The FA Cup continues with the third-round of the competition over the next couple of days and there is a big change this year when it comes to replays.
Premier League and Championship teams enter this stage of the tournament. Between Thursday and Monday, 64 teams will compete to try and reach the fourth round of the FA Cup.
One of the headline matches will see Arsenal welcome Manchester United in one of a plethora of fixtures to be televised over the coming days. The Red Devils will look to build on the positives from their 2-2 draw at rivals Liverpool.
There is also the prospect of some huge cup upsets with a number of Premier League sides facing lower-league opposition. One of those standout ties is Tottenham’s trip to non-league Tamworth on Sunday.
Winning and losing sides in the third round will receive £115,000 and £25,000 respectively from the prize fund.
FA Cup Third-Round: Are There Replays?
No. FA Cup replays have been scrapped this season from the first-round onwards.
This means a winner will be determined on the day of all ties. If the scores are level after 90 minutes, a period of 30 minutes extra-time will be played, with a penalty shootout to follow if a winner can’t be found.
Replays have been used throughout the tournament’s history. Up until the 1991-92 season when penalty shootouts were introduced to the tournament there could be multiple replays for one game.
In the 1990-91 season, Arsenal eventually beat Leeds to reach the fourth round after a third replay between the sides was played out.
In recent years replays were scrapped from the fifth-round onwards. However, this season there have been no replays at any stage from the first-round of the competition.
Why Replays Have Been Scrapped?
FA Cup replays were scrapped from the first round onwards starting with this season FA.
Officially, the decision was made due to the constraint on the increasingly crowded fixture calendar. Replays were previously removed from the fifth round on.
The FA stated that this was done “in light of changes to the calendar driven by the expanded UEFA competitions.”
This is in reference to the recent expansion to the Champions League and Europa League as well as the addition of the relatively new Conference League.
Historically, lower-division teams battled in hopes of securing at least a draw against Premier League giants. With the financial reward of raking in gate receipts and TV revenue from a FA Cup replay.
Lower league teams were unhappy with the decision. A number of EFL and non-league clubs went on to release statements to say they were not consulted and slammed the decision.
