FA CUP replays will return next season, after being scrapped last year due to Covid.

The Football Association has confirmed that ties ending in a draw will revert to being settled by a replay in all qualifying rounds and the first four rounds proper in the 2021/22 campaign.

Ties from the fifth round onwards will be settled on the day.

But the prospect of some dramatic or even money-spinning replays will be restored to the calendar this year.

Replays were shelved last term because the pandemic meant a belated start to the season, resulting in a congested programme.

You have to go back to 2015 for the last time Latics required a replay.

Their first round game at Mansfield ended goalless, with Latics winning the replay 2-0 thanks to second-half goals from Danny Philliskirk and Dominic Poleon.

The 2021/22 competition will be the 150th campaign in the FA Cup's history. The FA have announced that a total of 729 clubs will enter the cup this season.

The total prize fund will remain at £16m. Winners and losers in qualifying ties will receive payments – as will those in the semi-final and final – but only the winners from first round to quarter-final games will gain prize money.