The 1901 FA Cup final was an association football match between Sheffield United and Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, 20 April 1901 at the Crystal Palace stadium in south London.

The goalscorers were Fred Priest and Walter Bennett for Sheffield United and Sandy Brown (twice) for Tottenham Hotspur.

Tottenham Hotspur won 3–1 with goals by John Cameron, Tom Smith and Brown against one by Fred Priest for Sheffield United.

[7] Tottenham Hotspur were managed by John Cameron, their inside forward, who became the first player-manager to lead his team to a cup final victory.

[9] Sheffield United entered the competition in the first round proper and played five matches, including one replay, en route to the final.

[10] This was a difficult hurdle as Sunderland were one of the leading teams in the First Division, eventually finishing as runners-up behind champions Liverpool.

[3] The match was played on Saturday, 9 February and Sheffield United won 2–1 with goals by Bert Lipsham and Fred Priest.

[11] Sheffield then faced Everton in a home tie at Bramall Lane on Saturday, 23 February and won 2–0.

Sheffield United's opponents were Aston Villa who, like themselves, were struggling in the First Division and eventually avoided relegation by five points.

Garraty equalised several minutes later but, just before half time, a well-taken free kick by Ernest Needham created a chance for Lipsham, who hit a fast and low shot into the net.

Villa were the better team after this but no more goals were scored and the match ended in a 2–2 draw after 90 minutes with no extra time allowed.

[10] The Times reported that the teams were evenly matched for much of the first half until an error by one of the Villa players allowed Bennett to race clear and score the first goal with a hard shot which went in off a post.

Villa tried hard for an equaliser but their forwards were not combining well and, when they did shoot at goal, they created little difficulty for Willie Foulke, the Sheffield goalkeeper.

With about fifteen minutes remaining, good passing between Hedley and Bennett put Priest through on goal and he made it 2–0.

[15] Tottenham Hotspur entered the competition in the first round proper and played six matches, including two replays, en route to the final.

[3] The match was played on Saturday, 9 February and was the first-ever FA Cup tie at White Hart Lane, which Tottenham had acquired in 1899.

[16] The replay took place at Deepdale on Wednesday, 13 February, Tottenham avenging their defeat there last season with a 4–2 win, largely due to a hat-trick by Brown.

[17] The Times report says that Tottenham played well and merited their victory, especially as they had to recover from being a goal down, but "they were lucky in finding the Bury eleven quite out of form".

[19] In the replay at White Hart Lane on Thursday, 28 March, Tottenham won the game 3–0 with two goals by Brown and one by David Copeland.

[6] Tottenham Hotspur's semi-final was played on Monday, 8 April against First Division West Bromwich Albion at Villa Park.

Three minutes into the second half, Kirwan ran clear on the left wing and centred the ball for Brown to head in the first goal.

Having taken the lead, the Tottenham players became more relaxed and began to play an accurate, short passing game which resulted in two more goals in the next fifteen minutes.

Albion tried to assert themselves and created chances of their own but they could not beat Tottenham goalkeeper George Clawley, who had an outstanding game.

[23] It is unclear what exactly happened but, according to Collett, the most likely scenario is that Tottenham's goalkeeper George Clawley tried to catch a shot by Bert Lipsham and fumbled it.

[23] As in the first match, Fred Priest opened the scoring and this time Sheffield led 1–0 at half-time, but Tottenham dominated the second half and won 3–1 with goals by Cameron, Tom Smith and Brown.

He amused the crowd by drawing a parallel between football and the Army in that, as he put it, the side which usually wins is the one which is best practised at shooting.