It’s that time again, the 2025/26 Carabao Cup Preliminary and First Round draw, live and in full as each tie gets drawn out.
This takes place on Sky Sports News on Thursday, 26th June at 4:20pm, see the live stream further down in the article.
The Carabao Cup maintains regionalised draws (northern and southern sections) until Round Three.
A new Preliminary Round, featuring National League promoted teams Barnet and Oldham against League Two’s 21st and 22nd-placed teams Accrington and Newport, will take place the week of August 4th.
Round One follows the week of August 11th.
This format accommodates nine Premier League teams in European competitions, who enter in Round Three.
Preliminary Round ties are regionalised, with Accrington facing Oldham and Barnet facing Newport, home sides will be set before the Round One draw on Sky Sports News.
Ball numbers:
Southern Section
1 AFC Wimbledon
2 Bristol City
3 Bristol Rovers
4 Bromley
5 Cambridge United
6 Cardiff City
7 Charlton Athletic
8 Cheltenham Town
9 Colchester United
10 Coventry City
11 Crawley Town
12 Exeter City
13 Gillingham
14 Ipswich Town
15 Leyton Orient
16 Luton Town
17 Millwall
18 Milton Keynes Dons
19 Northampton Town
20 Norwich City
21 Oxford United
22 Plymouth Argyle
23 Portsmouth
24 Queens Park Rangers
25 Reading
26 Southampton
27 Stevenage
28 Swansea City
29 Swindon Town
30 Watford
31 Wycombe Wanderers
32 Barnet or Newport County
Northern Section
1 Barnsley
2 Barrow
3 Birmingham City
4 Blackburn Rovers
5 Blackpool
6 Bolton Wanderers
7 Bradford City
8 Burton Albion
9 Chesterfield
10 Crewe Alexandra
11 Derby County
12 Doncaster Rovers
13 Fleetwood Town
14 Grimsby Town
15 Harrogate Town
16 Huddersfield Town
17 Hull City
18 Leicester City
19 Lincoln City
20 Mansfield Town
21 Middlesbrough
22 Notts County
23 Peterborough United
24 Port Vale
25 Preston North End
26 Rotherham United
27 Salford City
28 Sheffield United
29 Sheffield Wednesday
30 Shrewsbury Town
31 Stockport County
32 Stoke City
33 Tranmere Rovers
34 Walsall
35 West Bromwich Albion
36 Wigan Athletic
37 Wrexham
38 Accrington Stanley or Oldham Athletic
CARABAO CUP PRELIMINARY AND FIRST DRAW LIVE AND IN FULL
Preliminary Round – Northern
Accrington Stanley v Oldham Athletic
Preliminary Round – Southern
Barnet v Newport County
First Round – Southern Section draw
Coventry v Luton
Bristol City v MK Dons
Bromley v Ipswich Town
Bristol Rovers v Cambridge United
Leyton Orient v Wycombe Wanderers
Watford v Norwich
Charlton v Stevenage
Oxford v Colchester
Barnet or Newport v Millwall
Cardiff v Swindon
Gillingham v AFC Wimbledon
Northampton v Southampton
Cheltenham v Exeter
Plymouth v QPR
Swansea v Crawley
Portsmouth v Reading
First Round – Northern Section draw
Barrow v Preston
Grimsby v Shrewsbury
Blackpool v Port Vale
Salford v Rotherham
Harrogate v Lincoln
Tranmere v Burton
Stockport v Crewe
Huddersfield v Leicester
Wrexham v Hull
Birmingham v Sheffield United
Stoke v Walsall
Accrington or Oldham v Peterborough
Blackburn v Bradford
Middlesbrough v Doncaster
West Brom v Derby
Bolton v Sheffield Wednesday
Chesterfield v Mansfield
Barnsley v Fleetwood
Wigan v Notts County
Carabao Cup 2025/26 Round Dates
The round dates for the Carabao Cup have been confirmed as the following:
Preliminary Round: w/c 4 August 2025
Round One: w/c 11 August 2025
Round Two: w/c 25 August 2025
Round Three: w/c 15 September and w/c 22 September 2025*
Round Four: w/c 27 October 2025
Round Five: w/c 15 December 2025
Semi-Final First Leg: w/c 12 January 2026
Semi-Final Second Leg: w/c 2 February 2026
Final: Sunday 22 March 2026
*Round Three will take place on the same basis as 2024/25, with split weeks for those Clubs participating in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.
SEE MORE: EFL fixtures for 2025/26 season and TV selections revealed
SEE MORE: First part of 25/26 EFL Trophy group stage draw complete with B Teams revealed
LIST OF LEAGUE CUP FINALS
Final played over 2 legs between 1961 and 1966
1961
Rotherham United 2 ASTON VILLA 0
ASTON VILLA 3 Rotherham United 0 aet, VILLA won 3-2 on aggregate
1962
Rochdale 0 NORWICH CITY 3
NORWICH CITY 1 Rochdale 0
NORWICH won 4-0 on aggregate
1963
BIRMINGHAM CITY 3 Aston Villa 1
Aston Villa 0 BIRMINGHAM CITY 0
BIRMINGHAM won 3-1 on aggregate
1964
Stoke City 1 LEICESTER CITY 1
LEICESTER CITY 3 Stoke City 2
LEICESTER won 4-3 on aggregate
1965 CHELSEA 3 Leicester City 2
Leicester City 0 Chelsea 0
CHELSEA won 3-2 on aggregate
1966
West Ham United 2 WEST BROMWICH ALBION 1
WEST BROMWICH ALBION 4 West Ham United 1
WBA won 5-3 on aggregate
Final played as single game at Wembley 1967-2000 and since 2008; at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 2001-2007
1967 Queen’s Park Rangers 3 West Bromwich Albion 2
1968 Leeds United 1 Arsenal 0
1969 Swindon Town 3 Arsenal 1 (aet)
1970 Manchester City 2 West Bromwich Albion 1 (aet)
1971 Tottenham Hotspur 2 Aston Villa 0
1972 Stoke City 2 Chelsea 1
1973 Tottenham Hotspur 1 Norwich City 0
1974 Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Manchester City 1
1975 Aston Villa 1 Norwich City 0
1976 Manchester City 2 Newcastle United 1
1977 Aston Villa 3 Everton 2 (aet, after 0-0, 1-1 draws)
1978 Nottingham Forest 1 Liverpool 0 (after 0-0 draw)
1979 Nottingham Forest 3 Southampton 2
1980 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 Nottingham Forest 0
1981 Liverpool 2 West Ham United 1 (after 1-1 draw)
1982 Liverpool 3 Tottenham Hotspur 1 (aet)
1983 Liverpool 2 Manchester United 1 (aet)
1984 Liverpool 1 Everton 0 (after 0-0 draw)
1985 Norwich City 1 Sunderland 0
1986 Oxford United 3 Queen’s Park Rangers 0
1987 Arsenal 2 Liverpool 1
1988 Luton Town 3 Arsenal 2
1989 Nottingham Forest 3 Luton Town 1
1990 Nottingham Forest 1 Oldham Athletic 0
1991 Sheffield Wednesday 1 Manchester United 0
1992 Manchester United 1 Nottingham Forest 0
1993 Arsenal 2 Sheffield Wednesday 1
1994 Aston Villa 3 Manchester United 1
1995 Liverpool 2 Bolton Wanderers 1
1996 Aston Villa 3 Leeds United 0
1997 Leicester City 1 Middlesbrough 0 (aet, after 1-1 draw)
1998 Chelsea 2 Middlesbrough 0 (aet)
1999 Tottenham Hotspur 1 Leicester City 0
2000 Leicester City 2 Tranmere Rovers 1
2001 Liverpool 1 Birmingham City 1 (aet, 5-4 pen)
2002 Blackburn Rovers 2 Tottenham Hotspur 1
2003 Liverpool 2 Manchester United 0
2004 Middlesbrough 2 Bolton Wanderers 1
2005 Chelsea 3 Liverpool 2 (aet)
2006 Manchester United 4 Wigan Athletic 0
2007 Chelsea 2 Arsenal 1
2008 Tottenham Hotspur 2 Chelsea 1
2009 Manchester United 0 Tottenham Hotspur 0 (aet, 4-1 pen)
2010 Manchester United 2 Aston Villa 1
2011 Birmingham City 2 Arsenal 1
2012 Liverpool 2 Cardiff City 2 (aet, 3-2 pen)
2013 Swansea City 5 Bradford City 0
2014 Manchester City 3 Sunderland 1
2015 Chelsea 2 Tottenham Hotspur 0
2016 Manchester City 1 Liverpool 1 (aet, 3-1 pen)
2017 Manchester United 3 Southampton 2
2018 Manchester City 3 Arsenal 0
2019 Manchester City 0 Chelsea 0 (aet, 4-3 pen)
2020 Manchester City 2 Aston Villa 1
2021 Manchester City 1 Tottenham Hotspur 0
2022 Liverpool 0 Chelsea 0 (aet, 11-10 pen)
2023 Manchester United 2 Newcastle United 0
2024 Liverpool 1 Chelsea 0 (aet)
2025 Newcastle United 2 Liverpool 1
Competition known as Milk Cup from 1982-83 to 1985-86
Competition known as Littlewoods Challenge Cup from 1986-87 to 1989-90
Competition known as Rumbelows Cup from 1990-91 to 1992-93
Competition known as Coca-Cola Cup from 1993-94 to 1997-98
Competition known as Worthington Cup from 1998-99 to 2002-03
Competition known as Carling Cup from 2003-04 to 2011-12
Competition known as Capital One Cup from 2012-13 to 2015-16
Competition known as EFL Cup in 2016-17
Competition known as Carabao Cup from 2017-18
Winners
10 – Liverpool
8 – Man City
6 – Man Utd
5 – Aston Villa, Chelsea
4 – Nott’m Forest, Tottenham
3 – Leicester City
2 – Wolves, Norwich City, Arsenal, Birmingham
1 – West Brom, QPR, Leeds, Swindon, Stoke, Oxford, Luton, Sheffield Wednesday, Blackburn, Middlesbrough, Swansea, Newcastle
Finalists
15 – Liverpool
10 – Man Utd, Chelsea
9 – Aston Villa, Man City, Tottenham
8 – Arsenal
6 – Nottingham Forest
5 – Leicester City
4 – Norwich City
3 – West Brom, Middlesbrough, Birmingham, Newcastle
2 – Stoke, Wolves, West Ham, Everton, QPR, Luton Town, Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds, Bolton, Sunderland, Southampton
1 – Rotherham, Rochdale, Swindon, Oxford, Oldham, Tranmere, Blackburn, Wigan, Cardiff, Swansea, Bradford
