As the 2025/26 FA Cup steps up a gear on Monday evening with the draw for the first round, former Manchester United skipper Roy Keane has looked back on one of his old side’s most controversial campaigns in the competition.
Keane - who FourFourTwo ranked at no.12 in a list of Manchester United’s greatest ever-players - won the famous trophy four times with the Red Devils during his 13-year stint at Old Trafford.
One of these victories came during the club’s historic 1998/99 treble-winning campaign, but Keane and his teammates were infamously denied the opportunity to defend their crown the following season.
Roy Keane on his 2000 FA Cup regrets with Manchester United
That’s because the club would end up withdrawing from the competition. With the Football Association bidding to host the 2006 World Cup, they encouraged Manchester United to give the world’s oldest cup competition the swerve and instead play in the inaugural World Team Championship, the forerunner of the Club World Cup.
This decision was widely criticised at the time by fans, media and politicians, with the club defending their decision and claiming that they made the decision ‘in the national interest’ and had ‘no alternative’
Sir Alex Ferguson’s team would make the trip to Brazil to play in FIFA’s eight-team competition, only to finish third in their group behind Mexican side Necaxa and Vasco da Gama.
Keane has now looked back at the club’s decision to give up their FA Cup crown with regret in a conversation with his former team-mate Gary Neville on the Stick to Football podcast.
"I think one thing that was definitely better back in the day was the FA Cup. That was magic when we were playing,” Neville began, before Keane gave his take.
"I think the magic has come back a bit the last few years now,” Keane replied. “When you think of it when we were at United, we should be pretty ashamed because we pulled out of the FA Cup.
“I know it wasn’t down to us but we accepted it as players. How mad was that, your team pulling out of the FA Cup."
The Red Devils’ withdrawal opened the door for Chelsea to win their second FA Cup in four years, when they saw off Aston Villa 1-0 in the final, which was the last one to be played at the old Wembley Stadium before is was rebuilt later that year.
Manchestet United, meanwhile, were able to successfully defend their Premier League title, but exited the Champions League in the quarter-final stage.
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