1871–72 in English football

The 1871–72 season was the first season of competitive association football in England. The Football Association introduced their Football Association Challenge Cup (now better known as the FA Cup), a knockout tournament which is the world's oldest national-level football competition.

When the Football Association football was formed in 1863, the sport was played mainly by public schools, or teams with public school roots, and amateurism was the norm. This remained the case until the 1880s, when working-class teams began to vie for supremacy.