Reading supporters will be looking out for ball number 32 on Monday 3rd December when the Emirates FA Cup Third Round draw takes place, broadcast live on BBC One from 7.30pm.
It’s our first involvement in this year’s competition and, as always, it’s a hotly anticipated date in the football calendar when the top-tier sides can potentially be drawn against non-League opposition!
We join the other 43 sides from the top two tiers in entering at this stage, along with the 20 teams that progress this weekend in the Second Round – although those games will be subject to a replay if they can’t be separated on the day.
Ruud Gullit, manager of Chelsea’s 1997 FA Cup-winning side, and Paul Ince, winner as a Manchester United player in 1990 and 1994, will be on duty with presenter Mark Chapman at Stamford Bridge on Monday evening.
For Royals fans, we’ll begin dreaming of going down that road to Wembley again… the journey begins here for another year!
As well as the prospect of a Premier League glamour tie, there are also five teams still remaining from the sixth tier ahead of this weekend - including local sides Woking and Slough Town.
The Third Round is scheduled to take place over the weekend of Saturday 5th January 2019.
The full list of ball numbers is as follows:
Emirates FA Cup, Third Round 2018-19
| Ball | Club |
| 1 | AFC Bournemouth |
| 2 | Arsenal |
| 3 | Aston Villa |
| 4 | Birmingham City |
| 5 | Blackburn Rovers |
| 6 | Bolton Wanderers |
| 7 | Brentford |
| 8 | Brighton & Hove Albion |
| 9 | Bristol City |
| 10 | Burnley |
| 11 | Cardiff City |
| 12 | Chelsea |
| 13 | Crystal Palace |
| 14 | Derby County |
| 15 | Everton |
| 16 | Fulham |
| 17 | Huddersfield Town |
| 18 | Hull City |
| 19 | Ipswich Town |
| 20 | Leeds United |
| 21 | Leicester City |
| 22 | Liverpool |
| 23 | Manchester City |
| 24 | Manchester United |
| 25 | Middlesbrough |
| 26 | Millwall |
| 27 | Newcastle United |
| 28 | Norwich City |
| 29 | Nottingham Forest |
| 30 | Preston North End |
| 31 | Queens Park Rangers |
| 32 | Reading |
| 33 | Rotherham United |
| 34 | Sheffield United |
| 35 | Sheffield Wednesday |
| 36 | Southampton |
| 37 | Stoke City |
| 38 | Swansea City |
| 39 | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 40 | Watford |
| 41 | West Bromwich Albion |
| 42 | West Ham United |
| 43 | Wigan Athletic |
| 44 | Wolverhampton Wanderers |
| 45 | Guiseley or Fleetwood Town |
| 46 | Luton Town |
| 47 | Wrexham or Newport County |
| 48 | Tranmere Rovers or Southport |
| 49 | Barnsley |
| 50 | Shrewsbury Town |
| 51 | Solihull Moors or Blackpool |
| 52 | Grimsby Town |
| 53 | Peterborough United or Bradford City |
| 54 | Woking |
| 55 | Oldham Athletic |
| 56 | Lincoln City |
| 57 | AFC Wimbledon |
| 58 | Oxford United |
| 59 | Barnet |
| 60 | Portsmouth |
| 61 | Walsall or Sunderland |
| 62 | Accrington Stanley |
| 63 | Doncaster Rovers |
| 64 | Gillingham |