The 2025-26 English League (Carabao) Cup Schedule

Here is the schedule for the 2025-26 English Football League Cup, also known as the EFL Cup or the Carabao Cup.

About the EFL Cup

The League Cup, also known as the EFL Cup or the Carabao Cup (for sponsorship reasons), is England’s second most important knockout competition after the FA Cup. The current champions, or “holders,” are Newcastle United (above).

The League Cup is a knockout competition for all 92 clubs in the Premier League and Football League — the top four levels of the pyramid of English leagues.

EFL stands for English Football League, and the Cup is sponsored by Carabao, a Thai energy drink company. In the past, it has been known as the Carling Cup, the Milk Cup and many other names.

The 2025-26 EFL Cup will be played for the 66th time; Newcastle United are the holders, having beaten Liverpool in the 2025 Final.

The winner of the competition qualifies for the play-off round of the next season’s Europa Conference League (if they fail to have already qualified for the Champions League or the Europa League). For the 2025-26 season, since Newcastle also qualified for the Champions League, their spot in the Conference League went to Nottingham Forest, who finished 7th in the Premier League.

Here is more info about the League Cup.

How to Watch the League Cup in the USA

Watch soccer on ESPN+ in the United States.

2025-26 Carabao Cup Schedule

Preliminary Round: Week of August 4, 2025

This is new for the 25-26 EFL Cup, and is happening because nine Premier League clubs qualified for European competition. It involves the two newest Football League teams, Barnet and Oldham Athletic, against the lowest-finishers from last season, Accrington Stanley and Newport C0unty.

Second Round: Week of August 11, 2025

The two Preliminary Round winners and the rest of the 48 clubs from EFL League One and League Two will be joined by 22 clubs from the EFL Championship, for a total of 35 games. The two clubs who finished 18th and 19th in last season’s Premier League will sit this one out.

Second Round: August 25, 2025

The 35 winners from the First Round are joined by the last two clubs from the Championship and the 13 Premier League clubs not involved in European competition. That’s 50 clubs and 25 games.

Third Round: Weeks of September 15 and 22, 2025

All 25 winners advance from the Second Round and are joined by the seven Premier League clubs that are also playing in Europe.

Fourth Round (of 16): October 27, 2025

This includes the 16 winners from the Third Round.

Quarterfinals: December 15, 2025

Eight winners advance from the Fourth Round. These games are still single legs at club grounds.

Semifinals: January 12 and February 2, 2026

Winners from the quarterfinals play two legs, one at each ground.

2026 League Cup Final

The 2026 Carabao Cup Final will be on March 22, 2024 at Wembley Stadium. Kickoff time is TBD.

Buy Tickets for the Carabao Cup

Whenever one of our partner clubs is at home in the EFL Cup, we should have tickets. Fill out the form below to get an up-to-date quote.