FA Cup replays scrapped for next season, but FA wins battle to keep key rounds in weekend dates
The FA Cup has won its battle for normal weekend dates for the key rounds next season after the Football Association abandoned replays to ease scheduling pressure following Covid-19 lockdown.
As previously announced, prize money for the winners will be slashed by around half as football's governing body returns to 2018 prize pot levels due to financial black holes caused by the pandemic.
Carabao Cup dates were also confirmed, with the first four rounds now due to take place in September. As expected the traditional semi-final second leg has been abandoned.
However, the FA Cup escapes any major disruption next season amid the squeeze on available dates caused by the Premier League and Champions League starting later than usual.
Read more: How Mikel Arteta's water break tactical tweak changed the FA Cup final and helped Arsenal win
Preliminary qualifying for the FA Cup begins on the midweek date of Sept 1, with the final taking place on May 15.
The first round proper, meanwhile, takes place on Sat Nov 7, with Premier League and Championship teams entering for the third round proper on Jan 9 next year.
The FA announced a cut in prize money immediately after the FA Cup final earlier this month. Arsenal scooped £3.6m for winning the FA Cup on Saturday, with a 2-1 victory over Chelsea, but the winners of next season's competition will now receive £1.8m.
There are also cuts of 50 per cent in the fourth and fifth rounds, along with the quarter-finals and semi-finals.
Cuts are not quite so drastic in earlier rounds of the tournament, but they will still represent a sizable downgrade for lower-league clubs.
The FA is in the process of losing 124 jobs as part of the biggest cost-cutting drive in its history following projected £300 million losses after Covid-19.
The Premier League, EFL and FA all confirmed their match dates on Thursday. As previously reported by Telegraph Sport, England's top tier kick off on Sept 12, with the last game of the season just 19 days before the rearranged European Championship begins in Rome on June 11.
The league needs 34 weekends and four midweek match days for its campaign, leaving the earliest end date as May 23. The league's full fixture schedule for all 380 matches will be announced by Aug 21.
With the fixture schedule still tighter than normal, uncertainty remains over the participation in next season's Carabao Cup. "The Premier League will continue to consult the FA and EFL regarding the scheduling of all domestic competitions," a Premier League statement said.
Sept 12 was deemed the latest weekend workable by the Premier League to fit in all the games, but it also means that the players at Manchester United, Manchester City and Wolves have a very short end of season break due to their latter stages European commitments this season. Wolves were knocked out by Sevilla this week, but had played their first competitive fixture of this season on July 25 last year.
The season's late start means the Premier League has had to dramatically reduce its winter break to just a few days in a bid to squeeze the campaign in ahead of the rearranged Euros. The mid-season rest has only been introduced last year, but the upcoming campaign will be five weeks shorter than a standard season. To allow clubs time to plan a few days off after the New Year, the Premier League has split the 18th round of matches across two midweeks, between Jan 13 and 20.
