Hinckley AFC will begin both their Emirates FA Cup and Isuzu FA Vase campaigns on familiar turf after being handed home draws in both competitions. The club’s official website confirmed that Whitchurch Alport will visit Kirkby Road in the FA Cup extra preliminary round on Saturday 8 August 2026 at 3pm, before Highgate United arrive for an FA Vase second qualifying round tie on the weekend of 12 September.
The FA Cup meeting with Whitchurch Alport revives a recent competitive history between the two sides. Hinckley lifted the Midland League Cup at the Shropshire club’s expense in May 2023, winning 2-0 at Walsall’s Bescot Stadium with a goal in each half. Whitchurch Alport finished 11th in the Midland League Premier Division last season and now travel to Leicestershire, where the winners will earn another home tie against either Sutton Coldfield Town or Coventry United in the preliminary round.
The FA Vase pairing with Highgate United extends a remarkable sequence that makes this the fourth consecutive season the clubs have met in a cup competition. They faced each other in the FA Cup in the previous two campaigns, Hinckley winning 3-1 in August 2024 and 4-2 in 2025/26, and also contested a Midland League Cup semi-final in 2024, which Highgate edged on penalties. Hinckley enter the Vase with a bye through the first qualifying round, placing them directly into the home tie on 12 September.
The club’s youth side also learned their FA Youth Cup fate, drawn away to county rivals Anstey Nomads in the first round during the week commencing 31 August. Hinckley AFC, formed in 2014 following the liquidation of Hinckley United, have been competing in the United Counties Premier Division South since winning the Midland League Division One title in April 2024 and continue to build their cup pedigree at step five of the non-league pyramid.
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