City academy—who deftly clipped it with the outside of his right foot, sending it spinning past Benítez and doubling Macclesfield’s lead. Wild celebrations erupted both on the pitch and in the stands as fans dared to dream.
“I can’t believe it, we never thought we would be in this position,” an emotional John Rooney, Macclesfield’s rookie coach and the younger brother of England legend Wayne Rooney, told the BBC. “We were incredible from the first minute. I thought we were deserved winners. I couldn’t be any prouder of the lads.” Rooney, who began and ended his playing career as a midfielder at Macclesfield, is in his very first season as head coach. His rapid rise to FA Cup giant-killer is a fairy tale in itself, adding yet another layer to this remarkable story.
But the drama was far from over. Crystal Palace, desperate to avoid humiliation, poured forward in the closing stages. Their efforts were finally rewarded when Spanish winger Yeremy Pino curled a sublime free kick over the wall in the dying moments of normal time, cutting the deficit to 2-1 and setting up a nerve-shredding six minutes of stoppage time. The tension inside Moss Rose was palpable. Home fans, many of whom had never seen their club play on such a grand stage, broke into thunderous chants of “Silkmen! Silkmen!” urging their heroes to hold firm.
Palace threw everything forward, but Macclesfield’s defense—marshaled by their captain and buoyed by sheer willpower—refused to yield. In a moment that summed up the visitors’ dismal afternoon, U.S. international Chris Richards committed a foul throw in the final minute of stoppage time, gifting possession back to the underdogs and all but sealing their fate.
When the final whistle blew, pandemonium erupted. Fans spilled onto the pitch, hoisting Dawson and Duffy aloft in celebration. The Moss Rose faithful had witnessed history—Macclesfield had become the first non-league club to knock out the defending FA Cup champions in 117 years, a feat last achieved by Crystal Palace themselves in 1909. The echoes of classic upsets—Hereford’s famous win over Newcastle in 1972, Sutton United’s 1989 triumph against Coventry City—were suddenly joined by a new legend.
“I didn’t think it was possible but there is that little bit of hope that anything can happen on the day,” Rooney reflected, his voice thick with pride. Even Wayne Rooney, watching from afar, couldn’t contain his emotion: “I am getting emotional to see my younger brother achieve this. He has not long been in management. To get through to the fourth round of the FA Cup, and to beat Crystal Palace, a Premier League team? I am so proud of him.”
For Crystal Palace, the inquest will be long and uncomfortable. Manager Oliver Glasner, clearly stunned, admitted to the BBC, “I had no explanation. You don’t need tactics. In these kinds of games, you don’t need a manager. If you just show what you’re capable of and have a little bit of pride, then you perform in a different way, but today we missed everything. We deserved to lose.” Palace captain Marc Guéhi, to his credit, made his way over to the traveling supporters after the final whistle, acknowledging their loyalty on a bitter day.
The FA Cup, ever the stage for football’s great dramas, delivered once again. But this wasn’t the only shock of the weekend. On Friday night, second-tier Wrexham eliminated Premier League side Nottingham Forest, while Sunderland edged Everton on penalties after a 1-1 draw, Wolves thrashed Shrewsbury 6-1, and Leicester—winners in 2021—triumphed 2-0 over Cheltenham. Later in the day, Manchester City, Newcastle, Tottenham, and Chelsea were set to feature in high-profile third-round clashes, keeping the magic of the cup alive for fans across the country.
There was transfer news, too: Bournemouth sold Ghanaian forward Antoine Semenyo to Manchester City for a reported £65 million ($87 million) on January 9, 2026. Semenyo thanked Bournemouth fans “for all the memories” in a full-page advertisement in the Bournemouth Echo newspaper, marking the end of his tenure with the Cherries and the start of a new chapter at the Etihad.
Yet, for all the big-money moves and star-studded lineups, it was the humble Silkmen of Macclesfield who stole the spotlight. Their victory is already being hailed as the greatest FA Cup shock of all time, a reminder that in football, dreams really can come true—especially on a cold January afternoon in Cheshire.
As the celebrations continued long into the night, one thing was clear: the magic of the FA Cup is alive and well, and Macclesfield’s improbable triumph will be remembered for generations to come.
