The Football Association (FA) has issued a statement defending the recent announced changes to the format of the FA Challenge Cup.Following the decision to scrap replays from the First Round (proper) onwards, scores of fans and clubs have shared their disappointment at what is perceived to be a change purely driven by the Premier League.
With teams in the EFL and non-league set to lose out on potentially money-spinning replays, the FA has insisted they will actually benefit from the new format, with more games available for broadcast than ever before.
Issued via the FA website, the statement reads: 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.