The EFL have announced the introduction of a preliminary round to the Carabao Cup for the 2025/26 season.
This format change is due to the fact nine Premier League teams will be involved in European competition.
Since the 1996/97 campaign, top flight teams who qualify for Europe have automatically received a bye into round three.
Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Newcastle and Tottenham will be playing in the Champions League next season, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace – as things stand – are due to play in the Europa League while Nottingham Forest qualified for the Conference League.
Therefore, to reduce the number of teams in round one and round two – in order to accommodate all nine of the aforementioned teams – four teams will take part in the preliminary round.
They will be the two clubs promoted from the National League – Barnet and Oldham – and the teams who finished 21st and 22nd in League Two – Accrington and Newport.
As is the case in round one, the ties will be regionalised, so Accrington will play Oldham and Barnet will play Newport.
The draw to decide the home team will be made at the same time as the round one draw on Thursday June 26 at 4.30pm, live on Sky Sports News.
Carabao Cup 2025/26 round dates
Preliminary Round: w/c August 4
Round one: w/c August 11
Round two: w/c August 25
Round three: w/c September 15 and w/c September 22
Round four: w/c 27 October 2025
Round five: w/c 15 December 2025
Semi-final first leg: w/c January 12 2026
Semi-final second leg: w/c February 2 2026
Final: Sunday March 22 2026
Who won the 2024/25 Carabao Cup?
Newcastle ended their 70-year wait for a major domestic trophy as they beat holders Liverpool 2-1 at Wembley to win the Carabao Cup final.
The Magpies won the 1955 FA Cup final, but their next five final appearances (three FA Cup, two League Cup) had each ended in defeat – the last of which came in 2023, when they lost 2-0 to Man Utd in this very fixture.
A towering header from boyhood Newcastle fan Dan Burn just before the break and a sublime finish from talisman Alexander Isak just after the restart put Toon on course for a victory generations had longed for.
And though Federico Chiesa’s 94th-minute goal – confirmed after a lengthy VAR review – set up a tense finale, it was not enough to help Liverpool find the equaliser that would have sent the game to extra-time.
