2025–26 EFL Cup| Carabao Cup |
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| Country | England
Wales |
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| Dates | 1 August 2025 – 22 March 2026[1] |
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| Teams | 92 |
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| Defending champions | Newcastle United |
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The 2025–26 EFL Cup is the 65th 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 was 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 2026–27 UEFA Conference League.
Newcastle United are the defending champions, having beaten Liverpool 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 2025–26 League Two – Barnet and Oldham Athletic – and the two lowest finishers from 2024–25 League Two, Accrington Stanley and Newport County.[2]
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Clubs entering in this round
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Clubs advancing from previous round
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Number of games
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Week commencing
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Preliminary round
(4 clubs)
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- 4 clubs from EFL League Two (lowest ranked from 24–25 and newly-promoted)
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2
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4 August 2025
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First round
(70 clubs)
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- 20 clubs from EFL League Two
- 24 clubs from EFL League One
- 24 clubs from EFL Championship
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- 2 winners from Preliminary round
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35
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11 August 2025
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Second round
(46 clubs)
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- 11 Premier League clubs (not involved in European competitions)
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- 35 winners from first round
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23
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25 August 2025
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Third round
(32 clubs)
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- 9 Premier League clubs (involved in European competitions)
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- 23 winners from second round
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16
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15 September 2025
22 September 2025
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Fourth round
(16 clubs)
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—
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- 16 winners from third round
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8
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27 October 2025
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Quarter-finals
(8 clubs)
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—
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- 8 winners from fourth round
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4
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15 December 2025
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Semi-finals
(4 clubs)
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—
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- 4 winners from quarter-finals
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4 (two-legged)
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12 January 2026
2 February 2026
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Final
(2 clubs)
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—
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- 2 winners from semi-finals
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1
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25 March 2026
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Preliminary round
A total of four teams will play in the preliminary round: two newly-promoted sides from National League (tier 5), and two bottom-ranked League Two sides (tier 4). 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 26 June 2025 by Shay Given and John Barnes.[3]
Number of teams per tier still in the competition
| Premier League[a]
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Championship[b]
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League One[c]
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League Two
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Total
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- ^ Premier League teams joined the competition in the second and third rounds.
- ^ Championship teams joined the competition in the first round.
- ^ League One teams joined the competition in the first round.
Northern section
Southern section
First round
A total of 70 teams will play in the first round: 2 winners from the preliminary round, 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 26 June 2025 by Shay Given and John Barnes.[3]
Number of teams per tier still in the competition
| Premier League[a]
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Championship
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League One
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League Two
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Total
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- ^ Premier League teams joined the competition in the second and third rounds.
Northern section
Southern section
References
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| National teams | |
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League
competitions | | Level 1 | |
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| Levels 2–4 | |
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| Levels 5–6 | |
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| Levels 7–8 | |
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| Levels 9–10 |
- Combined Counties League (Premier North, Premier South, One)
- Eastern Counties League (Premier, One North, One South)
- Essex Senior League (level 9 only)
- Hellenic League (Premier, One)
- Midland League (Premier, One)
- Northern Counties East League (Premier, One)
- Northern League (One, Two)
- North West Counties League (Premier, One North, One South)
- Southern Combination League (Premier, One)
- Southern Counties East League (Premier, One)
- South West Peninsula League (Premier East, Premier West - level 10 only)
- Spartan South Midlands League (Premier, One)
- United Counties League (Premier North, Premier South, One)
- Wessex League (Premier, One)
- Western League (Premier, One)
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Cup
competitions | |
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Youth
competitions | | Under-21 |
- Professional U21 Development League
- Premier League Cup
- Premier League International Cup
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| Under-18 | |
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| Domestic leagues | |
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| Domestic cups | |
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| League cups |
- Finland
- Iceland
- Israel
- Kazakhstan '25 '26
- Northern Ireland
- Portugal
- Scotland
- Wales
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| Supercups | |
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| UEFA competitions | |
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| International competitions | |
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