The 2000-01 FA Cup was the 120th season of the world's oldest knockout football competition, the Football Association Cup or FA Cup. The competition was won by Liverpool, who came from 1-0 behind against Arsenal to eventually win 2-1. The final was played outside of England for the first time, at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, because Wembley Stadium was being knocked down to be replaced with a new stadium.

The draw for the 3rd round of the FA Cup was taken on Sunday 10th December 2000.

Matches played the weekend of 27 January, with replays during the week of 6 February.

Matches played weekend of 15 February, with replays 20 February and 7 March.

The biggest surprises of the round saw Tranmere Rovers complete one of the greatest FA Cup comebacks ever when they beat Southampton 4-3 in a replay after they had been trailing 3-0 at half time. (with 36-year-old former Southampton striker Paul Rideout scoring a hat-trick for Tranmere), while Wycombe Wanderers reached the quarter-finals for the first time in their history with a penalty shoot-out win over Wimbledon that follow two 2-2 draws.

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after the Football Association and usually refers to the English men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Its current sponsored name is the FA Cup with Budweiser.

The FA Cup was first held in 1871–72. Entry is open to all teams who compete in the Premier League, the Football League and in steps one to five of the FA National League System, as well as selected teams in step 6. This means that clubs of all standards compete, from the largest clubs in England and Wales down to amateur village teams. The tournament has become known for the possibility for "minnows" from the lower divisions to become "giant-killers" by eliminating top clubs from the tournament and even theoretically winning the Cup, although lower division teams rarely progress beyond the early stages. The qualification rounds and a system of byes mean that the very smallest and very biggest teams almost never meet.

Hámilton Ricard Cuesta (born 12 January 1974 in Quibdó) is a Colombian footballer who plays for Colombian team Deportes Quindío as a striker, and has played for Deportivo Cali, Middlesbrough, CSKA Sofia, Independiente, Emelec, Shonan Bellmare, APOEL, Numancia, Danubio and Concepción over the course of his career.

Ricard was signed by Bryan Robson for a fee of £2million in 1998, and scored 33 goals in 92 starts (with 23 substitute appearances) over a four-year Middlesbrough career. He was twice Middlesbrough's top scorer. When Steve McClaren took over the reins, Ricard was deemed surplus to requirements and allowed to move to CSKA Sofia on a free transfer.

Since leaving Middlesbrough, Ricard courted controversy both on and off the pitch. In 2002, he was involved in a car accident that killed a passenger, and was banned from football for twelve months for attacking a referee and making obscene gestures to the crowd while playing for Guayaquil side Emelec. The ban was reduced on appeal, and since then, Ricard attempted to move back to Europe to rejuvenate his career. He briefly played in Cyprus for APOEL, before signing a year's deal with Numancia for the 2005–06 season. He played 16 times, scoring two goals.

Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979 in Chester) is an English professional footballer who is currently a free agent after being released by Manchester United in June 2012.

The son of former footballer Terry Owen, Owen began his senior career at Liverpool in 1996. He progressed through the Liverpool youth team and scored on his debut in May 1997. In his first full season in the Premier League he finished as joint top scorer with 18 goals. He repeated this the following year and was Liverpool's top goal scorer from 1997–2004, despite a recurring hamstring injury. In 2001, Liverpool won a cup treble of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and Football League Cup, and Owen was the recipient of the Ballon d'Or. He went on to score 118 goals in 216 appearances in the Premier League for Liverpool.

Owen moved to Real Madrid for £8 million in mid-2004; he was frequently used as a substitute. He scored 13 goals in La Liga and had the season's highest ratio of goals scored to number of minutes played. He returned to England the following season, joining Newcastle United for £16 million. After a promising start to the 2005–06 season, injuries largely ruled him out over the next 18 months. After his return he became team captain and was the team's top scorer for the 2007–08 season. After the final season of his four-year contract, Newcastle were relegated, and Owen moved to Manchester United as a free agent.