Leicester City head to Dover as the BBC picks two live FA Cup ties
Leicester City, who won the FA Cup in 2021, will play at non-league Dover Athletic on Saturday 5 December, and the BBC will show the match live. Leicester now play in League One, the third tier of English football, after two relegations in a row. Dover are outside the Football League, which puts them in the wider pyramid of clubs that can enter the cup.
The fixture is one of two second-round ties the BBC has chosen for live coverage, according to the BBC. Kick-off at Crabble is 17:15 GMT, and the game will be on BBC Two and iPlayer. Dover got here with a 2-0 home win over Wealdstone. Leicester beat Oxford City 4-2 in the first round.
Leicester's last cup triumph came in May 2021, when Youri Tielemans scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Chelsea in the final. Since then the club has dropped out of the top flight and then, after a second fall, into League One. Being drawn at a small ground in Kent is a very different kind of test.
The other live tie is Salisbury against Blackpool at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium on Sunday 6 December, kick-off 12:15 GMT, also on BBC Two and iPlayer. Salisbury, a non-league club, beat Sholing 6-0 in the first round. They had not conceded a goal in three FA Cup ties this season before this one. They have reached the second round for the first time since the club was reformed in 2015.
The cup's other second-round ties carry their own stories. Wimborne Town host Bradford City and Plymouth Parkway host Barnet, and both are on television. Those four matches, plus AFC Fylde against Luton Town at 14:30 GMT on Sunday, Crewe Alexandra against Plymouth Argyle at 15:15 GMT, and Plymouth Parkway against Barnet at 17:30 GMT on the same day, make up the eight televised games. All eight will be on TNT and HBO Max.
Money matters too. Clubs whose matches are shown live on television receive £60,000, a payment that helps smaller clubs with costs such as stewarding and travel. Winners of a second-round tie take home £79,500 from the competition prize fund, and losers receive £21,200, as the BBC reported.
For viewers who want the highlights, the BBC will show a programme on Sunday 6 December at 17:10 GMT on BBC Two and iPlayer. The next step for the winners comes on Monday 7 December, when the third-round draw takes place before Guiseley against Notts County at 19:30 GMT. Whoever wins at Crabble or Salisbury will learn their next opponent that evening.
