EFL have announced changes to be made to next season’s FA Cup and Carabao Cup competitions in order to ease pressure on the footballing calendar amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The season was put on hold for three months in the second half of 2019/20, though football did resume in June and has been able to do so safely so far, albeit with games still being played behind closed doors.
Fans returning to games pretty soon would have been a great thing, but for now we’re all having to get used to football being slightly different, and that now means fewer cup fixtures.
According to BBC Sport, the FA Cup will scrap replays for the 2020/21 campaign, while the Carabao Cup semi-finals will be one-off games instead of the traditional two-legged ties.
How this affects both competitions, with replays often entertaining encounters in the FA Cup, especially if lower-league sides get the chance to welcome a big name to their home ground, is a matter of time.
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Many players and managers will welcome the slightly less hectic fixture list as a result of these changes.
This article was most recently revised and updated 4 years ago
