2020-21 English football season: key dates for the Premier League, EFL and cups

It’s only been a few weeks since Fulham beat Brentford in the final game of the 2019-20 English football season, but clubs and players are already back in training preparing for the new campaign.

While Manchester City and Manchester United continue their Champions League and Europa League exploits, the dates have been confirmed for the 2020-21 English football calendar. Format changes have also been announced for the two domestic cup competitions.

Here we look at the key dates and details for the Premier League, English Football League (EFL), FA Cup and Carabao Cup in 2020-21.

Transfer window

After opening on 27 July the summer transfer window will close at 11pm on Monday 5 October.

The EFL has announced that an agreement is in place with the Premier League for an extended two-week domestic-only window which will close at 5pm on Friday 16 October. During this extended window Premier League clubs will only be able to trade with EFL clubs.

Community Shield double header

Premier League champions Liverpool take on FA Cup winners Arsenal in the 2020 Community Shield. The traditional season curtain-raiser will be held behind closed doors at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 29 August. Kick-off is at 4.30pm (BST) and the game will be broadcast live on BT Sport.

A Community Shield double header at Wembley will see Women’s Super League champions Chelsea play Women’s FA Cup holders Manchester City at 12.30pm on 29 August (live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer).

Carabao Cup

League Cup first-round fixtures are scheduled for 5 September, Sky Sports reports, but could be moved due to potential clashes with international matches.

The EFL has confirmed that the usual two legged semi-finals will be replaced by a single tie and the first four rounds are scheduled to take place on consecutive weeks in early September.

Sky Sports News will broadcast the first-round draw on Tuesday 18 August and it will be divided into a northern and southern section but clubs will remain unseeded.

Premier League sides will enter the competition in round two or round three if they are competing in European competition in season 2020/21, the EFL has confirmed.

Wembley Stadium will host the 2021 Carabao Cup final on 28 February.

Carabao Cup key dates

Draw: 18 August (live on Sky Sports News)
Round one: 5 September (alternative dates may apply)
Round two: 15-16 September
Round three: 22-23 September
Round four: 29-30 September
Round five: 22-23 December
Semi-finals: 5-6 January
Final: 28 February

Premier League

The 2020-21 Premier League season will kick off with matchday one on Saturday 12 September and the season will end on Sunday 23 May. A total of 380 matches will be played in the top-flight and the fixture list will be released by Friday 21 August.

BBC Sport reports that the Premier League has scrapped the winter break because of the congested 2020-21 schedule.

The new season will be five weeks shorter than normal because of the late end of the 2019-20 campaign and the European Championships which are rescheduled for next summer.

Premier League key dates

21 August: fixtures released
12 September: matchweek one
23 May: matchweek 38

English Football League (EFL)

Starting six weeks later than usual, the opening weekend of the Sky Bet EFL will be on 12 September. Fixtures are released on Friday 21 August at 9am.

The regular campaigns for the Championship, League One and League Two will conclude on 8-9 May 2021 and the play-off finals will be held at Wembley over the spring bank holiday weekend of 29-31 May 2021.

Due to the tight schedule of the season there will be 13 midweek match rounds for the Championship and 11 for Leagues One and Two.

EFL key dates

21 August: fixtures are released
12 September: season starts
8-9 May: regular season ends
29-31 May: play-off finals at Wembley

FA Cup

The big format change to this season’s FA Cup will be the scrapping of replays. Extra preliminary round games will be played on 1 September and the final at Wembley Stadium will be on Saturday 15 May.

FA Cup key dates

Extra preliminary round: Tuesday 1 September
Preliminary round: Saturday 12 September
First round qualifying: Tuesday 22 September
Second round qualifying: Saturday 3 October
Third round qualifying: Tuesday 13 October
Fourth round qualifying: Saturday 24 October
First round proper: Saturday 7 November
Second round proper: Saturday 28 November
Third round proper: Saturday 9 January
Fourth round proper: Saturday 23 January
Fifth round proper: Wednesday 10 February
Quarter-finals: Saturday 20 March
Semi-finals: Saturday 17 April
2021 FA Cup final: Saturday 15 May

2020-21 Uefa Champions League

Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United have qualified for the group stage of the Champions League.

18-19 August: first qualifying round
25-26 August: second qualifying round
15-16 September: third qualifying round
22-23 and 29-30 September: play-offs
20-21 October: group stage matchday one
27-28 October: group stage matchday two
3-4 November: group stage matchday three
24-25 November: group stage matchday four
1-2 December: group stage matchday five
8-9 December: group stage matchday six
16-17 February 2021: round of 16
6 and 14 April: quarter-finals
17 April and 5 May: semi-finals
29 May: 2021 Champions League final

2020-21 Uefa Europa League

Leicester City and Arsenal have both qualified for the group stage of the Europa League, which starts on 22 October. Tottenham start their European campaign in the second qualifying round on 17 September.