The 2019-20 Women’s FA Cup will be completed during next season, meaning two Cup finals will be played in one campaign.
The Football Association said on Friday it had special dispensation from Fifa to finish a competition that had reached the quarter-final stage when women’s football was halted by Covid-19.
The remaining matches will resume in September and the final will be at Wembley on 31 October. The first round proper of the 2020-21 edition of the Cup will follow that.
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 said it will refund tickets bought for the May final within 14 days and that it is monitoring government guidelines on crowds in stadiums.
The holders Manchester City will play the Championship side Leicester in the quarter-finals. Arsenal host Tottenham in the first FA Cup north London derby since Arsenal’s 10-0 victory at Meadow Park in 2017. Everton welcome the WSL champions Chelsea and Brighton play Birmingham.
