Pep Guardiola’s side defeated the third-tier visitors 10-1 at the Etihad, just the 66th time a team has scored more than 10 goals in a league match in English football.
City’s huge win saw Antoine Semenyo score on his debut, while Rico Lewis also scored a brace. Exeter’s misery was compounded by two own goals adding further luster to the emphatic scoreline.
The victory made the Citizens the first top team to score ten goals in a match in forty years. However, it still fell significantly short of breaking the record for the largest winning margin in FA Cup history.
10 – Manchester City are the first English top-flight club to score more than ten goals in a match in any competition since Liverpool beat Fulham 10-0 in the League Cup in September 1986, and the first to do so in the FA Cup since Tottenham Hotspur beat Crewe 13-2 in February 1960. Rampage. pic.twitter.com/V5Wd5qBs2Q
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 10, 2026
That honor belongs to Preston North End, who humiliated Hyde 26-0 in October 1887. Jimmy Ross scored seven goals for Preston in that match, with Preston eventually reaching the final before losing to West Bromwich Albion.
However, the following season Preston became the first Football League winners and achieved a domestic double with FA Cup success, without losing a game.
The Lilywhites also have the second highest score in FA Cup history, after beating Reading 18-0 in 1984. The eight biggest FA Cup scores all took place in the 19th century.
The greatest FA Cup win of all time
- Preston North End 26-0 Hyde – 15/10/1887
- Preston North End 18-0 Reading – 27/01/1894
- Wanderers 16-0 Farningham – 31/10/1874
- Royal Engineers 15-0 High Wycombe – 10/11/1875
- Clapham Rovers 15-0 Finchley – 13/11/1880
- Darwen 15-0 Romford – 05/03/1881
- Queen’s Park (Glasgow) 15-0 Manchester – 12-01-1883
- Notts County 15-0 Rotherham Town – 24/10/1885
Read – Five of the biggest upsets in the FA Cup third round
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