West Ham vs Manchester United: When does it kick-off and why is it on early?

The sides meet at Upton Park for an FA Cup quarter-final replay 

Simon Rice
Tuesday 12 April 2016 14:31 EDT
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A view of Upton Park
A view of Upton Park (GETTY IMAGES)

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West Ham vs Manchester United takes place this Wednesday at the unusual time of 7pm.

The sides are meeting in an FA Cup quarter-final replay after drawing 1-1 at Old Trafford, with the tie being shown on BBC.

The winner will advance to the semi-final where they will take on Everton at Wembley Stadium on April 23.

The match is kicking off at the unorthodox time because of the Champions League. Uefa, the organisers of Europe's elite competition, do not like televised games going up against the tournament. On the same evening Barcelona play Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich take on Benfica - with those games kicking off at 7.45pm.

Talks went back and forth about when to stage tie at Upton Park with the FA adamant it must take place before the semi-finals. Both teams have midweek fixtures next week, making this week the best available slot. A compromise was reached which meant the tie at Upton Park will only clash with the first half of the Champions League games, which is why the game will kick off at 7pm.

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