Scrapping FA Cup replays – what does it mean for English football?

FA Cup third and fourth-round replays and the two-legged League Cup semi-final are expected to be scrapped to reform the English football calendar.

The English football elite clubs want to reduce the domestic calendar due to European commitments.

The Champions League and the Europa League will expand to 36 teams from 32 next season, but it is unclear when changes will come into play.

The opening set of fixtures in Europe will expand from six to ten midweeks, making it harder to fit in the Premier League, League Cup, and early FA Cup replays around the new year.

The FA is considering scrapping the FA Cup third and fourth-round replays in exchange for bringing back the FA Cup fifth round to the weekend.

For the Premier League teams who compete in Europe, who apparently play more games than the rest of the country, this is good news. However, for lower-league teams, this is a disaster.

The Premier League's elite believe they play more games than everyone else, but going down the league's, this isn't the case.

There are over 700 teams that enter the FA Cup, with teams from the ninth and tenth tier of English football having a crack at progressing. Why should the FA focus on the top six of the Premier League?

If you're a team in EFL League One or Two, you'll play in four competitions: the league, FA Cup, League Cup, and EFL Trophy.

If your at the top of the tree in these leagues, the EFL Trophy will add eight games (if you progress) and the league is already eight games longer, with 24 teams playing rather than 20.

Bolton Wanderers had an ordinary season in League One last season, playing 46 league games, two playoff games, one FA Cup game, two League Cup games, and making the final of the EFL Trophy.

In total, Bolton played 59 games last season. Compared to Manchester City, who won the treble, they only played one more game than Bolton, with a much bigger and more talented squad.

In the 2021/2022 season, the stereotypical 'Top Six' made between £368 Million and £619 Million. Instead of complaining about fixtures, those clubs should invest more money in bringing in players for depth.

For some teams, an FA Cup run could be worth nearly £1 Million, a sum that could change a lower-league club's fortunes for a long time.

According to cityam.com, Cambridge United banked around seven figures in gate receipts and TV money alone from their fourth-round trip and replay against Manchester United in 2015.

Meanwhile, in 2017, when Sutton United was still a non-league club, it was estimated that they made around £1 million for making it to the fifth round of the competition.

The FA Cup's early rounds and replays can make a club's finances for years, and with issues of COVID-19 in the past, it would seem ridiculous to scrap important games for the sake of six clubs.