FA Cup replays scrapped until 5th round to ease fixture congestion

The FA Cup won't have third- and fourth-round replays during the 2021-22 season in order to ease the fixture logjam caused by COVID-19 postponements, the Football Association confirmed Monday.

There were no FA Cup replays throughout the 2020-21 campaign due to the pandemic-affected schedule.

The Premier League postponed 10 fixtures from Dec. 12-19 due to numerous COVID-19 outbreaks at top-flight clubs. Only 16 of last weekend's 35 scheduled matches went ahead in the Championship, League One, and League Two.

However, the Premier League and EFL both decided on Monday to continue with their matches during the festive period despite the omicron variant sparking a surge in the United Kingdom's COVID-19 cases.

The FA has also vowed that replays will return next season.