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Macclesfield FC: from liquidation to the biggest shock in FA Cup history

In 2020 Macclesfield Town ceased to exist. Five years later the new club knocked FA Cup holders Crystal Palace out of the cup. This is the story.

By Dutch Silkmen · 2 October 2026

On 10 January 2026 a club from the sixth tier of English football beat Crystal Palace, the holders of the FA Cup, 2-1. Never before had a team from that level knocked out a Premier League club. It was Macclesfield FC, and at the time the club was not even six years old.

To understand why the Silkmen touch so many people, you have to go back a little.

The end of Macclesfield Town

Macclesfield Town was founded in 1874 and played at Moss Rose, on London Road, from 1891. For a long time it was an ordinary club from a market town in Cheshire, with spells in the Football League and spells below it.

In September 2020 that story came to an end. A judge wound the club up because its debts had risen above £500,000, and Macclesfield Town was expelled from its league (source: Macclesfield FC, club history). For a town that had had its own club for almost a century and a half, it was a hard blow.

A new club in the same place

A month later businessman Robert Smethurst bought the stadium and the assets of the old club. That was the start of Macclesfield FC, a so-called phoenix club: a new club that rises from the ashes of the old one, with the same town, the same colours and the same ground.

In England a new club does not start where the old one stopped. Macclesfield had to enter at the ninth level, in the North West Counties League. The first competitive match was played on 31 July 2021 and was won 1-0 at home against Burscough. Meanwhile, according to the club, more than four million pounds went into renovating Moss Rose.

Four seasons, three titles

What followed went fast. Macclesfield won the North West Counties League in their first season and the Northern Premier League Division One West a year later. In 2023/24 the team still fell short in the play-off final, but in 2024/25 they won the Northern Premier League Premier Division with 109 points. According to the club, that is a record for the division (source: Macclesfield FC, club history).

The manager in that record season was Robbie Savage, the former Wales international. Since the summer of 2025 John Rooney has been in charge, the younger brother of Wayne Rooney. Under him Macclesfield play in the National League North, the sixth level of English football. How that pyramid works exactly is explained in non-league football in England.

The afternoon against Crystal Palace

In December the 2025/26 season was overshadowed by grief. Forward Ethan McLeod died in a car accident on 16 December 2025. The club has not issued his number 20 shirt since.

Three weeks later the FA Cup third round brought Crystal Palace to Moss Rose. Palace had won the cup in May 2025 and played five divisions higher. Yet it finished 2-1 to Macclesfield, with goals from Paul Dawson and Isaac Buckley-Ricketts. According to NPR, it was the first time in 117 years that a club from outside the Football League had knocked out the holders (source: NPR, 11 January 2026). The club itself calls it the biggest shock in the history of the FA Cup.

In the fourth round Brentford proved too strong on 16 February 2026, winning 1-0 (source: Macclesfield FC, match report). The cup run was over, but by then the name Macclesfield was known far beyond Cheshire.

Where the club stands now

In the league Macclesfield finished fourth in the National League North in 2025/26. In the play-offs it went wrong in the semi-final at Kidderminster Harriers, so in 2026/27 the club is again playing at the sixth level. Two clubs go up from there every season: the champions and the play-off winners.

The current fixtures and the table are on our fixtures page, which is updated every night. If you want to be there yourself, the Macclesfield travel guide will help you on your way, from Manchester Airport to the gates of Moss Rose.

That this club came so far so quickly has to do with money and good managers. But stand at Moss Rose and what you mostly see is a town that almost lost its club and still thinks about that at every game.

Sources