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FA Cup replays scrapped for 2020-21 season and Carabao Cup semi-finals reduced to one leg

Last updated on .From the section Footballcomments415

Arsenal celebrate winning the 2019-20 FA Cup
Arsenal beat Chelsea in the final to win the 2019-20 FA Cup

There will be no FA Cup replays during the 2020-21 season to "ease pressure" on the football calendar.

The competition will start with the extra preliminary around on 1 September and the final is due to be played at Wembley Stadium on 15 May 2021.

It has also been announced the Carabao Cup semi-finals will be one-legged.

The first round is scheduled for 5 September, while the next three rounds will be played on consecutive midweek dates from 15-16 September.

The Premier League season is due to start on 12 September, with the final round of matches on 23 May 2021. The league says fixtures will be announced no later than 21 August.

Fixtures for the 2020-21 English Football League (EFL) season will be released on 21 August with the Championship, League One and League Two also all scheduled to start on 12 September.

FA Cup prize money has been halved from 2019-20 because of the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The winners will receive £1.8m, down from £3.6m last season, in line with the 2017-18 campaign.

The draws for the FA Cup extra preliminary and preliminary rounds, and the EFL Cup first round, will be made on 18 August.

The EFL Cup final will take place at Wembley on 28 February 2021.

The EFL Trophy will start on 8-9 September with the Wembley final on 14 March.

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415 comments

  • Comment posted by daz, at 12:24 13 Aug 2020

    Scrap the Wembley semi finals aswel, play them at neutral club stadiums.

  • Comment posted by lincs22, at 12:23 13 Aug 2020

    To ensure that the smaller clubs are not disadvantage, at round 3 the lowest ranked team is the home team - so the Premier clubs will be going away at lot.

  • Comment posted by DJ, at 12:22 13 Aug 2020

    Unfortunate for smaller teams who bag a replay at big stadiums!!

  • Comment posted by 1010, at 12:31 13 Aug 2020

    That will be them gone forever. The will of the big clubs prevails once again - away cup replays are a vital source of income for smaller clubs, in a way that the oil money clubs will never understand. But hey, when did the FA (or EFL) give a toss about the small clubs?

  • Comment posted by Bielsa, at 12:31 13 Aug 2020

    Another nail in the FA Cup coffin

    What was once a great competition has been systematically ruined (no replays, semis at Wembley, final at 5.30pm, letting ManU opt out, doing away with the velvet bag for a plastic tub etc)

  • Comment posted by James, at 12:23 13 Aug 2020

    Smaller clubs shown the short end of the stick yet again and I support one of the "big six"

  • Comment posted by Troff, at 12:22 13 Aug 2020

    Probably the right decision but it does mean yet another chance to make a few quid taken away from the smaller clubs - assuming we can have some crowds by January.

  • Comment posted by Gateman, at 12:26 13 Aug 2020

    Nice to see the FA are helping the non league clubs out by reducing the prize money. I assume this will also have to be behind closed doors.

  • Comment posted by Bielsa, at 12:27 13 Aug 2020

    Just watch this become permanent

  • Comment posted by top bloke, at 12:54 13 Aug 2020

    FA also announce they will be awarding a penalty to Man Utd in every round of next seasons competition.

  • Comment posted by themightofthorge, at 12:25 13 Aug 2020

    Makes sense but does take some of the magic away. Some of the incentives for smaller clubs are now taken away also.

  • Comment posted by NeilB73, at 12:56 13 Aug 2020

    @8 "Scrap the Wembley semi-finals as well, play them at neutral club stadiums"

    I could not agree with you more on that one. I wish as well, it would go back to the traditional 3 pm kick off as well. Unfortunately, as we all know money talks. So, I can't see that happening anytime soon.

  • Comment posted by Ashestour2002, at 12:29 13 Aug 2020

    Prize money should be halved from 3rd round proper. Small clubs particularly non league rely heavily on prize money, some even budget hoping they win. Tax the rich clubs from round 3 not the smallest clubs.

  • Comment posted by OTP5S3R, at 12:54 13 Aug 2020

    "It has also been announced the Carabao Cup semi-finals will be one-legged."

    A miracle this trophy has actually survived in my opinion. No other major European nation has 2 cups anymore and England should scrap it and stop holding onto an outdated, pointless tradition.

  • Comment posted by Raedwulf, at 12:25 13 Aug 2020

    Not unexpected but... It just won't be the same.

    And I hope to all the gods that the rich & powerful aren't allowed to use this season as an excuse to then bin replays permanently. I accept that it's a necessity this season, but when we're back on a normal schedule, I want replays back!

  • Comment posted by the_Big_E, at 18:00 13 Aug 2020

    The Champions League is by its title Is misrepresentative because of all the ‘also ranks’ who are included in it. At least the European Cup was for Champions. Shows how doing it for the cash simply devalues the competition

  • Comment posted by skank of the south, at 12:49 13 Aug 2020

    Strange how were being allowed to comment on this but not the BBC's decision to cover the womens community shield - are they too worried that every comment will be upsetting and therefore have to bar everyone under there new "lets not upset anybody" censorship policy.

  • Comment posted by skank of the south, at 12:42 13 Aug 2020

    Probably all these cup games will be behind closed doors anyway so pointless worrying about gate money. I wonder how many clubs will pull out of FA cup because it's financially not viable.

  • Comment posted by U18500343, at 13:00 13 Aug 2020

    Many years ago the FA cup was brilliant we'd sit round on a Monday lunch with radio on, around half 12 IMS just waiting to find out who was knocking us out that year. The magic of the cup, has been eroded over the years and now Final doesn't even KO at 3pm such a shame for a once great competition.

  • Comment posted by Monotone, at 12:38 13 Aug 2020

    That sound you can hear? The final nails being hammered into the once-great game of football.
    5 subs, no replays, VAR, why not just award the trophies to the richest clubs at the start of the season and then they can go and play friendlies in the Far East for even more money.

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