| Country |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | 149 | ||
| Defending champions | Aston Villa | ||
| Champions | West Bromwich Albion | ||
| Runners-up | Preston North End | ||
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The Football Association Challenge Cup 1887–88 was the seventeenth staging of the FA Cup, England's oldest football tournament. One hundred and forty-nine teams entered, twenty-five more than the previous season, although four of the one hundred and forty-nine never played a match.