Football: Soccer-EFL representatives accepted scrapping FA Cup replays, FA says

(Reuters) – English Football League (EFL) representatives agreed in meetings that FA Cup replays should be scrapped from next season, the English FA said on Friday in the face of criticism from several lower-league clubs for ditching the revenue-generating matches.

English soccer’s governing body announced the move on Thursday as part of a six-year agreement with the top-flight Premier League to strengthen the domestic Cup competition.

“We have been discussing the calendar for the 2024-25 season with the Premier League and EFL for well over a year,” the FA said in a statement.

“Removing Emirates FA Cup replays was discussed in the early meetings and all parties accepted that they could not continue.”

The statement comes in the wake of multiple lower-league clubs as well as EFL chief executive Trevor Birch criticising the move, which denies smaller clubs drawn at home to top-tier opposition the chance to earn revenue through money-spinning replays away.

“This is another traditional revenue stream lost for EFL clubs at a time when the financial gap between the biggest clubs and those further down the pyramid is widening,” Birch said on Thursday.

“We are now at the stage where the big boys don’t even bother to notify us or talk through proper changes,” Darragh MacAnthony, chairman and president of League One side Peterborough United, said in a post on X.

The FA said the new calendar was approved by the Professional Game Board, which has representatives from both the Premier League and the EFL, then by the FA Board where the National League and grassroots game was represented as well.

“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,” the FA added.

(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)