Details confirmed for Carabao Cup first round draw
The Carabao Cup round one draw will take place live on Sky Sports News at on Thursday, June 25th, at 4.30pm as part of the EFL’s fixture release day. Cobblers are ball number 20 in the southern section.
Presented by Sky Sports’ Dharmesh Sheth, former Cobblers boss Kevin Nolan will join ex-Northampton defender Luke Chambers in picking out the balls. All EFL fixtures are set to be released earlier in the day.
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 the EFL confirmed earlier in June, Tranmere Rovers will host Rochdale on August 1st, before Crawley Town travel to York City on August 3rd 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 August 7-9th.
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