The FA is on a 6-year improvement of the FA Cup's quality project, starting in the 2024-2025 season. EFL CEO Trevor Birch called the project a disappointment. In addition, some clubs in the EFL tournament system also have the same view.
"The drop in the Emirates FA Cup was discussed at a meeting and all sides agreed that it was not possible to continue the tournament as it is now. After that, the following meetings discussed how to make the tournaments of increasingly better quality, even though the number of competition days could be less.
For the FA Cup alone, we want to bring the rounds back completely by the weekend. In addition, the tournament organizing committee also ensures that there will be exclusive broadcasts in the context of an increasingly tight competition schedule.
The organizing committee will increase the number of matches broadcast in the outside rounds. When matches are broadcast right from the qualifying rounds like that, the television rights will be guaranteed for the EFL and National League teams. Finally, the prize structure is also recalculated" - the announcement from the FA said.
The EFL initially disagreed with the exclusion of the knockout matches. They say this will be more beneficial for Premier League clubs, who are almost not benefiting from the EFL system. They also said that when the FA made this decision, many teams in the EFL did not know or discuss it in advance.
"The schedule for next season has been approved by the Board of Directors of Professional matches, consisting of 4 EFL teams and 4 Premier League teams. Next, this decision is transferred to another council including the FA, Premier League, EFL and Nation League" - the FA's announcement said.
The EFL, as they said, did not know until the FA made a decision. The EFL believes the FA and the Premier League have joined hands but have not asked their opinions. The EFL said that since September 2023, the team's representative has told the clubs about changes in the coming time, but that change is only part of the restructuring of the financial model. However, this incident went beyond their prediction and calculation.
The FA said that canceling the matches will reduce the need for teams to play under a very tight schedule. This season's FA Cup, after many improvements, still maintains the form of a rematch when the two teams have a draw. However, the current matches are only held from round 1 to round 4. matches from round 5 onwards have been canceled since 2018.
Some coaches working in the Premier League such as Mikel Arteta (Arsenal) or Thomas Frank (Brentford) support this view of the FA. They will have to play less, thereby better protecting the home team's players.
It is difficult for Premier League teams to make a large sum of money from the FA Cup because the FA Cup's bonus structure is not high. For small teams, the FA Cup is a very important financial lifebuoy. For matches in the 3rd and 4th rounds, the prize for each win will be 40,000 and 50,000 pounds.
