Sorry Manchester City and Manchester United, but Portsmouth and Cardiff's proud Wembley record still unequalled

Yet despite Premier League heavyweights City locking horns with United, they still failed to surpass Pompey’s proud record.

A crowd of 83,179 watched Saturday’s final as Pep Guardiola’s side triumphed 2-1 to complete the Double with a Champions League final still on the horizon.

Yet once again that doesn’t beat the new Wembley record of 89,874 set by Pompey and Cardiff for the 2008 FA Cup final.

Since the 90,000 capacity Wembley reopened in May 2007, 17 FA Cup finals have been held, in addition to other domestic cup competitions, internationals and the Women’s Euro 2022 final.

But that figure of 89,874 for the Blues’ 1-0 triumph over Cardiff remains unprecedented.

It also represents the best-attended FA Cup final of the last 35 years, since 98,203 were present for Wimbledon’s remarkable 1-0 victory over Liverpool in May 1988.

During that period, the Millennium Stadium served as the cup final venue for six seasons, during which time Southampton lost to Arsenal in 2003.

However, with a capacity of 73,931, every FA Cup final at Wembley since then has exceeded those attendances.

When Pompey faced Chelsea there in May 2010 – two years after their Cardiff fixture – the crowd was 88,335, which is more than the last six FA Cup finals.

Although Covid dictated the 2020 encounter between Arsenal and Chelsea was behind closed doors and, the following year, Leicester triumphed over Chelsea in a reduced capacity of 20,000.

Last month’s Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley attracted the record attendance for a women’s domestic club fixture anywhere in the world.

A crowd of 77,390 were present as Sam Kerr’s second-half goal ensured Chelsea took the silverware for a third straight season, defeating Manchester United.

Impressively, it represented a huge rise from the previous year’s Women’s FA Cup final, when 49,094 attended Chelsea against Manchester City.

When England defeated Germany 2-1 in the May 2022 Women’s Euro final, there were 87,192 packed inside Wembley for the historic occasion.

Incidentally, the Checkatrade Trophy crowd of 85,021 for Pompey against Sunderland remains the biggest in that particular competition’s history.

This season saw 79,389 attend Bolton’s 4-0 thumping of Plymouth in the Papa Johns Trophy in April.