The Football Association Challenge Cup, otherwise known as the FA Cup, has a new name this season. Despite it’s 144-year history, which apparently counts for nothing, the traditionalists of the English game are going to have to overlook the fact that football’s oldest competition has been bedazzled once again, this time by Emirates airline.

It is commonplace for the FA Cup to have a sponsor, before Emirates came in it was beer brand Budweiser that monopolised the rights to be associated with the competition. Unlike the League Cup, the FA Cup has never sold its name. It has always been the FA Cup, “in association with… said brand.” Well not anymore, because henceforth the FA Cup will be known as ‘The Emirates FA Cup’.

The original cup name is an abbreviated term, which represents the establishment that gave English football its identity, now that very same establishment is selling the national sport's identity to the highest bidder. The game of football used to be a working man's same, and the FA Cup epitomised this with its David and Goliath tales. So-called ‘minnows’ would knock about with the big boys, in a competition steeped in romance and prestige.

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Now the FA Cup isn’t seen as a commercially viable tournament for the Premier League frontrunners, due to its demanding schedule and limited financial reward. A team would rather qualify for the Champions League, or stave off relegation instead of winning the famous trophy. So the FA Cup has lost its most important asset, competitiveness, and the FA’s solution is to rename the competition.

Emirates are presumably paying top dollar for the privilege, which makes the rebranding all the more contradictory. FA Chairman, Greg Dyke, has preached his desire many times to improve the grassroots of English football, for the long term benefit of our national team. This was, no doubt, the justification for selling the FA Cup’s naming rights. However, the reason English football is in such disarray is because of foreign ownership, and a general disregard for youth academies. To allow a foreign brand to piggyback on the FA Cup completely opposes the FA’s desire to promote the distinctiveness of English football from grassroots level.

It’s not as if the FA is strapped of cash anyway, an extra £10million a year is nothing to the FA, and many will suspect where the money is being spent.

Unfortunately there still isn’t much money to be made in women’s football, disability football or Sunday league football. Instead the FA would rather try and create their next generation of moneymakers from their newly created football factory -  St George’s Park - where the future of English football will learn its trade.

Football is a business and the businessmen of the FA are running it into the ground, the people’s game no longer belongs to the people, and the Emirates FA Cup is living proof of that.

It is the equivalent of renaming Wimbledon, 'The Sony All England Championships'. What's next? The Great British Bake Off? The Houses of Parliament? English football has sold its soul enough, so please leave the FA Cup in peace.

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