Carabao Cup to kick off before EFL season begins in rare 2026/27 calendar shake-up

The Carabao Cup will kick off ahead of the EFL league season in 2026/27, marking the first time English football’s domestic calendar has been structured this way since the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fixtures for the Sky Bet Championship, League One and League Two will be published on Thursday at 12pm, alongside the Carabao Cup first-round schedule. The cup’s opening ties are set for the weekend of August 7 to 9, with the EFL league season following a week later on August 14 to 16.

The unusual sequencing is a direct consequence of nine Premier League clubs qualifying for European competition this season. Because those sides receive a bye to the third round of the Carabao Cup, the lower-league field must be trimmed early to ensure exactly 32 teams enter at the first-round stage.

To achieve that number, a preliminary round was drawn in June featuring York City, Crawley Town, Tranmere Rovers and Rochdale. Those four clubs will contest two ties before the main competition begins, reducing the pool to the required size.

The broader calendar shift has also been shaped by the 2026 FIFA World Cup, whose final is scheduled for July 19. Starting the cup competition before the league season helps ease the fixture congestion that follows a summer tournament while giving international players adequate recovery time.

The last occasion the Carabao Cup preceded the EFL season was during the Covid-19 pandemic, when widespread scheduling disruption forced a similar restructuring. Outside of that period, the league campaign has traditionally been underway before the cup competition begins.