The EFL has confirmed that next season’s Carabao Cup will require a Preliminary Round to be introduced ahead of Round One due to nine Premier League teams being involved in European competition across 2025/26.The format of the Carabao Cup will be amended to introduce a four-team preliminary qualifying round, to reduce the number of Clubs in Round One and Round Two in order to accommodate all Premier League European Clubs in Round Three.
The Preliminary Round will consist of the two promoted Clubs from the National League (Barnet and Oldham Athletic) and the Clubs finishing in 21st and 22nd place in League Two (Accrington Stanley and Newport County). The ties will be regionalised North and South as per Round One, with Accrington playing Oldham and Barnet playing Newport County.
The Carabao Cup Round One Draw will take place live on Sky Sports News at 4:30pm on Thursday 26 June, as part of the EFL’s Fixture Release Day.
The Preliminary Round of the competition will also be drawn at this time to determine the home Clubs for the two ties.
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.