FA Cup dates announced

The Football Association has confirmed the dates for this year's FA Cup.

The competition is due to start on Tuesday, September 1 at the extra preliminary round stage.

This will be followed by the preliminary round on Saturday, September 12 - the same date as the opening round of fixtures in the Premier League and Football League.

Fixtures for the above two rounds will be released on Tuesday, August 18.

Locally, the teams in our distribution area to be competing in the competition include:

- Avro (North West Counties Premier Division) - Enter at extra preliminary round.

- Mossley AFC (Northern Premier League, North West) - Enter at preliminary round.

- Droylsden (Northern premier League, North West) - Enter at preliminary round.

 - Glossop North End (Northern Premier League, South East) - Enter at preliminary round.

 - Stalybridge Celtic (Northern Premier League, Premier Division) - Enter at preliminary round

 - Ashton United (Northern Premier League, Premier Division) - Enter at preliminary round

 - Hyde United (Northern Premier League, Premier Division) - Enter at first round qualifying

 - Curzon Ashton (National League North) - Enter at second round qualifying

The FA has also scrapped replays for the 2020-21 season in the qualifying competition to ease fixture congestion, and there is also a reduced prize fund due to the residual affects of covid-19.

The schedule for the qualifying rounds is as follows:

• Extra preliminary round: Tuesday 1 September 2020  
• Preliminary round: Saturday 12 September 2020         
• First round qualifying: Tuesday 22 September 2020  
• Second round qualifying: Saturday 3 October 2020    
• Third round qualifying: Tuesday 13 October 2020     
• Fourth round qualifying: Saturday 24 October 2020   

Dates for the first round proper and beyond are to be confirmed in due course.