text: 2003 fa cup final the 2003 fa cup final was the 122nd final of the fa cup , the world 's oldest domestic football cup competition . the final took place on saturday 17 may 2003 at the millennium stadium in cardiff , in front of a crowd of 73 , 726 . it was the third consecutive year the final was played at the stadium , due to the ongoing reconstruction of wembley stadium , the final 's usual venue . the 2003 final was the first to be played indoors ; the roof was closed because of bad weather . the clubs contesting the final were arsenal , the holders of the competition and southampton . this was arsenal 's sixteenth appearance in a final to southampton 's fourth . as premier league clubs , arsenal and southampton entered the fa cup in the third round , which meant each club needed to progress through five rounds to reach the final . arsenal made a convincing start , they won their opening three rounds , but needed a sixth - round replay against chelsea . by contrast , southampton played one replay in the fourth round against millwall . arsenal entered the match as favourites and beat southampton 6 – 1 nine days earlier in the league . goalkeeper david seaman captained arsenal in the absence of the injured patrick vieira ; it was to be seaman 's last appearance for the club . in defence for southampton , chris baird made only his second competitive start . chris marsden captained the club in the absence of the injured club captain , jason dodd . arsenal began the match more effectively of the two and scored what proved to be the winning goal in the latter minutes of the first half – freddie ljungberg 's rebounded goal effort was converted by robert pirès . midway through the second half , southampton goalkeeper antti niemi was substituted , as he strained his calf muscle ; he was replaced by paul jones . in stoppage time , striker james beattie had his header cleared off the line by ashley cole , in what was the final chance for southampton . arsenal 's win marked the first time a team had retained the trophy since tottenham hotspur in 1982 . they later played against league champions manchester united in the 2003 fa community shield . given arsenal had already qualified for europe via their league position , their uefa cup spot was awarded to runners - up southampton . route to the final arsenal arsenal entered the competition in the third round , receiving a bye as a premier league club . their opening match was a 2 – 0 home win against oxford united on 4 january 2003 . striker dennis bergkamp scored his 100th goal for the club and an own goal by defender scott mcniven ensured progression to the next round . arsenal faced non - league side farnborough town ; the match switched from farnborough 's ground at cherrywood road to highbury due to concerns over safety . farnborough began the match as the home team and conceded the first goal , scored by arsenal defender sol campbell in the 19th minute . they went down to ten men after christian lee was sent off for a professional foul . francis jeffers scored twice before rocky baptiste added a consolation , beating pascal cygan for pace and despite having his first shot saved by goalkeeper stuart taylor , he managed to lift the ball over him and into the net . lauren and bergkamp each scored in the final 15 minutes to give arsenal a 5 – 1 victory . arsenal 's fifth round match was away to league rivals manchester united at old trafford on 16 february 2003 . after ryan giggs missed the chance to score past an open goal , midfielder edu gave arsenal the lead through a free kick which took a deflection off david beckham 's shoulder . striker sylvain wiltord scored the second goal of the match in the 52nd minute , running onto a pass from edu and side - footing the ball past goalkeeper fabien barthez . arsenal captain patrick vieira said of the performance : " we knew when we lost here in the league that we had lost the battle in midfield . we had to put that right , and we did . " in the sixth round , arsenal was drawn at home to chelsea in a repeat of the previous season 's final . chelsea defender john terry put chelsea ahead with a header from a set piece before arsenal responded through jeffers and thierry henry . frank lampard scored a late equaliser for the visiting team meaning the match was replayed at stamford bridge . an own goal by terry and a strike by wiltord in the space of seven minutes during the replay gave arsenal an early lead against chelsea . despite going down to ten men after cygan was sent off and terry scoring from a header , the away team scored a third goal through lauren to ensure progression into the semi - finals . in the semi - final against sheffield united on 13 april 2003 at old trafford , freddie ljungberg scored the winning goal to help arsenal reach their third successive fa cup final appearance . the match was best remembered for david seaman 's late save , which prevented sheffield united from equalising . southampton like arsenal , as a premier league club , southampton received a bye into the third round . their opening match was a 4 – 0 win against fellow league club tottenham hotspur . a goal by defender michael svensson and three from jo tessem , anders svensson and james beattie in the second half was the second straight victory against tottenham , having beaten them on new year 's day in the league . in the fourth round , southampton was drawn at home to first division club millwall on 25 january 2003 . the visitors took the lead through striker steve claridge but were denied victory 90 seconds from the end of the match as southampton striker kevin davies scored from a rebounded shot . in the replay , midfielder matthew oakley scored twice for southampton ( one in both halves ) after steven reid equalised for millwall . southampton 's fifth round match was against norwich city at home on 5 february 2003 . two goals in the space of three minutes , scored by svensson and tessem was enough to take the team into the quarter - finals . southampton defender claus was pleased with the win and said following the match : " when you get to this stage in the competition you have to believe you can win it . " the club then faced wolverhampton wanderers at home in the following round . former wolves player chris marsden gave southampton the lead in the 56th minute and with nine minutes remaining of normal time , the team added a second goal when tessem 's shot took a deflection off paul butler 's legs to go inside the goal net . the victory meant southampton reached the semi - finals of the fa cup for the first time in 17 years . at villa park , southampton played first division team watford on 13 april 2003 . brett ormerod opened the scoring two minutes before half time and set up the second goal which the ball was taken over the line by watford defender paul robinson . despite marcus gayle scoring a late header to half the scoreline southampton won the match . pre - match arsenal was appearing in the final of the fa cup for the sixteenth time . they had won the cup eight times previously ( in 1930 , 1936 , 1950 , 1971 , 1979 , 1993 , 1998 and 2002 ) and had been beaten in the final seven times , the most recent in 2001 . by comparison , southampton made their fourth appearance in a fa cup final . their previous best was winning the cup in 1976 , by beating opponents manchester united . both clubs received an allocation of approximately 25 , 000 tickets , with the remaining 25 , 000 being sent out to other clubs . 17 , 500 of those tickets were available to southampton season ticket holders . seat prices for the final exceeded £ 80 , with the cheapest tickets available at £ 25 . southampton was given the south stand , which was the larger end of the stadium , whereas arsenal was situated at the opposite end . although southampton supporters were disappointed at the allocation share , chairman rupert lowe refused to criticise the fa 's decision , by saying : " the reality is that too many people want to go and there are never enough tickets . " in the lead up to the final , the south wales echo reported that many tickets were being sold on the black market , for " 20 times " the face - value price . nine days before the final , the two clubs faced each other in a league match at highbury . with arsenal unable to retain the title , having lost to leeds united , manager arsène wenger rested several players , as did southampton manager gordon strachan , whose team started without six of their first - choice eleven . winger jermaine pennant on his league debut scored a hat - trick , as did pirès , in a 6 – 1 win . strachan believed the result had little bearing on their chances of winning the cup , noting : " there is little pressure on southampton to lift the trophy . we were not expected to reach the final and have already clinched a place in the uefa cup . " wenger accepted his team were " favourites " but expected " ... southampton to be at their best against us because it will be a different team than the one we faced in the championship recently . " the traditional cup final hymn , " abide with me " was sung by tony henry , an opera singer from south london . sir bobby robson was invited as the fa 's chief guest for the final and performed several duties ordinarily reserved for royalty , such as presenting the trophy to the winning captain . heavy rain on friday night and forecasted showers in cardiff meant the final would be the first to be played indoors ; the stadium closed its retractable roof and floodlights were used to light up the ground . match team selection vieira was ruled out of the match because of a knee injury , so seaman was named as arsenal captain , in a match widely anticipated as his final for the club . with campbell suspended and cygan absent due to a thigh strain , daily mail journalists steve curry and ian gibb revealed the night before the final that midfielder kolo touré was pencilled in as an " emergency centre back " . wenger however picked oleg luzhny to pair up with martin keown , who was rested the previous sunday away to sunderland . for southampton , the major absentee was striker marian , who underwent a third operation to overcome a troubling knee injury . defender chris baird made his second competitive start for the club and chris marsden captained southampton , given jason dodd 's absence with an injury . although both teams set up in a 4 – 4 – 2 formation , bergkamp was positioned as a deep - lying forward behind henry . report arsenal created their first chance inside 24 seconds , when ljungberg put henry clear down the right - hand side . the striker used his pace to get the better of , only to have his shot blocked by goalkeeper antti niemi . bergkamp 's goal effort in the eighth minute was cleared off the line by full back chris baird , after niemi fumbled henry 's initial shot . southampton fashioned their first opportunity in the 15th minute through a high cross ; in spite of unsettling the arsenal defence , the unmarked svensson volleyed over the bar . baird moments after won the ball in midfield and curled a shot that left seaman " scrambling across his goal to save " . seven minutes before the break , arsenal went into the lead . henry , receiving the ball from parlour , slipped it into bergkamp down the right . he in turn fed the ball to ljungberg , whose shot was blocked . the ball rebounded in the direction of pirès , who needed one touch to set himself and another to fire at the near post , despite niemi getting a hand . arsenal missed further chances to extend their lead when a cross from the right by henry was shot over the bar by pirès and from the same area , bergkamp 's " cross - cum - shot " was missed by ljungberg . after the break , southampton applied pressure and a poor clearance by seaman invited a chance for paul telfer to shoot from " 35 yards out " ; his pass found ormerod , but was eventually intercepted by luzhny . minutes after , beattie failed to take advantage from oakley 's cross , as the ball drifted wide . arsenal regained possession and in the 52nd minute went close to doubling their lead . in southampton 's penalty box , bergkamp turned and beat ormerod before curling a shot which niemi palmed off ; it fell to the feet of ljungberg , who shot the ball into the side - netting . telfer misguided his header from a southampton corner , before niemi denied henry again . in the 65th minute , niemi injured himself , in an attempt to clear the ball and was replaced by substitute paul jones . both clubs made substitutions in the final third of the game , with wiltord coming on for bergkamp and tessem replacing svensson . ormerod 's goal - bound effort was saved by seaman with 10 minutes remaining of the match . in the fourth minute of injury time , southampton earned themselves a corner . beattie 's on - target header was cleared off the line by ashley cole and out for another corner , which pirès kicked out in the final action of the game . details statistics post - match in retaining the cup , arsenal became the first team to do so since tottenham hotspur in 1982 . wenger commented after the game that his team " got the trophy we wanted " while strachan was in admiration of southampton 's performance : " i 'm very proud of the way they competed . i couldn 't have asked for any more . " keown said the fa cup win was " the best ever " and seaman felt the disappointment of losing out to manchester united in the league spurred the team on . football pundits alan hansen , peter schmeichel and mark hughes unanimously agreed that arsenal deserved to win the match . arsenal 's victory set up a community shield match against manchester united , winners of the 2002 – 03 premier league . the fa cup winners are awarded qualification into the uefa cup , but because arsenal qualified for the uefa champions league via their league position , the uefa cup place was passed to southampton , the runners - up . the match was broadcast live in the united kingdom by both the bbc and sky sports , with bbc one providing the free - to - air coverage and sky sports 1 being the pay - tv alternative . bbc one held the majority of the viewership , with a peak audience of 9 . 6 million viewers ( 55 . 7 % viewing share ) watching at 16 : and the match averaged at 8 . 3 million ( 55 % ) – the highest audience for a fa cup final in four years . coverage of the final began on the channel at 12 : 10pm and averaged 5 . 3 million ( 44 . 4 % ) . the match of the day coverage concluded at different times dependent on station , with the broadcast in scotland ending 10 minutes before the main broadcast finished .