Key facts and figures ahead of Saturday's FA Cup final between Portsmouth and Cardiff City at Wembley.

- Saturday's final is the 127th since the competition began in the 1871-72 season. Although Portsmouth first entered the FA Cup in 1899 and Cardiff in 1910, they have never played each other in the competition before.

- Manchester United have appeared in a record 18 finals, winning the competition a record 11 times. This will be Portsmouth's fourth appearance in the final, and Cardiff's third.

- Portsmouth's only victory was in 1939 when they upset hot favourites Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-1 in the last final to be played before World War Two. Their other appearances ended in a 2-0 defeat to Bolton Wanderers in 1929 and a 2-1 loss to Manchester City in 1934.

- As a result of winning the cup in 1939, Portsmouth held it for the next seven years until the competition re-started in 1945-46 -- the longest any club has managed to keep the cup for.

- Cardiff famously became the first, and so far only club, from outside England to win the FA Cup when they beat Arsenal 1-0 in 1927. Their only other appearance was in 1925 when they lost 1-0 to Sheffield United. The Cup final hymn Abide With Me was first sung at the 1927 final.

- Portsmouth's record FA Cup win came in the first match they played in the competition, beating Ryde from the Isle of Wight 10-0 in a first qualifying round match in 1899. Their record win in the competition proper was a 7-0 victory over Stockport County in 1949.

- Cardiff's record win came in 1931 when they beat non-league Enfield 8-0. On their way to this season's final Cardiff were losing to non-League Chasetown in the third round before recovering to beat them 3-1.

- Cardiff were involved in an extraordinary FA Cup coincidence in the 1950s. They were drawn to play away at Leeds United in three successive third round matches in 1955-56, 1956-57 and 1957-58. Cardiff won all three games 2-1.

- Cardiff are attempting to become the first club from outside the top division to win the FA Cup since West Ham United of the second division beat Arsenal in 1980. In total there have only been eight winners from outside the top division since league football began in 1888-89.

- Portsmouth were the only Premier League club to reach the semi-finals of this season's competition. If they had failed to beat West Bromwich Albion at Wembley in last month's semi, the final would have been the first to be contested between two clubs from outside the top division.

Reuters