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The Carabao Cup returns with the preliminary and first round draws, featuring all 72 EFL clubs, taking place this afternoon.
Newcastle beat Liverpool in a thrilling final last season but those two clubs won’t enter the competition in 2025/26 until the third round, with the teams outside the Premier League taking the spotlight in the first round.
Every Championship and League One club, plus 20 teams from League Two, enter at the first-round stage but nine Premier League featuring in European competition this season – and thus not entering until round three – necessitates a preliminary round featuring four teams.
That involves the two sides promoted from the National League (Barnet and Oldham Athletic) and the clubs who finished 21st and 22nd in League Two last term (Accrington Stanley and Newport County) with Accrington facing Oldham and Barnet taking on Newport – although a draw will be conducted to see who is at home. After that, the first-round draw will take place where clubs are split into north and south sections to cut down on early-season travel.
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