Carabao Cup 2026/27 first-round draw: Championship, League One and League Two teams...

League One Leicester will play Northampton at home in the first round of the Carabao Cup while relegated West Ham welcome Portsmouth to the London Stadium. The two sides discovered their opponents in Thursday's round one draw, with all the fixtures played across August 9, 10 and 11 set to be shown live on media. There were other mouth-watering ties in the Southern section too as Millwall were drawn away to QPR, Plymouth at home to Exeter in a Devon derby while Championship sides Swansea and Birmingham face off. In the Northern section, Middlesbrough were drawn at home to Wrexham while Wolves and Burnley were also handed home draws against Port Vale and Notts County respectively. The Carabao Cup remains regionalised until the third round, with the 11 Premier League sides not in Europe entering at the second-round stage. The nine Premier League sides in Europe - Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Bournemouth, Brighton, Sunderland and Crystal Palace - come in for the third round. This season's Carabao Cup includes a preliminary round, with 21st and 22nd from last season's League Two campaign facing against the two promoted clubs from the National League in York City and Rochdale. The preliminary ties will be: York City vs Crawley Town & Tranmere Rovers vs Rochdale. The winners will face Watford and Bradford in the first round respectively. Full draw for Carabao Cup Round One Southern Section QPR vs Millwall Cheltenham vs Charlton Gillingham vs Luton Cardiff vs Swindon Bristol City vs Walsall Plymouth vs Exeter Bristol Rovers vs Peterborough Watford vs York or Crawley Cambridge vs Barnet Norwich vs MK Dons Colchester vs Southampton Leyton Orient vs Oxford Wycombe vs Stevenage Bromley vs Reading Swansea vs Birmingham West Ham vs Portsmouth AFC Wimbledon vs Newport Leicester vs Northampton Northern Section Middlesbrough vs Wrexham Rotherham vs West Brom Barnsley vs Wigan Mansfield vs Sheffield United Stockport vs Doncaster Sheffield Wednesday vs Bolton Fleetwood vs Chesterfield Crewe vs Accrington Stoke vs Oldham Wolves vs Port Vale Burnley vs Notts County Derby vs Lincoln Bradford vs Tranmere or Rochdale Burton vs Blackburn Salford vs Shrewsbury Grimsby vs Blackpool Preston vs Huddersfield Carabao Cup 2026/27 round dates Round one: Friday August 9, Saturday August 10 and Sunday August 11 Round two: w/c August 24 Round three: w/c September 7 and w/c September 14 Round four: w/c October 26 Round five: w/c December 14 Semi final first leg: w/c January 11 Semi final second leg: w/c February 1 Final: Sunday March 21