The 1958 FA Cup final was contested on 3 May 1958 by Bolton Wanderers and Manchester United at Wembley Stadium, London, in front of a crowd of almost 100,000.

[1] United, who had lost the previous final to Aston Villa, had been devastated three months earlier by the Munich air disaster, and fielded only four crash survivors, along with several newcomers.

The resulting debate was one of the high-profile incidents that led eventually to the situation that prevails nowadays where no contact with the opposing goalkeeper is permitted.

Not one of Bolton's eleven players in the cup-winning team had cost the club a transfer fee.

Only Nat Lofthouse and Doug Holden remained from the Bolton team that had lost to Blackpool in the Matthews Final five years earlier.