The EFL reveal 26/27 Carabao Cup First Round ball numbers and teams who have been placed in the North and South sections.
As per their website, they wrote: “The Carabao Cup Round One Draw will take place live on Sky Sports News at 4:30pm on Thursday, 25 June, as part of the EFL’s Fixture Release Day.
“Presented by Sky Sports’ Dharmesh Sheth, former Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United midfielder Kevin Nolan will join former Ipswich Town and Nottingham Forest defender, Luke Chambers in picking out the balls.
“Round One will feature 70 Clubs – the two winners from the Preliminary Round alongside the other 68 EFL Clubs – with the draw regionalised into Northern and Southern sections.
“As confirmed here, Tranmere Rovers will host Rochdale on 1 August, before Crawley Town travel to York City on 3 August in the Preliminary Round, which was required due to the participation of nine Premier League Clubs in European competition in the 2026/27 season.
“Round One of the Carabao Cup will kick off the new season, with ties set to be played over the weekend of 7-9 August.”
🔢 Here are the ball numbers for Thursday’s draw 👇 pic.twitter.com/tO5YXFzYlJ
— Carabao Cup (@Carabao_Cup) June 23, 2026
Carabao Cup 2026/27 Round Dates
The round dates for the Carabao Cup have been confirmed as the following:
Round One: Weekend of 7-9 August 2026
Round Two: w/c 24 August 2026
Round Three: w/c 7 September and w/c 14 September 2026
Round Four: w/c 26 October 2026
Round Five: w/c 14 December 2026
Semi-Final First Leg: w/c 11 January 2027
Semi-Final Second Leg: w/c 1 February 2027
Final: Sunday 21 March 2027
Carabao Cup Northern Section ball numbers
1 Accrington Stanley
2 Barnsley
3 Blackburn Rovers
4 Blackpool
5 Bolton Wanderers
6 Bradford City
7 Burnley
8 Burton Albion
9 Chesterfield
10 Crewe Alexandra
11 Derby County
12 Doncaster Rovers
13 Fleetwood Town
14 Grimsby Town
15 Huddersfield Town
16 Lincoln City
17 Mansfield Town
18 Middlesbrough
19 Notts County
20 Oldham Athletic
21 Port Vale
22 Preston North End
23 Rotherham United
24 Salford City
25 Sheffield United
26 Sheffield Wednesday
27 Shrewsbury Town
28 Stockport County
29 Stoke City
30 West Bromwich Albion
31 Wigan Athletic
32 Wolverhampton Wanderers
33 Wrexham
34 Tranmere Rovers/Rochdale
Carabao Cup Northern Section ball numbers
1 AFC Wimbledon
2 Barnet
3 Birmingham City
4 Bristol City
5 Bristol Rovers
6 Bromley
7 Cambridge United
8 Cardiff City
9 Charlton Athletic
10 Cheltenham Town
11 Colchester United
12 Exeter City
13 Gillingham
14 Leicester City
15 Leyton Orient
16 Luton Town
17 Millwall
18 Milton Keynes Dons
19 Newport County
20 Northampton Town
21 Norwich City
22 Oxford United
23 Peterborough United
24 Plymouth Argyle
25 Portsmouth
26 Queens Park Rangers
27 Reading
28 Southampton
29 Stevenage
30 Swansea City
31 Swindon Town
32 Walsall
33 Watford
34 West Ham United
35 Wycombe Wanderers
36 York City / Crawley Town
