The 1925 FA Cup final was an association football match contested by Sheffield United and Cardiff City on 25 April 1925 at Wembley Stadium in London, England.

The only goal of the game was scored by Sheffield United's Fred Tunstall after 30 minutes when he dispossessed Harry Wake on the edge of the Cardiff penalty area before shooting past goalkeeper Tom Farquharson.

[7] Nevertheless, both teams attacked from the offset and The Wednesday took a two-goal lead in the opening ten minutes, the only goals United would concede en route to the final.

[7][8] United were given another home tie in the third round where a single goal by Fred Tunstall was enough to give them a win over Everton in what was, at the time, a record attendance at Bramall Lane of 51,745.

[9] This figure was surpassed in the fourth round as 57,197 watched goals by Tunstall and Johnson give United a 2–0 home win against West Bromwich Albion.

The first tie at Cardiff's ground, Ninian Park, ended in a goalless draw with the poor state of the pitch being blamed for a lack of excitement in the game.

[14] A third match was arranged at a neutral venue, Anfield in Liverpool, where Cardiff finally overcame their lower ranked opponents in front of more than 22,000 spectators.

[17][19] Cardiff travelled to Meadow Lane for their third round tie against Notts County which they won 2–0 with goals from Joe Nicholson, who replaced the injured Len Davies in the starting lineup,[17] and Jimmy Gill.

[13][23] A close match had been predicted as both sides were similarly placed in the First Division table at the time, but early goals from Nicholson, Gill and Willie Davies gave Cardiff a 3–0 lead at half-time.

[27][29] Cardiff went into the match placed 13th in the First Division, two points ahead of United; their opponents held the advantage in the two league meetings between the sides, having drawn 1–1 at Ninian Park before winning the second fixture 1–0.

Largely due to his physical prowess, Joe Nicholson, a half back who had converted to playing as a forward during the campaign, was expected to start ahead of top scorer Len Davies who had recovered from injury.

While attempting to escape from a throng of excited fans outside the ground, he had climbed onto the canvas roof of a taxi only to fall through and suffer a cut to his knee.

[29][31] In contrast, Sheffield United's forward players were deemed to be the team's strength by The Times, especially the inside-forward pairing of club captain Billy Gillespie and Fred Tunstall.

The side's defence were seen to be considerably weaker; The Times predicted that the match could "turn into an ordeal" for goalkeeper Sutcliffe,[4] whose brother John had played in goal for Bolton Wanderers when they lost in the 1894 FA Cup Final.

[39] The bands of the Irish Guards and the Royal Air Force played the national anthem before the match as well as "Land of Hope and Glory" and other songs during the half-time interval.

[42] United's forward pairing of Gillespie and Tunstall proved testing to the Cardiff defence early on and the majority of the opening period was spent in the Welsh side's half.

[34] Johnson nearly gave United the lead when he received David Mercer's cross unmarked in the opposition area but he was unable to immediately control the ball, which allowed Blair to close in and block his effort.

[34] Nicholson caused issues for the United defence on the edge of their area that drew a foul from Ernest Milton on Willie Davies, but the resulting effort was wasted.

Rather than clear the ball, Wake hesitated in possession and was tackled by Tunstall who advanced on Cardiff goalkeeper Farquharson before scoring the opening goal of the match from 8 yards (7.3 m).

One push forward by the side led to a penalty area scramble that saw three shots blocked by Sheffield defenders before Gill's final effort was "feeble and wide".

[34] Cardiff's forays forward also provided opportunities for United on the counter-attack; a free kick awarded for a foul on Johnson was wasted while Boyle forced a save from Farquharson late on before the referee blew the final whistle.

[47] The team were presented with their winner's medals by the Duke and Duchess of York in the Royal Box and the cup was awarded to United captain Gillespie.

The team returned to Sheffield on 28 April,[39] where they were met by a crowd of thousands before being driven to the town hall where they displayed the trophy from the balcony of the building.

"[42] His prediction was realised two years later when he captained Cardiff to victory in the 1927 FA Cup Final to become the only team from outside England to win the competition as of November 2020.

[52] Wake was also part of the side that reached the 1927 final, but missed the game after suffering kidney damage in a league match two weeks earlier.