2025–26 EFL Cup
The 2025–26 EFL Cup is the 66th 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 is 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 four leagues of the English football league system.There was a preliminary round before the first round proper due to the number of teams participating in Europe. This round consisted of the two newly promoted sides to 2025–26 League Two – Barnet and Oldham Athletic – and the two lowest finishers not relegated from 2024–25 League Two – Accrington Stanley and Newport County.
| Phase | Clubs entering in this round | Clubs advancing from previous round | Number of games | Week commencing |
| Preliminary round |
| 2 | 4 August 2025 | |
| First round |
| 35 | 11 August 2025 | |
| Second round | 23 | 25 August 2025 | ||
| Third round |
| 16 | 15 September 2025 22 September 2025 | |
| Fourth round |
| 8 | 28 October 2025 | |
| Quarter-finals |
| 4 | 15 December 2025 | |
| Semi-finals |
| 4 | 12 January 2026 2 February 2026 | |
| Final |
| 1 | 22 March 2026 |
Preliminary round
A total of four teams played in the preliminary round: two newly promoted sides from National League, and two lowest non-relegated League Two sides. 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, together with the draw for the first round.| Premier League | Championship | League One | League Two | Total |
First round
A total of 70 teams played in the first round: the two winners from the preliminary round, 20 from League Two, 24 from League One, and 24 from the Championship. 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, together with the draw for the preliminary round.| Premier League | Championship | League One | League Two | Total |
Second round
A total of 46 teams played in the second round: the 11 Premier League clubs not involved in European competitions entered at this stage, along with the 35 winners from the first round. 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 13 August 2025 by Courtney Sweetman-Kirk, Lee Hendrie and Clinton Morrison.| Premier League | Championship | League One | League Two | Total |
Third round
A total of 32 teams played in the third round: the nine Premier League clubs involved in European competitions entered at this stage along with the 23 winners from the second round. The draw was made on 27 August 2025 by Jobi McAnuff and Phil Jones, where conditions were implemented to ensure clubs participating in the UEFA Champions League did not draw clubs participating in the UEFA Europa League due to fixture clashes.| Premier League | Championship | League One | League Two | Total |
Fourth round
The 16 winners from the third round played in the fourth round. League Two side Grimsby Town were the lowest-ranked team in the draw, which was made on 24 September 2025 by Jamie Redknapp and Michael Brown.| Premier League | Championship | League One | League Two | Total |
Quarter-finals
The eight winners from the fourth round played in the quarter-finals. League One side Cardiff City were the lowest-ranked team in the draw, which was made on 29 October 2025 by Jobi McAnuff and Jamie Redknapp.| Premier League | Championship | League One | League Two | Total |
Semi-finals
The four winners from the quarter-finals will play in the semi-finals. The draw was made on 17 December 2025 by Jamie Redknapp and Shay Given.| Premier League | Championship | League One | League Two | Total |
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Final
| Premier League | Championship | League One | League Two | Total |