Two huge FA Cup changes revealed affecting Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham as £33m deal confirmed

The FA and Premier League have reached an agreement on some major changes that will come into play for next season's FA Cup with replays to be scrapped from the first round proper. The 2022/23 tournament had no replays from the fifth round onwards but now they are to be removed completely.

For lower league sides, this news will come as a significant blow with replays often providing vital revenue to clubs that need it most. However, the decision to have FA Cup exclusive weekends has been made with a number of changes to the calendar which is unlikely to go down well among Premier League clubs.

Part of an FA statement read: «The FA and the Premier League have reached a new agreement which will strengthen the Emirates FA Cup format with new and exclusive calendar windows.

»The agreement, which is for a minimum of six years, starts next season. All rounds of the Emirates FA Cup will now be played on weekends, including the fifth round which has been played in midweek for the last five seasons.

«The fourth and fifth rounds and the quarter-finals all will be exclusive of Premier League fixtures for the first time, and the fourth round will have an extended window from Friday to Wednesday to allow fans to watch consecutive days of Emirates FA Cup football.»

One of the other big changes will see the FA Cup final take place on the penultimate weekend of the Premier League with no fixtures to take place on days surrounding the game to allow the focus to be solely on the Wembley Stadium clash. Also in the update, it has been announced that the Premier League will increase their funding to £133million per season to grassroots football, which is £33million more than what is currently filtered through the pyramid.

That change will come