Carabao Cup 2019-20: Fixtures, teams, draw dates & all you need to know

Carabao Cup 2019-20 fourth round

Carabao Cup 2019-20 third round

Carabao Cup 2019-20 second round

In the United Kingdom, the Carabao Cup will be broadcast and live-streamed on Sky Sports.

In the United States, the competition will be shown on ESPN channels.

The English Football League (EFL) clubs voted to implement a number of changes to this year’s Carabao Cup at the annual EFL Summer Conference in Portugal, held in June 2018. Extra-time will be abandoned for all rounds except for the final, with ties advancing straight to penalty shoot-outs in the event that the scoreline is a draw at the end of regular time.

This was introduced in order to limit issues of “additional fatigue”, as Carabao Cup fixtures typically take place in the middle of the week, with Premier League matches occurring at the weekend a few days before and after.

The ABBA penalty system trial was also eliminated, with the format for penalty shoot-outs now reverting to the standard ABAB penalty-taker order.

Seeding has also been removed from the first two rounds.

Video assistant refereeing (VAR) will continue to be in use in fixtures played at Premier League grounds.

Following on from the abolition of extra-time, if both teams are level after the end of full-time during the second leg of either of the semi-final ties, the game will go directly to a penalty shoot-out with a  no away goals rule implemented – a rule which started from last season.

In previous editions of the competition, the away-goal rule was used in the semi-final stage in the same manner as it is in the Champions League knockout rounds. If, for instance, the away team scored a goal in the first leg that ended in a 1-1 draw, with the second leg ending 0-0, then that team would have progressed to the final courtesy of the away-goals rule.

Now, though, no such rule will be considered and second-leg stalemates will be decided ultimately by a penalty shoot-out.

As regulation 14.5 of the tournament explains: “In the semi-final ties, if the aggregate score is level at the end of the second game no extra time shall be played and the tie shall be decided by the taking of kicks from the penalty mark in accordance with procedures as approved by IFAB.”

Up until 2016, the tournament was named the English Football League Cup (EFL Cup) instead of the League Cup, following the rebranding of the Football League to the English Football League.

Officially, the EFL Cup is known as the Carabao Cup due to the energy drink being the tournament’s official sponsors.

Prior to Carabao’s sponsorship of the tournament starting from 2017, the competition was called the EFL Cup (2016-17), the Capital One Cup (2012-13 to 2015-16), the Carling Cup (sponsored by Molson Coors from 2003-04 to 2011-12), the Worthington Cup (sponsored by Worthington’s from 1998-99 to 2002-03), and the Coca-Cola Cup (from 1992-93 to 1997-98).

Liverpool are the club to have won the Carabao Cup the most times, winning their eighth title in 2012 when they defeated Cardiff City on penalties.

They have been runners-up in the competition four times, with their last final appearance that they didn’t win coming in 2016 when they were defeated by Manchester City in a shootout.

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Man City lifted their sixth Carabao Cup in 2019 when they beat Chelsea on penalties, while Manchester United, Aston Villa and Chelsea have all won the Carabao Cup five times each.

Tottenham and Nottingham Forest have both won the competition four times each, with the win in 2008 being the last time the north London side last lifted a piece of silverware.