'Super Sunday' TV plan for FA Cup sixth round

The Football Association plans to have all four FA Cup quarter-finals played on the same Sunday, with every game being broadcast live on television.

The FA's "Super Sunday" approach to the sixth round of the competition is in tune with its intention to continue raising the FA Cup's profile. It is likely that the four ties will kick off at 11.30am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm on 10 March.

With two being shown by the BBC and the other two being broadcast by Sky Sports, there would therefore be at least six hours of live football on television on the same day. The plan can, however, not be finalised until after the draw is made for that round because there is the technical possibility that clubs from the same city could both be drawn at home.

An FA spokesman, Adrian Bevington, said: "We believe that the FA Cup is the most magical cup competition in football. What we are intending to do is to provide the platform whereby as many people as possible can see these quarter-final fixtures.

"That is something which we believe football supporters will welcome. Historically, these games all took place on the same day. We would like an opportunity for that to happen again." The BBC would have the first choice of the four ties, to be shown at 7pm, as well as the fourth choice, to be broadcast at 1pm, while BSkyB would show the second-choice tie at 4pm and the third-choice game at 11.30am.

The government's "troubleshooter" Patrick Carter, who is due to submit his report on the future of Wembley to the Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Tessa Jowell, this week, has been given the results of a survey of fans showing the majority prefer Birmingham to Wembley as the site for a national stadium.

The poll of 1,037 fans carried out by the Football Supporters' Association showed that 67 per cent of polled supporters backed Birmingham over Wembley and 72 per cent were in favour of the stadium being solely for football and rugby league and not having an athletics track.

The review was ordered after the Football Association shelved plans for a £650m national stadium at Wembley, after failing to attract the necessary financial backing from City institutions and being unwilling to underwrite the scheme itself.

Sven Goran Eriksson has failed in an attempt to have Liverpool's Premiership match against Bolton postponed. It takes place five days before England face Germany in a World Cup qualifier.

The game next Monday night at least offers Robbie Fowler the chance to gain more match fitness, with the England coach welcoming the news that the striker had apologised for his row with the Liverpool coach, Phil Thompson.

However, it also puts up to six of Eriksson's squad ­ Fowler, Emile Heskey, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Nick Barmby ­ at risk of injury immediately before a World Cup qualifier that could decide the group.

The England coach spoke to Liverpool and Bolton about the possibility of postponing the game only to discover that the overcrowded fixture programme made that impossible. The game, which has already been delayed from this weekend because Liverpool take part in the Super Cup on Friday night in Monaco against Bayern Munich, will therefore go ahead as planned.

Eriksson said: "Maybe it could have been better but you can't do anything about it. The rules for releasing players for international duty come into effect five days before a game, including the match day. We talked a lot about it, but finding another date is very difficult."