Arsenal-Tottenham Women’s FA Cup quarterfinal to be televised on BBC 2

Exciting news today as the 2019-20 FA Cup quarterfinal match between Tottenham Hotspur Women and Arsenal Women will be shown on BBC 2 in the United Kingdom. The match, set to take place on Saturday, Sept. 26 will...

[record scratch... freeze frame]

Wait, what?

If you did a double-take while reading that first paragraph, your reaction was probably similar to mine, as I totally didn’t notice this story when it first came out a couple of months ago. Apparently the Powers that Be decided to continue the Women’s FA Cup from LAST season after the start of the new season, instead of just not having a FA Cup winner for 2019-20.

So this is weird, right? During the extended COVID-19 break from football we heard a lot of discussion about “integrity of the game” when discussing all sorts of rule changes and accommodations when it comes to figuring out a way to either play out, or end last season. The FA just said Let’s not think about that and just decided to play out the FA Cup from last year, with teams that have been changed and upgraded between the last time the competition was played.

I don’t know if I necessarily have PROBLEM with it — there’s probably nothing that either Spurs or Arsenal did in the offseason that will make it less likely that Arsenal handily wins in this match. It’s just a really interesting and weird decision considering some of the other decisions made in the COVID times. I have yet to read anything about what the plans are for the 2020-21 FA Cup.

Anyway, the match, a North London Derby, will be televised on BBC2 in the United Kingdom, which is great news since non-WSL league matches are rarely televised and aren’t streamed on The FA Player. I haven’t heard anything regarding American television options or streaming, but we’ll see what that looks like a little closer to the event.

Here are the matchups for the FA Cup quarterfinals. The semi-finals will take place Sept. 30 and October 1.

• Brighton & Hove Albion v Birmingham City
• Everton v Chelsea
• Arsenal v Tottenham
• Leicester City v Manchester City