Chelsea vs Manchester City confirmed for FA Cup final, Wembley 3pm May 16

Chelsea will face Manchester City in the 2026 Emirates FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday 16 May, with a 3pm BST kick-off, the Football Association confirmed on Wednesday.^{Source: The FA}

Darren England has been appointed as referee for the showpiece.^{Source: The FA} It is the first time the two clubs have met in an FA Cup final, and the second all-Premier League final at Wembley in three seasons.

Chelsea booked their place by beating Leeds in the semi-final, while Manchester City came through their own last-four tie to complete the pairing.^{Source: The FA} The 3pm Saturday slot returns the final to its traditional window, after recent editions experimented with later kick-offs.

The final lands eight days before the Premier League’s closing weekend on 24 May, leaving Pep Guardiola’s side to navigate a domestic double-header in the run-in. Manchester City remain in contention in the league title race, while Chelsea’s European qualification is still to be settled across their final three Premier League fixtures.^{Source: The FA}

England, a select-group official since 2022, will be working his first FA Cup final. The PGMOL is expected to confirm the full match-day team (assistants, fourth official, VAR and AVAR) in the days before the final, in line with standard practice for Wembley appointments.

For Chelsea, the final is a first FA Cup showpiece since their 2021 defeat to Leicester City under Thomas Tuchel. For Manchester City, it is a return to the Wembley final stage following their recent run of domestic cup activity under Guardiola.

Ticket allocations to the two clubs were confirmed alongside the kick-off announcement, with the remainder of Wembley’s 90,000 capacity distributed to the FA’s Club Wembley members, county FAs and the wider game, per the governing body’s standard final-day distribution model.^{Source: The FA}

Build-up coverage, team-news watch and referee-team confirmation to follow across the next ten days.