August 14 – The world’s oldest domestic knockout competition, England’s FA Cup, is to be radically restructured next season to help ease fixture congestion with all replays scrapped in every round.
The competition is scheduled to begin on September 1 with the showpiece final at Wembley on May 15, 2021.
“In order to assist in easing pressure on the football schedule, there will be no replays for the 2020-21 season,” the FA said in a statement.
Already devalued in recent years with top teams putting out weaker sides, the prize fund is to return to 2017-18 levels because of the financial impact of Covid-19. The winners will receive £1.8 million, down from £3.6 million last season. And in a further blow to the competition, the cup final will not be the last game of the season, with the Premier League finishing on May 23.
In another move aimed at streamlining the calendar, the Premier League is scrapping its winter break as it aims to finish the campaign well before the rescheduled European Championship, which is set to kick off on June 11 next year. Instead, the best the Premier League have been able to do is split the 18th round of matches across two midweeks – January 13 and 20.
Although many countries have traditionally had a mid-season break, English football only imposed one last season having long resisted the idea.
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