England Football Association have defended the decision to scrap replays within the FA Cup from next season onwards.
Yesterday (18 April) the FA announced that replays would be dropped from next season’s FA Cup onwards amidst a raft of changes to the competition’ format.
The decision concerning replays sparked fury across EFL and Non League clubs plus media and fans alike, with many lower league teams often benefitting from replays financially in the current climate.
FA officials however have hit back and claimed that EFL clubs alongside Premier League teams jointly agreed to scrap replays, whilst returning the Fifth Round to its old weekend slot.
Clubs and the FA also agreed that the FA Cup would get ‘exclusive broadcast slots’ from Fourth Round onwards – aside from semi-finals with no competition from Premier League matches
The FA also iterated that the decision to increase the number of matches on TV from 2025-26 season onwards would allow additional broadcast revenue for EFL and National League clubs.
There was also an explanation for the season calendar organisation which is approved by the Professional Game Board, consisting of four representatives within Premier League and four EFL representatives, plus FA Board – consisting of representation in Premier League EFL, National Game and grassroots.
Here is the FA’s statement in full below.
We have listened to the concerns expressed over the last 24 hours, and would like to outline the approval process which was undertaken for the 2024-25 professional game football calendar.
We have been discussing the calendar for the 2024-25 season with the Premier League and EFL for well over a year.
Removing Emirates FA Cup replays was discussed in the early meetings and all parties accepted that they could not continue. The discussions then focused on how to make all of our competitions stronger, despite having fewer dates available and wanting to maintain player welfare.
The changes to the Emirates FA Cup achieve this by returning it to a weekend competition on every round, and ensuring that we have exclusive broadcast slots in an increasingly congested calendar.
To clarify, we have also increased the number of Emirates FA Cup matches that will be broadcast in the early rounds, which will lead to additional guaranteed broadcast revenue for EFL and National League teams. Additionally, we review the prize money annually for the competition, together with representatives from the EFL and PL and will do the same for the 2024-25 season.
The calendar for next season was approved by the Professional Game Board, which consists of four EFL representatives and four Premier League representatives, last month, and then by the FA Board, which includes Premier League, EFL, National Game and grassroots representation. This is the process we undergo every year to approve the calendar.
We understand the concerns expressed over the last 24 hours, and we will be sharing more details with clubs very shortly to explain the additional revenue opportunities in the early rounds.
We will keep this under review as the new calendar begins to ensure that EFL and National League clubs do not lose out.
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