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- The 2020–21 FA Cup qualifying rounds opened the 140th season of The Football Association Challenge Cup (FA Cup), the world's oldest association football single knockout competition, organised by The Football Association, the governing body for the sport in England (though the competition also features teams from Wales). The 32 winning teams from the Fourth qualifying round progressed to the First Round Proper. The FA made 737 places available in the FA Cup for the 2020–21 season, an increase in two on the previous season, due to the need to produce an extra qualifier in the second qualifying round, following a shortfall in teams at step 2 of the National League System. Following the liquidation of Macclesfield Town, 736 teams ultimately entered the competition. The 92 teams from the EFL and Premier League received direct entry to the competition proper. The remaining 644 teams, from the National League System (levels 5–10 of the English football league system), entered into the qualifying competition consisting of six rounds of preliminary (2) and qualifying (4) knockout matches. With 889 eligible entrants, more than the number of places available, teams from level 10 of the English football league system were accepted up to the point at which the 737 places were full, based on a random draw. This reflected the cancellation of level 10 leagues in 2019–20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and thus the absence of league placings on which to base qualification, as had been used in previous seasons. The pandemic also led to the removal of replays from the qualifying competition, in order to fit with a delayed start following the extended 2019–20 football season, and a reduction in the prize fund, with figures returning to those last used in the 2017–18 season. (en)
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