FA Cup replays scrapped ahead of 2024/25 season

The FA Cup will no longer involve replays from the first round onwards as of the 2024/25 season, it has been announced.

The current FA Cup format includes replays up until the fifth round, but the Football Association have now decided to change this in light of the increasing demands of the footballing calendar.

The FA's announcement, which marks a new six-year agreement with the Premier League, also confirms that all FA Cup fixtures are to be played on weekends, with the fifth round of the existing arrangement having taken place midweek.

This new schedule will spell the end of the Premier League's winter break, to allow players extended time off in the summer with a later start date for the domestic season.

In another tweak to the English footballing calendar, the FA have confirmed that the fourth round, fifth round and quarter-finals of the FA Cup will be played without clashing with any Premier League fixtures for the first time.

The FA Cup final will from 2024/25 take place on the penultimate weekend of the Premier League season.

Pep Guardiola's Manchester City are the current 8/13 favourites to win the 2023/24 FA Cup for the second year in a row, with their rivals Manchester United second favourites at 9/4.

Man City take on Chelsea in the first of this year's semi-finals at Wembley on Saturday 20th April at 17:15 GMT, with Man Utd facing Coventry City the next day at 15:30 GMT at the national stadium.

James Wilson

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