Newcastle beat Liverpool in last year's Carabao Cup final, ending their long trophy drought, now the rest of the football pyramid can dream of Wembley glory as the first-round draw is completed
Eddie Howe
Newcastle won the Carabao Cup last season
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Image: Getty Images)
Birmingham City will host Sheffield United in the standout tie of the first round of the Carabao Cup. For the opening round, all clubs from the Championship, League One and League two were all involved.
And it's the ties between the Blues and the Blades which really captures the imagination. Birmingham romped to the League One title and have serious hopes of doing the same in the second tier, Sheffield United meanwhile suffered play-off heartbreak in their attempt to return to the Premier League.
Newcastle ended their long trophy drought by lifting the EFL Cup in February after beating Liverpool at Wembley.
Now clubs up and down the country will be dreaming of similar glory in what will be the first chance of silverware in the 2025/26 season. In a competition first, only 70 clubs from tiers two to four will enter, with two preliminary matches taking place before the first round proper kicks off.
That's due to the increased number of Premier League clubs participating in European competition - and therefore receiving a bye into the third round.
Accrington Stanley will face Oldham Athletic while Barnet take on Newport County. The two winners will advance and join the rest of the EFL in the hat for the first-round.
Below is the first round in full for the Carabao Cup...
Southern section:
Coventry City v Luton Town
Bristol City v MK Dons
Bromley v Ipswich Town
Bristol Rovers v Cambridge United
Leyton Orient v Wycombe Wanderers
Watford v Norwich City
Charlton Athletic v Stevenage
Oxford United v Colchester United
Barnet or Newport County v Millwall
Cardiff City v Swindon Town
Gillingham v AFC Wimbledon
Northampton Town v Southampton
Cheltenham Town v Exeter
Plymouth Argyle v QPR
Swansea City v Crawley Town
Portsmouth v Reading
Northern section:
Barrow v Preston North End
Grimsby Town v Shrewsbury Town
Blackpool v Port Vale
Salford City v Rotherham
Harrogate Town v Lincoln City
Tranmere Rovers v Burton Albion
Stockport County v Crewe Alexandra
Huddersfield Town v Leicester City
Wrexham v Hull City
Birmingham City v Sheffield United
Stoke City v Walsall
Accrington Stanley/Oldham Athletic v Peterborough United
Blackburn Rovers v Bradford City
Middlesbrough v Doncaster Rovers
West Brom v Derby County
Bolton Wanderers v Sheffield Wednesday
Chesterfield v Mansfield Town
Barnsley v Fleetwood Town
Wigan Athletic v Notts County
Blackburn vs Bradford
Middlesbrough vs Doncaster
West Brom vs Derby
Bolton vs Sheffield Wednesday
Chesterfield vs Mansfield
Barnsley vs Fleetwood
Wigan vs Notts County
Stockport vs Crewe
Huddersfield vs Leicester
Wrexham vs Hull City
Birmingham City vs Sheffield United
Stoke vs Walsall
Accrington or Oldham vs Peterborough
That's the first batch of ties completed. We'll now move onto the second section, 38 clubs and 19 ties here...
Barrow vs Preston
Grimsby vs Shrewsbury
Blackpool vs Port Vale
Salford vs Rotrherham
Harrogate Town vs Lincoln City
Tranmere vs Burton Albion
Bristol City vs MK Dons
Bromley vs Ipswich
Bristol Rovers vs Cambridge
Leyton Orient vs Wycombe
Watford vs Norwich
Charlton vs Stevenage
Oxford Utd vs Colchester
Carabao Cup draw not far away
We're about five minutes from the first ties being drawn. John Barnes and Shay Given will draw the ties. First up is the preliminary round.
All 72 EFL clubs will be involved today in some capacity, although as previously mentioned, four will have to come through a preliminary round.
Barnet and Oldham both return to the Football League next season, and will take on Newport and Accrington respectively. The latter pair were the lowest placed sides not to be releagted from League Two.
But it will include the likes of Southampton, Ipswich and Leicester - all relegated from the Premier League last season - and Birmingham City, Wrexham and Charlton who won promotion from League One into the second tier.
Newcastle are the holders
The Magpies are one of the Premier League clubs that won't enter the competition until the third round. That's due to their participation in the Champions League. But they had already secured European football back in February when they beat Liverpool at Wembley to end their long search for silverware.
Eddie Howe's side beat Arsenal in the two-legged semi final before deservedly beating the top-flight champions 2-1.
Dan Burn opened the scoring for Newcastle, before Alexander Isak doubled their advantage after the break. Federico Chiesa nalved the deficit in the closing stages but the Tynsiders held on to secure an historic victory.
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Image:
Getty Images)
As is tradition in the early rounds of this competition, the teams are divided into two pots - north and south.
When is the Carabao Cup first-round draw?
The the draw will start at 4.30pm on June 26. That follows this morning's release of the fixture list across the Championship, League One and League Two.
Good afternoon
Welcome to Mirror Football's coverage of the Carabao Cup first round draw. For the first time only 70 EFL clubs are definitely in the hat, with four taking part in preliminary matches.
Regardless, in the next hour we will have 34 ties in stone and just two that have yet to be officially confirmed.