Bolton Wanderers won the competition, beating West Ham United 2–0 in the first final to be held at Wembley Stadium, London.
If scores were level after 90 minutes had been played, a replay would take place at the stadium of the second-named team later the same week.
Of the 35 Football League clubs required to enter this season's tournament in the qualifying rounds, only eight ended up progressing through to the competition proper.
Three Second Division sides, Port Vale, Stockport County and Coventry City were entered in the fifth qualifying round, but all three lost at that stage (to Wrexham, Barrow and New Brighton respectively).
Those appearing in the competition proper for the first time were Aberdare Athletic, Charlton Athletic, Blyth Spartans, New Brighton, Stalybridge Celtic and Wigan Borough, although Celtic and Borough were emulating the achievements of defunct predecessor outfits Stalybridge Rovers in 1899-1900 and Wigan County in 1897-98.
Corinthian would receive these byes for a further ten seasons, but the club's members had to ratify a special constitutional amendment for it to do so as its founding document initially prevented it from competing for "any challenge cup or any prize of any description"!