The Football Association (FA) has defended its decision to scrap FA Cup replays and insisted an increase in games being broadcast in the early rounds will help offset any loss of revenue for lower-league clubs.
It was announced on Thursday replays from the first round proper were being scrapped from the 2024-25 season in a six-year agreement to restructure the competition.
The decision was called “frustrating and disappointing” by the English Football League (EFL) chief executive Trevor Birch, while a number of EFL clubs were also critical of the move due to the financial incentives replays offer.
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FA Cup replays to be scrapped from next season
An FA statement on Friday read: “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.
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“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.”
🏆This morning, the @FairGameUK team has been compiling a list of our favourite #FACup draws and replays, to show the @FA what is at stake following yesterday's news.
We begin with an example from this season from @CrayValleyPM:
🎥@BBCMOTD #savethefacuppic.twitter.com/ZPYnZ0dbqL
— Fair Game (@FairGameUK) April 19, 2024
The EFL initially suggested it had not approved the scrapping of replays, stating it had “previously been involved in discussions over the future of the calendar” but these had been based on “the agreement of a new financial deal with the Premier League for EFL clubs which has not progressed”.
A number of EFL clubs also claimed they and the National League and grassroots game had not been consulted over the decision.
The FA argued the EFL had been represented on the Professional Game Board, which approved next season’s calendar.
The FA stated: “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.”
The EFL released a second statement on Friday in response to the FA’s, making it clear while it was involved in initial conversations around the change in format, it was not formally consulted and did not agree to replays being scrapped.
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The EFL statement read: “The agreement which now sees the abolition of replays from the competition format was agreed solely between the Premier League and FA. Ahead of the deal being announced there was no agreement with the EFL nor was there any formal consultation with EFL clubs as members of the FA and participants in the competition.
“In September 2023, the EFL did initially discuss with clubs potential changes to the FA Cup format but only as part of a wider and more fundamental change to financial distributions. As is now clear, there has been no movement in this area since September.
“This latest agreement between the Premier League and the FA, in the absence of financial reform, is just a further example of how the EFL and its clubs are being marginalised in favour of others further up the pyramid and that only serves to threaten the future of the English game.”
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The move to scrap replays is designed to ease fixture congestion, with replays currently in place for the first-round to the fourth-round stage. Replays from the fifth-round stage onwards were removed by the FA in 2018.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Brentford head coach Thomas Frank both supported the decision from a scheduling and player welfare perspective.
“I understand every point of view,” Arteta said. “Ours and mine is to protect our players. When I looked at how many minutes and games they’ve played in the last two years with no breaks, how many they’re going to have to play in the next two years that’s not healthy for sure. Somehow, somewhere we have to reduce the calendar. That’s for sure.”
However, replays have remained popular among lower division clubs; third and fourth-round replays earned competing clubs £40,000 and £55,000 respectively, while gate receipts were shared equally between competing clubs.
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Campaign group Fair Game called the move “another nail in the coffin” for the “already crumbling football pyramid”.
“Scrapping FA Cup replays from the first round proper deprives lower league clubs of a much-needed source of revenue,” CEO Niall Couper said.
“This is a short-sighted move that does nothing to strengthen the game. It is another nail in the coffin for the already crumbling football pyramid.”
The FA statement concluded: “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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FA Cup replays - transformative, memorable, and a thing of the past from next season
(Zac Goodwin/PA Images via Getty Images)
