2020-21 FA Cup and FA Trophy dates
K's to start early in the FA Cup as one of thirteen step 3 teams to not be given exemption
The FA have just announced their plans for the 2020-21 FA Cup and FA Trophy competitions - and it's very possible that an FA Cup tie will be Kingstonian's first game of the new season.
With there being many and numerous caveats regarding the starting dates of any of next season's competitions (we do not have a definite start date for our league season mainly due to there not being enough answers to too many questions), it is possible that Saturday 12th September will be Kingstonian's opening day of the season, as, alongside twelve other Step 3 clubs including Carshalton Athletic and Bowers & Pitsea from the Isthmian Premier, the hoops have not received the normal exemption to the First Qualifying Round. (ed: I am assuming this is to do with a random draw).
So, the dates for the qualifying rounds for this season's FA Cup are planned to be as follows (obviously extremely open to alteration given the pandemic craziness that we're all enveloped in):
Preliminary Round: Saturday 12th September (winners get £1444, losers £481)
First Qualifying Round: Tuesday 22nd September (winners get £2250, losers £750)
Second Qualifying Round: Saturday 3rd October (winners get £3375, losers £1125)
Third Qualifying Round: Tuesday 13th October (winners get £5625, losers £1875)
Fourth Qualifying Round: Saturday 24th Octobers (winners get £9375, losers £3125)
There will be no replays in this year's qualifying competition.
The FA has changed the round names for the forthcoming FA Trophy competition (by the way, no definitive news yet as to whether the 2019-20 competition will be completed or not) - Kingstonian have been awarded a bye to the Third Qualifying Round, which is effectively the same round as last year's First Qualifying Round.
Dates and prizes are as follows:
Third Qualifying Round: Saturday 31st October (winners £2450, losers £625)
First Round: Saturday 14th November (winners £3000, losers £775)
Second Round (when National League North and South clubs arrive): Saturday 5th December (winners £3750, losers £1000)
Third Round (when National League Premier clubs enter): Saturday 19th December (winners £4500, losers £1250)
The draws will be announced later this month.
