Just like the title says: Two FA cup finals will be played during the 2020/21 season as the Football Association has decided to postpone the 2019/20 Women’s FA Cup; a few months later since they suspended the Women’s Super League season entirely in the UK.
On Friday, last week, the FA received an special dispensation from FIFA to finish the competition, which had reached the quarter-final stage, as women’s football has been halted by COVID-19; especially in the British county. Yet, the FA decided to postpone the Cup rather than suspending the competition entirely.
As they announced, the remaining matches will resume in September and the final will be at Wembley on October 31st, meaning that the first round of the 2020/21 edition of the Women’s FA Cup will follow afterwards.
Kelly Simmons, the FA’s director of the women’s professional game, said:
“A significant amount of work has been going on behind the scenes to ensure the Women’s FA Cup can be completed and I am delighted that we have received the necessary approval for its conclusion.
“The Women’s FA Cup is a showpiece fixture in the football calendar and because of that there was huge appetite within the FA for the three remaining rounds to be played.”
The quarter-finals will be staged three weeks into the new season, on the weekend of 26-27 September, with the semi-finals due the following Wednesday and Thursday. As has been the tradition since 2015, the final will be at Wembley.
The FA has also said that they will refund tickets bought for the May final within 14 days and that they will monitor government guidelines on crowds in stadiums.
As for the teams involved, the Cup holders, Manchester City, will play the Championship side Leicester City in the quarter-finals. On the other side, it’ll be a classic clash as Arsenal host Tottenham in the first FA Cup north London derby since Arsenal’s 10-0 victory at Meadow Park in 2017. Finally, Everton will face the 2019/20 WSL champions Chelsea, while Brighton will play for a place in the semifinals against Birmingham.
Seeing the FA, as well as FIFA (very important football associations in the world) have decided to let this season’s FA Cup conclude in a “nice way” next season, could be considered as a great move towards an equal understanding and an actual growth on the women’s game in the UK; especially after all the discomfort and misjudgement the WSL’s cancellation provoked withing British women’s football clubs.
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