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Twelve weeks after Leicester won the trophy for the first time amid tears of jubilation, the FA Cup is back to celebrate its 150th year.
It will start its anniversary season, as it always does, far from the red carpets, champagne and fireworks of Wembley and among the tea-huts and half-time raffles of community grounds.
Here, in truth, lies its charm and enduring appeal. Not only is it the world's oldest football competition but the only one connecting the grassroots of English football to the glamour of the Premier League. The polar opposite of the European Super League, designed for profit and doomed within 48 hours.
Twelve weeks after Leicester won last season's FA Cup, the competition returns this weekend
Every entrant involved in England's flagship tournament holds dreams of making it to Wembley
The FA Cup is the only competition enabling Marine to start against Barnoldswick Town and finish against Tottenham Hotspur before a live TV audience of 6.8million. Still casting a spell as it reaches this landmark.
'There have been over 73,000 matches since eight clubs kicked the whole thing off on November 11, 1871,' writes Phil Annets, FA Cup aficionado and stats wizard who has poured years of research into a new book FA Cup 150.
'With more than 250,000 goals scored since Jarvis Kenrick
