Start time for FA Cup final between Manchester United and Man City confirmed

The Football Association has announced that the FA Cup final between Manchester City and Manchester United will start at 3pm on June 3 – as Mail Sport exclusively revealed almost 24 hours earlier.

Mail Sport broke the news on Monday afternoon, which the FA confirmed in its own short statement on Tuesday.

It will be the first time in 12 years that the showpiece kicks off at 3pm – when the two rivals from Manchester meet at Wembley.

“The 2022-23 Emirates FA Cup final between Manchester City and Manchester United starts at 3pm,” the FA said.

The first FA Cup final between the Manchester clubs will take place on Saturday 3rd June at EE-linked Wembley Stadium.

The match will be broadcast in the UK on BBC One, BBC iPlayer, ITV, ITVX, UTV, STV and STV Player.

Winning and losing clubs in the final will receive £2,000,000 and £1,000,000 respectively from the competition’s prize money.

“More details about the FA Cup final will be released in due course.”

Mail Sport revealed on Monday that the Metropolitan Police expressed concern over the FA’s preference for an evening game as the first-ever final in Manchester has been classed as a high-risk match, prompting the governing body to revert to the traditional cup final kick-off time. .

The move will be welcomed by traditionalists and fans from both clubs, many of whom would have had to sprint across London to catch the last train back to Manchester had police allowed an evening kick-off.

It is clear that the FA has not sought to challenge the police advice and has accepted their decision despite the fact that later kick-offs are more attractive to broadcasters and advertisers.

The FA Cup final has been an evening event since 2012, when Chelsea’s win over Liverpool was moved to 5:15pm to avoid a clash with the final round of Premier League fixtures, and the resulting commercial benefits have made it ensured that the game started at 4:45 PM at the earliest since then.

Adding to police concerns, the FA’s room for maneuver has been further limited this year by a clash of dates with the Derby at Epsom, also set to take place on June 3.

To make matters worse, both the FA Cup and Derby will be broadcast live on ITV, who, in talks with the FA and the Jockey Club, have expressed their determination to do justice to both events by not minimizing the overlap in their coverage .

The Derby is currently scheduled for 4.30pm but will now be postponed until after the ITV Cup Final has finished.

Ironically, the racing could benefit from the later run as ITV is likely to inherit a large share of the football audience, although the cup final will also be shown live on BBC1.