League Cup, 2026

League Cup review 2025-26

2025-26 marked the 66th season of the Football League Cup competition, widely known as the Carabao Cup due to ongoing sponsorship.

For the ninth consecutive year, Carabao Dang continued its naming rights partnership.

All 92 clubs from the Premier League and English Football League (EFL) took part.

A preliminary round consisting of four teams was required due to the number of clubs participating in UEFA club competitions.

In addition to the two teams progressing from the preliminary round, the first round saw 24 clubs from the Championship, 24 from League One, and 20 from League Two enter, totalling 70 teams.

The second round welcomed the 11 Premier League clubs not involved in European competitions, bringing the total to 46 clubs.

The remaining nine Premier League clubs (Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur) entered at the third round stage (32 clubs in total).

Up to the third round, ties were regionalised into north and south sections.

Each tie was played as a single game, except the two-legged semi-finals.

In the event of the scores being level at the end of 90 minutes, the tie was decided by a penalty shoot-out. 30 minutes extra time would only be allowed in the Final.

Video assistant referees (VAR) were in use at ties played at Premier League club grounds.

Manchester City became the winners of the competition for the ninth time. Only Liverpool had now won it more often (ten).