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Carabao Cup Round Two draw: all you need to know
Deepa Krishnaswamy | August 11, 2026 6:25 AM CST

The draw for Round Two of the Carabao Cup will take place tonight on Sky Sports.

The Carabao Cup has returned, and attention is now turning to the second round.

It feels as though every season begins earlier than the last — and that is certainly true in the League Cup, where there has already been a preliminary round involving the four lowest-ranked EFL clubs, followed by a first round featuring 70 teams.

The competition is now ready to bring in Premier League clubs, so here is a look at how Round Two works.

Round Two of the Carabao Cup will be drawn live on Sky Sports Football on Monday August 10, at around 7:20pm.

Sky Sports presenter David Prutton will host the coverage alongside Jobi McAnuff and Jamie Mackie. The draw forms part of the build-up to Plymouth Argyle's meeting with Exeter City in a Devon derby, which concludes the First Round.

Yes, Round Two of the Carabao Cup splits all 46 teams into northern and southern sections.

It is not an exact geographic division, though. Norwich City and Leicester City are both among the 22 northernmost teams in this draw, but they have been placed in the South section.

West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers, by contrast, are among the 24 southernmost teams geographically, yet both have been allocated to the North section.

Walsall, Peterborough United, Shrewsbury Town and Birmingham City are all close to the dividing line, while York City were included in the southern section for the Round One draw after coming up from the preliminary round.

The EFL has previously taken travel routes into consideration, along with historical regional alignments, while also ensuring the exact number of teams required in each section rather than simply drawing a straight horizontal line across the map.

No, there is no seeding in the Carabao Cup at this stage. However, the EFL has brought in seeds for Round Three, purely for logistical reasons.

English clubs competing in the Champions League and Europa League have two more matchdays than those involved in the Conference League, which means fixture congestion could become an issue without a system designed to stop those teams from meeting one another.

Last season, for instance, third-round Carabao Cup ties were played in the weeks beginning September 16 and 23, creating clashes with European fixtures.

A total of 11 Premier League clubs come into the competition in Round Two, while any club involved in Europe receives a bye into Round Three.

Those clubs are as follows:

Brentford

Chelsea

Everton

Fulham

Hull City

Ipswich Town

Leeds United

Newcastle United

Nottingham Forest

Sunderland

Tottenham Hotspur

The ball numbers for Round Two of the Carabao Cup are as follows.

North:

Barnsley

Blackburn Rovers

Blackpool

Bradford City

Burnley

Crewe Alexandra

Doncaster Rovers

Everton

Fleetwood Town

Hull City

Leeds United

Lincoln City

Middlesbrough

Newcastle United

Nottingham Forest

Preston North End

Sheffield United

Sheffield Wednesday

Shrewsbury Town

Stoke City

West Bromwich Albion

Wolverhampton Wanderers

South:

AFC Wimbledon

Birmingham City

Brentford

Cambridge United

Cardiff City

Charlton Athletic

Chelsea

Coventry City

Fulham

Ipswich Town

Leicester City

Leyton Orient

Luton Town

Millwall

Norwich City

Peterborough

Reading

Southampton

Stevenage

Tottenham Hotspur

Walsall

Watford

West Ham United

Plymouth Argyle or Exeter City


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