Cup fixtures out on Friday!

5 Jul 2016 By David Watters

The EVO-STIK Northern Premier League's clubs and fans will find out on Friday who their first opponents will be in next season's FA Cup and FA Trophy competitions.

Officials from the Football Association's competitions department are set to release the draws for the early rounds of the competitions as well as details of exemptions and a list of accepted clubs on www.TheFA.com by 1pm on Friday 8 July.

EVO-STIK NPL fans looking forward to the start of the new season on Saturday 13 August have already been penciling in a number of key cup dates for the coming campaign since they were confirmed by the FA in May.

Following the big kick-off to the 2016-17 season, the EVO-STIK NPL's First Division North and South clubs will be the first to fly the flag for the league when they kick off in the FA Cup's preliminary round on Saturday 20 August.

Top flight clubs enter the competition two weeks later in the FA Cup's first qualifying round on Saturday 3 September with rounds following every two weeks up to and including the first round proper on Saturday 5 November, the second round on Saturday 3 December and the third round on Saturday 7 January.

The EVO-STIK NPL's FA Trophy campaign also begins in the preliminary round with First Division North and South clubs kicking off on Saturday 8 October.

The survivors will join the Premier Division's representatives in first qualifying round on Saturday 29 October with the remaining two qualifying rounds and the first round following fortnightly - the latter being played on Saturday 10 December.

After the success of last season's FA Vase and Trophy double header at Wembley when a crowd of 46,781 saw former EVO-STIK NPL club FC Halifax Town lift the latter and Morpeth the former, the experiment dubbed Non-League Finals Day is also booked to be repeated at the national stadium on Sunday 21 May 2017.

Fans booking holidays should next look out for the official publication of next season's fixtures on Friday 15 July, a date that could be subject to change.

Like their counterparts at the EVO-STIK League Southern and Ryman League, the EVO-STIK NPL's fans must wait for the Football League and Football Conference to publish their fixtures due to the pairing requests of member clubs.

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