A quite low-profile fact for fans of football in England is that classic club knockout competition the FA Cup is returning this weekend at the ‘Extra Preliminary Round’ (the first of 6 qualification games, and of 14 rounds in total). Whilst this stage of the competition usually gets some novelty publicity for Wembley FC (who are based within sight of national stadium (and venue of the Final of the FA Cup) Wembley Stadium), they are set to be in the spotlight for a whole different reason on Friday night.

For the opening match of the 2011-12 FA Cup, Wembley will travel to face Ascot United FC (both clubs are in tier-9 leagues in the English football league system), with the notable factor of the fixture at the Racecourse Ground being the first football match (or any sporting event) to be broadcast live on social networking website Facebook. While sport, football, and the FA Cup in particular have previously aired live online elsewhere, it is surprising that such a wide potential audience on Facebook had not yet been targeted.

A free-to-air 90-minute stream of Ascot United v Wembley is to be found on the official (UK) Facebook page of American beer company Budweiser, the new title sponsors of the FA Cup, who will be responsible for covering all the costs of this historic occasion. Facebook users (who are over the legal drinking age of 18) need only to become a fan of the Budweiser UK page, and then log into the stream on Friday evening to watch the action unfold.

Budweiser marketing director Ian Newell said of the unique deal: “Budweiser is committed to bringing the world’s most prestigious knockout competition closer to the fans. What better way to demonstrate this than by broadcasting the very first kick to a global audience via Facebook? This is the first time an FA Cup fixture has been broadcast live on the social network, which is great news for football fans and clubs alike.”

Wembley player-manager Ian Bates said of the match at hand: “We don’t pay a penny to our players but we’ve got a good side. If we play our game, we have a great chance. The FA Cup is an extremely difficult competition.”

Wembley’s club chairman Brian Gumm added: “The revenue isn’t that important. It’s all about being in the competition and hopefully doing well.”

The chairman of opponents Ascot, Mike Harrison, had his eyes more on the financial benefits: “We had 88 people for a league match last night. But we might get 500 or even 800 for Friday’s match. The fact millions more might well be watching on Facebook is astonishing. The whole place has gone bananas.”

While fans that make it to the match will be treated to a free burger and a chance to enter a raffle to take a penalty kick against 1987-88 FA Cup winning player Dave Beasant, how will viewers of the alternative arrangement ‘Like’ the new broadcasting methods?

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