Dates for the first two qualifying rounds, and any preliminaries required, were set by the individual Regional leagues. From round three, the FFF defined the calendar, with rounds up to and including the round of 32 being scheduled for weekends and later rounds up to, but not including, the final, taking place on midweek evenings.[2]
Round
Dates
Third round
14 September 2024
Fourth round
28 September 2024
Fifth round
12 October 2024
Sixth round
26 October 2024
Seventh round
16 November 2024
Eighth round
30 November 2024
Round of 64
21 December 2024
Round of 32
15 January 2025
Round of 16
5 February 2025
Quarter-finals
26 February 2025
Semi-finals
2 April 2025
Final
24 May 2025
Teams
Rounds 1 to 6
The first six rounds, and any preliminaries required, were organised by the Regional Leagues and the Overseas Departments/Territories, who allowed teams from within their league structure to enter at any point up to the third round. Teams from Championnat National 3 entered at the third round, those from Championnat National 2 entered at the fourth round and those from Championnat National entered at the fifth round.
Number of teams per division and per round
Below is the number of teams per level according to the rounds[3]
^17 clubs compete in the National but LB Châteauroux is banned from participating.[4]
^The first two regional rounds for Paris-Île-de-France took place at the end of May/beginning of June, the club promoted to N3 would have been playing in R1 at the time.
^Régional 4 only exists in Corsica as the last level: there is no departmental championship
The 155 qualified clubs from the 6th round are joined by the 18 Ligue 2 clubs as well as the overseas representatives of Mayotte and Tahiti. Due to the riots and its consequences, no club from New Caledonia participated in this edition.
Of the two overseas clubs entering the 7th round, only the club representing Tahiti, AS Dragon, plays at home against a mainland club according to the rule of biannual alternation (Métropole/Outre-Mer), the Mayotte representative, Diables Noirs, must travel to mainland France, Mayotte not having an approved stadium to host this type of meeting.
Overseas teams
A draw to determine the club which travels to Tahiti in Round 7, and then French Guiana, and Réunion in Round 8 takes place from a list of candidate clubs from mainland France, having expressed the wish to travel overseas while the Mayotte club is included in the main draw. Should an allocated team be knocked out in Round 7, the draw will move down the list to the next team, and this team will travel overseas. Overseas teams can only play one match at home against a mainland team, should they advance from Round 8 they will have to travel to France for the later rounds. The draw took place on October 29 2024.
The 173 teams are divided into nine distinct groups of equal level and geography to avoid long travel.
Due to the withdrawal of the New Caledonia representative, a drawn club received a bye from this round and directly qualified for the 8th round. This team was FC Rouen 1899.
The winners of Round 7, along with FC Rouen 1899 (who received a bye) are divided into nine distinct groups. The matches are scheduled to be played from 29 November to 1 December, except for the match between USC Corte and Mayotte team Diables Noirs, which was played on 20 November.[6]USSA Vertou was given a technical win in their Round 7 match with Etoile Maritime FC; as a result, US Philibertine, who were initially designated to travel overseas during the draw, will host Pau FC.[7]
^Following the decision, the Federal Commission for Regulations and Disputes (CFRC) was giving the techical win of the match to USSA Vertou to the detriment of Étoile Maritime FC. The original game was finished 0–0 (4–3 on penalties) to Etoile Maritime FC.
