FA Cup agrees to scrap replays due to ‘expanded’ Champions League.

The FA Cup final will also be played on the penultimate weekend of the Premier League season in a number of changes announced by the Football Association.

FA Cup replays have been scrapped as part of a new agreement between the Football Association and Premier League that comes amid introduction of the new-look Champions League from next season.

Replays had already been scrapped from the fifth round onwards but have now been ditched altogether from the first round proper.

The FA said the move had been made in agreement with the Premier League and “in light of changes to the calendar driven by the expanded Uefa competitions”.

The Champions League will become a 36-team competition next season with a new-look league format replacing the previous group stages.

Premier League teams who are involved will now play eight rounds of games in order to qualify for the knockout stages, an increase on the previous six.

The FA Cup final will now be staged on the penultimate weekend of the Premier League season, rather than after, while all rounds will be played at the weekend.

The fifth round of the FA Cup has been placed in midweek in the last five seasons.

The changes come as part of a new agreement between the FA and Premier League that will see the top-flight put forward an extra £33m to grassroots football.