The best FA Cup runs from non-league sides since 2000: Maidstone United through…

Maidstone United aren’t the only non-league side to keep the magic of the FA Cup alive with a giant-killing run in the competition.

Football’s oldest competition, the FA Cup was once loved for the genuine feeling that any team competing had a chance of going all the way and lifting the trophy, but with times changing and the biggest clubs only getting richer, clubs lower down the pyramid face a mountainous task if they’re to cause an upset – and that’s before they even reach round three.

Merely making it through to the rounds where Premier League and Championship sides enter the hat is achievement enough, but today we’re looking at the non-league clubs who have forced their way through the competition since 2000, achieving remarkable feats and making history in doing so.

Playing their football in the National League South – the semi-pro sixth tier of English football – Maidstone have been a non-league club since they lost their spot in the football league in 1992 due to bankruptcy and subsequently reformed.

Entering the competition in the second qualifying round back in September 2023, Maidstone kicked off their cup run with a 4-1 victory away to ninth-tier Steyning Town. Since then, they’ve gone all the way to the fifth round of the competition, beating Stevenage in round three and Championship title contenders Ipswich in round four.

George Elokobi and his squad are now potentially a game away from the quarter-final of the competition. Incredible stuff.

Sure, it took some heavy investment from Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, but that doesn’t tell the whole story of Wrexham’s run to the fifth round in 2022-23, who were still minnows in comparison to their competition.

Alongside a gruelling battle to win the National League