Cup fixtures out on Friday!

By David Watters

The Ryman 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.

Ryman League 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, Ryman North and South clubs will be the first to fly the flag for the Ryman League's 72 clubs 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 Ryman League's FA Trophy campaign also begins in the preliminary round with Ryman North and Ryman South clubs kicking off on Saturday 8 October. The survivors will join the Ryman Premier'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 seaosn's FA Vase and Trophy double header at Wembley when a crowd of 46,781 saw 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 EVO-STIK Northern Premier League, the Ryman League's fans must wait for the Football League and Football Conference to publish their fixtures due to the pairing requests of member clubs.

Follow us: @rymanleaguenews on Twitter | Ryman League group on Facebook

Where next?

Saker signs on for another season Fans favourite Blake Saker is extending his stay with Leiston for another season in the Ryman League's top flight.
Supporters set takeover target Grays Athletic have launched their community share scheme for fans to take over the running of the Ryman Premier's Blues.

The Pitching In Isthmian Football League newsletter

Keep up-to-date with our exclusive email newsletters.

Subscribe