Cobblers given away tie in Carabao Cup as Premier League academy side joins EFL Trophy group
Cobblers have been drawn away to League One Leicester City in the first round of the Carabao Cup.
The draw was done by Kevin Nolan and Luke Chambers on Sky Sports News and paired Cobblers with the recently relegated Championship club. The tie will take place at the King Power Stadium between August 7-9th – the first weekend of the 2026/27 EFL season. The two clubs have not played each other since 2009 when Leicester won 2-1 at Sixfields.
Round one of the competition features 70 clubs – the two winners from the preliminary round alongside the other 68 EFL clubs – with the draw regionalised into northern and southern sections. Before then, Tranmere will host Rochdale while Crawley travel to York City in the preliminary round.
Round one of the Carabao Cup will kick-off the new season, with ties set to be played over the weekend of August 7-9th.
Earlier in the day, Brighton & Hove Albion Under-21s were drawn into Northampton’s EFL Trophy group. Cobblers, who reached the semi-finals for the first time in the club’s history last season, had already been placed into Southern Group G alongside fellow League Two side Gillingham, and League One Cambridge United.
The EFL Trophy group stage starts in September and will be played through to November before the first knockout round in December.
CARABAO CUP DATES
• 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