Who is the lowest ranked team still in the 2023/24 FA Cup?

It's the question that gets asked throughout the FA Cup every single year.

The lowest-ranked remaining team in the FA Cup, in whatever round, always has a special spotlight shone on them. Clubs ideally want to be drawn against them and simultaneously almost everyone else wants to see them win their next game.

As England's famous domestic competition progresses, the lowest-ranked team tends to get knocked out and a new underdog takes centre stage, until invariably one of the big teams wins the tournament. It is not always that simple, and perhaps this will be the year when a non-league side gets to Wembley.

For the fifth round of the 2023/24 FA Cup, Maidstone United are the biggest underdogs left still standing. They play in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football.

Maidstone United's FA Cup history

Having reached the fifth round, Maidstone United are currently enjoying the best FA Cup run in the club's history. The Stones had never made it to the fourth round proper before lining up against Ipswich Town in January. Maidstone reached the third round in 1983/84 and 1986/87 but were beaten by Darlington and then Watford.

Maidstone have also made it to the second round on five different occasions, the most recent being the 2019/20 season where Blackpool beat them 3-1. The change in quality of opponents can be stark in the second round and that is where so many of the last non-league teams are eliminated.

Maidstone's 2023/24 FA Cup run

As a National League South side, Maidstone United's FA Cup journey started in September in the second qualifying round. They were away at Steyning Town to begin with and comfortably won 4-1.

That set up another away trip in the third qualifying round, this time against Winchester City. They also cruised through that clash, winning 2-0 at the end of September. Torquay United were next, with a place in the first round proper on the line. Another 2-0 away victory set up yet another away tie against Chesham United, which also ended 2-0 to Maidstone.

The second round brought a game against a side higher in English football's pyramid in Barrow, who were in League Two's play-off scrap. The large league position difference wasn't evident on the day as a 74th-minute winner from Bivesh Gurung ensured a 2-1 win and a place in the third round.

Sam Corne netted Maidstone's equaliser against Barrow and stepped up to the penalty spot against League One's Stevenage in the third round. Both Sol Wanju-Smith and Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong tumbled inside the opposition box in the same forward thrust before the referee awarded a penalty.

Keeping his nerve in front of a sold-out Gallagher Stadium, with some fans perched in trees outside the ground, Corne picked out the top corner. Stevenage went close in the second half, striking the post in the 74th minute, but would not deny Maidstone a famous win.

The 98 places in the football pyramid that separated high-flying Championship side Ipswich Town and Maidstone was evident in the fourth-round tie at Portman Road. Ipswich outshot the visits 38-2 but somehow lost 1-2. Victory for the Stones ensured that they became the first club from outside England's top five tiers to reach the FA Cup fifth round since Blyth Spartans in 1978.

Who do Maidstone play in the FA Cup fourth round?

Sides lower down the league pyramid often dream of huge cup ties away at elite Premier League clubs, with trips to Old Trafford and Anfield heavily sought after.

However, Maidstone couldn't luck their way into a glamour tie against a top-flight outfit and will instead battle one of Sheffield Wednesday or Coventry City in the fifth round which commences on the weekend of 26 February.

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