Africa-Press – Tanzania. It’s a big weekend for Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Manchester City, who are getting ready to play in the semi-finals of the FA Cup at Wembley.
Three of the four – Forest, Villa and City – are also chasing top-five Premier League finishes that will secure a Champions League place next season.
But what matters more – winning the FA Cup or qualifying for the Champions League?
On Saturday, Crystal Palace take on Aston Villa in the first semi-final at 17:15 BST, a match you can watch live on BBC One, iPlayer, BBC Sport website and app.
The following day Nottingham Forest face Manchester City at 16:30 for a place in the final.
While the winners of English football’s showpiece final at Wembley on 17 May are guaranteed a major trophy – as well as a place in next season’s Europa League – a top-five finish in the Premier League guarantees at least eight games in Europe’s elite club competition.
But which is more important?
“The chance of a trophy is massive, regardless of anything else that is going on,” former Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha argues.
“Lifting silverware gives truly iconic moments.
“That is the stuff that you remember. For years to come fans recall the starting XIs, the squads, the managers, the run – everything.”
Major trophy – or Champions League cash?
This season’s FA Cup has produced its fair share of surprises leading to a somewhat unfamiliar look to this weekend’s semi-finals.
Record 14-time winners Arsenal went out in the third round, Premier League champions-in-waiting Liverpool came unstuck at Plymouth in the fourth round, while last season’s winners Manchester United lost on penalties to Fulham at Old Trafford in the fifth round.
Crystal Palace are the only one of the four remaining teams not to have won the FA Cup.
But while Manchester City have won two of the past six finals, it’s been more than 60 years since Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest lifted the prestigious trophy.
Villa might be seven-time winners but their last FA Cup triumph was in 1956-57.
Two-time winners Forest have won the European Cup on two occasions since they last won the FA Cup win in 1958-59.
The FA Cup final, watched by a global television audience of millions, is full of pomp and prestige, while the winners get to claim a major trophy in front of their fans at the national stadium.
From a financial point of view, however, it is small change compared to the riches of the Champions League.
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