2026–27 EFL Cup

Carabao Cup
Wembley Stadium will host the final in March
Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Dates	1 August 2026 – 21 March 2027
Teams	92
← 2025–26 2027–28 →

The 2026–27 EFL Cup is the 67th and current season of the English Football League Cup. It is sponsored by Carabao Energy Drink and known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons. The EFL Cup is open to all clubs participating in the Premier League and the English Football League.

The winner of the competition qualifies for the play-off round of the 2027–28 UEFA Conference League.

Manchester City are the defending champions, having beaten Arsenal in the previous season's final.

Teams

All 92 clubs in the Premier League and English Football League entered the season's EFL Cup. Access was distributed across the top 4 leagues of the English football league system.

There will be a preliminary round before the first one due to the number of teams participating in Europe. This round consists of the two newly promoted sides to 2026–27 League Two – York City and Rochdale – and the two lowest finishers not relegated from 2025–26 League Two, Tranmere Rovers and Crawley Town.^[1]

Preliminary round

A total of four teams played in the preliminary round: two newly promoted sides from National League (tier 5), and the two lowest non-relegated League Two sides (tier 4). The draw was made on 3 June 2026 by Lee Camp.^[3]

First round

A total of 70 teams played in the first round: the two winners from the preliminary round, the remaining 20 from League Two (tier 4), 24 from League One (tier 3), and 24 from the Championship (tier 2). The draw for this round was split on a geographical basis into northern and southern sections, where teams were drawn against a team from the same section. The draw was made on 25 June 2026 by Kevin Nolan and Luke Chambers.^[4]

Northern section

Wolverhampton Wanderers (2) v Port Vale (4)

7 August 2026	Wolverhampton Wanderers (2)	3–0	Port Vale (4)	Wolverhampton
19:45 BST	Armstrong 14' André 34' López 43'	Report		Stadium: Molineux Stadium Attendance: 21,360 Referee: David Webb

Middlesbrough (2) v Wrexham (2)

7 August 2026	Middlesbrough (2)	1–0	Wrexham (2)	Middlesbrough
20:00 BST	Lankshear 61'	Report		Stadium: Riverside Stadium Attendance: 18,221 Referee: Will Finnie

Barnsley (3) v Wigan Athletic (3)

8 August 2026	Barnsley (3)	1–1 (6–5 p)	Wigan Athletic (3)	Barnsley
15:00 BST	McGeehan 81'	Report	Costelloe 40'	Stadium: Oakwell Attendance: 4,414 Referee: Richard Eley
	Penalties
	McGeehan Kelly Gale Connell Cleary Earl		Power Carragher Higgins Weir Murray Mellish

Bradford City (3) v Rochdale (4)

8 August 2026	Bradford City (3)	2–0	Rochdale (4)	Bradford
15:00 BST	Swan 45+1' Baldwin 67'	Report		Stadium: Valley Parade Attendance: 6,915 Referee: Declan Brown

Burnley (2) v Notts County (3)

8 August 2026	Burnley (2)	1–1 (4–3 p)	Notts County (3)	Burnley
15:00 BST	Flemming 48'	Report	Roberts 42'	Stadium: Turf Moor Attendance: 10,272 Referee: Thomas Parsons
	Penalties
	Flemming Amdouni Trésor Mejbri Walker		Acquah Campbell Grant Evans Bedeau

Burton Albion (3) v Blackburn Rovers (2)

8 August 2026	Burton Albion (3)	1–2	Blackburn Rovers (2)	Burton upon Trent
15:00 BST	Scutt 14'	Report	Guðjohnsen 81' Fevrier 88'	Stadium: Pirelli Stadium Attendance: 2,839 Referee: Andrew Humphries

Crewe Alexandra (4) v Accrington Stanley (4)

8 August 2026	Crewe Alexandra (4)	2–1	Accrington Stanley (4)	Crewe
15:00 BST	Lankester 6' (pen.) Moore 85'	Report	Rawson 65'	Stadium: Gresty Road Attendance: 2,961 Referee: Ross Martin

Derby County (2) v Lincoln City (2)

8 August 2026	Derby County (2)	1–2	Lincoln City (2)	Derby
15:00 BST	Szmodics 45+1'	Report	House 3' Jefferies 23'	Stadium: Pride Park Stadium Attendance: 11,095 Referee: Joshua Smith

Fleetwood Town (4) v Chesterfield (4)

8 August 2026	Fleetwood Town (4)	1–0	Chesterfield (4)	Fleetwood
15:00 BST	Evans 15'	Report		Stadium: Highbury Stadium Attendance: 1,619 Referee: Martin Coy

Grimsby Town (4) v Blackpool (3)

8 August 2026	Grimsby Town (4)	1–3	Blackpool (3)	Cleethorpes
15:00 BST	Rodgers 90+2'	Report	Ennis 3' Bowler 58' Kouassi 90+5'	Stadium: Blundell Park Attendance: 4,817 Referee: Neil Hair

Preston North End (2) v Huddersfield Town (3)

8 August 2026	Preston North End (2)	1–1 (4–3 p)	Huddersfield Town (3)	Liverpool[5]
15:00 BST	Erabi 90+3'	Report	Balker 38'	Stadium: Goodison Park Attendance: 6,120 Referee: Seb Stockbridge
	Penalties
	Devine Erabi McCann Moran Burgzorg		Ledson Harness Mumba Smith-Sway Taylor

Salford City (4) v Shrewsbury Town (4)

8 August 2026	Salford City (4)	1–1 (3–4 p)	Shrewsbury Town (4)	Salford
15:00 BST	Malcolm 77'	Report	Davison 47'	Stadium: Moor Lane Attendance: 1,936 Referee: Oliver Mackey
	Penalties
	Langstaff Grant Powell Udoh Graydon Odoh Oluwo Turton		Sang Gbodé Turner-Cooke Price Ruffels Hoole Boyle Jude-Boyd

Sheffield Wednesday (3) v Bolton Wanderers (2)

8 August 2026	Sheffield Wednesday (3)	1–0	Bolton Wanderers (2)	Sheffield
15:00 BST	J. Lowe 70'	Report		Stadium: Hillsborough Stadium Attendance: 15,834 Referee: Elliot Bell

Stockport County (3) v Doncaster Rovers (3)

8 August 2026	Stockport County (3)	1–1 (4–5 p)	Doncaster Rovers (3)	Stockport
15:00 BST	Wootton 51'	Report	May 50'	Stadium: Edgeley Park Attendance: 4,974 Referee: Leigh Doughty
	Penalties
	Osborn Andrésson Wootton Fiorini Adigun O'Connell		May Broadbent Bailey Clifton Sterry Adelakun

Stoke City (2) v Oldham Athletic (4)

8 August 2026	Stoke City (2)	2–0	Oldham Athletic (4)	Stoke-on-Trent
15:00 BST	Norburn 48' (o.g.) Boženík 82'	Report		Stadium: Bet365 Stadium Attendance: 10,157 Referee: Edward Duckworth

Rotherham United (4) v West Bromwich Albion (2)

8 August 2026	Rotherham United (4)	1–4	West Bromwich Albion (2)	Rotherham
17:30 BST	Tavares 87'	Report	Morgan 8', 61' Whitwell 24' Myhre 43'	Stadium: New York Stadium Attendance: 4,850 Referee: Tom Reeves

Mansfield Town (3) v Sheffield United (2)

9 August 2026	Mansfield Town (3)	0–3	Sheffield United (2)	Mansfield
16:00 BST		Report	Bamford 4' McGuinness 71' O'Hare 89'	Stadium: Field Mill Attendance: 6,908 Referee: Stephen Martin

Second round

A total of 46 teams play in the second round: 35 winners from the first round, and the 11 Premier League clubs not involved in European competitions. The draw for this round was split on a geographical basis into northern and southern sections, where teams were drawn against a team from the same section. The draw was made on 10 August 2026 by Jobi McAnuff and Jamie Mackie.^[7]

Third round

32 teams play in the third round: the 23 second round winners, and the nine Premier League teams involved in European competition. The draw was made on 26 August 2026 by Jermaine Beckford and Jamie Redknapp.^[8]

In order to avoid scheduling issues, the eight clubs playing in the Champions League and Europa League could not be drawn against each other in the EFL Cup third round. There was a "pre-draw" to decide whether each of the eight clubs would play home or away. Eight clubs were then drawn from the remaining 24 to play against the eight Champions or Europa League sides. The remainder of the draw was open as usual.^[9]

References