FA Cup fifth-round replays will be scrapped from this season's competition, the Football Association announced on Tuesday.
The move was not scheduled to come into effect until the 2019-20 campaign, but the FA has decided to bring forward the change in an attempt to alleviate fixture congestion for English clubs competing in European competitions.
Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United have qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League while Arsenal and Chelsea are involved in the Europa League, with two-legged fixtures scheduled across February and March.
And with a further two rounds of midweek Premier League fixtures due to take place around that time, the FA is keen to avoid a fixture pile-up that could occur if a FA Cup fifth-round tie had to be resolved beyond the weekend of Saturday Feb.16.
Instead, all ties will finish on the day and will go to extra-time and penalties if required.
Fifth round ties will be played midweek from next season as part of the mid-season player break agreed by the FA, Premier League and English Football League in June. Quarterfinal replays were also scrapped by the FA last season.
In the past smaller clubs drawn at home to top-tier opposition in the FA Cup have enjoyed financial windfalls by holding out for a draw.
The FA said that if a fifth-round tie this season ends in a draw after 90 minutes, the prize for that fixture -- £360,000 ($454,644.00) -- would be split, with 75 percent allocated to the eventual winner and 25 percent to the loser.