LONDON: FA Cup replays will be scrapped from the first round next season as part of a six-year agreement with the Premier League to strengthen the domestic competition, the Football Association (FA) announced on Thursday.
The FA added that all FA Cup rounds will be played on weekends from next term, with the fourth and fifth rounds, plus quarter-finals, to be held exclusive of Premier League matches.
“The current format, which has no replays from the fifth round onwards, has been extended throughout the ‘Competition Proper’ in light of changes to the calendar driven by the expanded UEFA competitions,” the FA said.
“The FA Cup final will now take place on the penultimate weekend of the Premier League season, on an exclusive Saturday with no Premier League fixtures taking place on the same day.” The mid-season break was also removed from the calendar, in order to allow the Premier League to start in mid-August and provide a longer close-season break.
The gradual removal of replays from the later FA Cup rounds was criticised, with some commentators saying it is another erosion of the importance of the world’s oldest domestic club competition.
In the past, smaller clubs drawn at home to top-tier opposition in the FA Cup have enjoyed financial windfalls from securing replays. “Scrapping FA Cup replays from the first round proper deprives lower league clubs of a much-needed source of revenue,” Fair Game CEO Niall Couper said.