Carabao Cup: EFL Cup Football Fixtures, Draw, Winners and African Kick Off Times

The Carabao Cup is England's League Cup, officially called the EFL Cup, a knockout football competition for the 92 clubs of the Premier League and the three divisions of the English Football League. It began as the Football League Cup in 1960-61 and has carried the Carabao name since 2017. After the 2026 final, Liverpool held the record with 10 titles. For readers in South Africa, this is the same soccer competition you may hear called the League Cup in match reports.

So, think of it as the quick weekday plate at the buka next to the long Sunday family dinner of the Premier League: smaller portions, faster service, and a real trophy at the end of it. The live draw, fixtures and results sit above this explainer; kick off listings cover WAT alongside EAT, SAST and GMT. Underneath, you will find how a 92 club knockout works, who has won it most often, what the winner earns in Europe, and the African players whose League Cup stories connect Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.

How Do You Read the Carabao Cup Draw, Fixtures and Results?

You read the Carabao Cup round by round, from the early ties up to Wembley, and the modules above update after every match. Because this is a knockout, the Carabao Cup table works as a bracket rather than a points table (log): each line is a single tie, the winner moves on and the loser goes out. Read the draw module to see the confirmed pairings.

The Carabao Cup fixtures list shows each tie with its date, venue and kick off in your own time zone, and the semi finals appear twice because they are played over two legs. In my opinion, the venue column is the one to read first. A single leg tie at a small EFL ground is a very different evening from one at a Premier League stadium, where VAR has been used in every EFL Cup tie since 2024-25, and the setting often tells you how the night will feel.

The Carabao Cup results show the final score, the scorers and how each tie was settled. A penalty note identifies a shootout: outside the final, this follows a level single match or a level aggregate score after the second semi final leg; in the final, it follows extra time. So, if you see a 1 to 1 quarter final with a winner marked next to it, nobody forgot to play the extra half hour; the rules simply send the tie to the spot once the ninety minutes are done.

Who Scores in the EFL Cup, and Where Are the African Players?

The scorers for this season sit in the Carabao Cup stats module, which updates itself after every round. It reads differently from a Premier League scoring chart, because managers rotate their squads in this cup, and the goals spread across academy forwards, players back from loan and squad members as well as the regular stars. A name you do not recognise near the top of that list is very often a young player who has taken his first team chance in the early rounds and run with it.

The African angle includes dated examples of those opportunities. Nigeria's Alex Iwobi made his competitive Arsenal debut against Sheffield Wednesday in the League Cup in October 2015. His compatriot Kelechi Iheanacho scored for Manchester City against Crystal Palace in the same competition that month. The squad view flags African players by nationality, and the useful question for each of them is the same every round: are they registered and available for the tie, or away on international duty with their country?

For Nigerian readers, the question worth asking is what a League Cup night means for a Nigeria international, or for one who wants the call. In my opinion, a full ninety minutes in an early round is better evidence for national team coaches than a short cameo in the league, because it shows how a player handles a whole senior match. The same reading applies to a player hoping to represent Ghana, South Africa, Kenya or Uganda.

What Time Do Carabao Cup Matches Kick Off in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and South Africa?

For a scheduled 20:00 or 20:45 UK kick off, the following conversions apply. With British summer time in effect, a UK start of 20:00 corresponds to GMT at 19:00, WAT at 20:00, SAST at 21:00 and EAT at 22:00. For the later UK slot of 20:45, read GMT as 19:45, WAT as 20:45, SAST as 21:45 and EAT as 22:45.

Britain returns to GMT on the last Sunday in October and moves to summer time on the last Sunday in March. During the GMT period, a UK kick off of 20:00 means Ghana at 20:00 GMT, Nigeria at 21:00 WAT, South Africa at 22:00 SAST, and Kenya and Uganda at 23:00 EAT. Add 45 minutes to each of those readings for a UK kick off of 20:45.

Ghana keeps GMT throughout the year; Nigeria uses WAT, South Africa uses SAST, and Kenya and Uganda use EAT. These five countries do not change their clocks seasonally. The fixtures module supplies the converted time for each tie, including finals and other matches scheduled outside the two evening slots described here.

How Can You Watch the Carabao Cup in Africa?

You can see which broadcasters are listed for your country beside each tie in the fixtures module, because rights in Africa are sold by territory and can change from one season to the next. Coverage can also vary by round, with the semi finals and the final usually the easiest to find. So, if your club has drawn a lower division side away from home in an early round, check the listing for Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana or Uganda before you plan the evening around it.

Whether you follow on a phone, in a viewing centre or in a bar, the results module provides the score and scorers when you cannot watch a tie. The results update at fulltime too, which helps when a late midweek tie in Kampala finishes close to midnight and you only want the score and the scorers before bed.

How Does the Carabao Cup Work?

The Carabao Cup is a seven round knockout for the 92 clubs of the Premier League and the three EFL divisions, the Championship, League One and League Two. Under the format used in 2026, ties outside the semi finals are single matches; the final became a single match in 1967. The semi finals use two legs. Check the draw module for each club's entry round and confirmed opponents.

Level ties go straight to penalties in every round except the final, a rule in place since 2018-19, and that includes a semi final level on aggregate after the second leg. The final keeps extra time, and if it is still level after that, a shootout has settled it since 1998. In my opinion, this is the most Lagos thing about the competition: no long argument, no replay, and a winner decided before the last danfo leaves the park.

What Does the Carabao Cup Winner Get in Europe?

The winner of the Carabao Cup earns a place in the UEFA Conference League, and that has been the prize since 2020-21. Before that, from 1972-73 to 2019-20, the League Cup winner went into the UEFA Cup and then its successor, the Europa League. Further back still, the winners from 1966-67 to 1971-72 qualified for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, so this has been a route into European football for most of its history.

If the winner has already qualified for Europe through the league or another cup, the place does not disappear. It passes to the highest placed Premier League club that has not yet qualified, which is why supporters of sides in the top half often follow the final closely even when their own team is not in it. A Wembley result in late winter can therefore shape the race for European places right through to the last day of the league season.

So, the trophy matters to more than the two finalists. For a big club, it is often the first silverware of a long season, and for a side outside the usual European places, it is a direct road onto that stage. For African players, a Conference League campaign means more continental minutes against unfamiliar opponents, and that is experience national team selectors notice, in my opinion, from Nigeria to South Africa.

Who Has Won the Carabao Cup Most Often, and Which Records Still Stand?

After the 2026 final, Liverpool held the League Cup record with 10 titles and 15 final appearances. Manchester City's victory over Arsenal in that final brought their total to nine. At the same point in 2026, Manchester United had six titles, while Chelsea and Aston Villa had five each.

The winners from 2020 to 2026 show how the trophy moved between clubs. Manchester City won in 2020 and 2021, Liverpool in 2022, Manchester United in 2023 and Liverpool again in 2024. Newcastle United lifted the trophy in 2025, and Manchester City took it back in 2026 by beating Arsenal at Wembley. That spread of winners, in my opinion, is the best argument for taking this cup seriously, because it rewards a squad deep enough to cope with rotation.

Some of the competition's lasting records are about format rather than goals. The final was played over two legs from 1961 to 1966 before becoming a single match in 1967, the semi finals have always been played over two legs, and from 2001 to 2007 the final moved to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff while Wembley was rebuilt. For every tie this season, the Carabao Cup predictions give a call with a probability and a reference price, which is a view on the match and never a promise.

Which African Connections Shape the League Cup, Club by Club?

Liverpool's record stood at 10 titles after the 2026 final. Their winning team in the 2022 final included Mohamed Salah of Egypt and Sadio Mané of Senegal, who both started against Chelsea. Those appearances provide a specific African connection to a trophy decided that year by a penalty shootout.

Manchester City and Manchester United had accumulated 15 League Cup titles between them by the end of the 2026 final. Côte d'Ivoire midfielder Yaya Touré scored City's equaliser against Sunderland in their 2014 final victory. His compatriot Eric Bailly started for United in the 2017 final win against Southampton.

Arsenal's Nigerian connection includes Alex Iwobi's competitive debut in the League Cup against Sheffield Wednesday in 2015. Chelsea's Ivorian striker Didier Drogba scored both goals in their 2007 final victory over Arsenal. After the 2026 final, Chelsea's five titles put them level with Aston Villa, while Arsenal had finished as runners up in that year's competition.

For readers in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya and Uganda, the squad module offers a way to find players by nationality. Read those listings alongside the team sheets to see which African players start, appear as substitutes or remain unused in each tie.

When Does the Carabao Cup Start and End?

The fixtures module carries the dates for this season, from the opening round to the final. Read the round labels alongside the calendar to distinguish an early tie from a quarter final or either leg of a semi final, rather than relying on dates remembered from a previous year.

For African internationals, compare those dates with their national team's tournament schedule. If a cup tie overlaps with international duty, check the team sheet to see who is available and which squad members receive an opportunity.

How Is the Carabao Cup Different From the FA Cup and the Premier League?

The League Cup and FA Cup are separate knockout competitions, with their own draws, fixtures and trophies. The League Cup uses two legs for its semi finals; a level aggregate score after the second leg sends the tie to penalties. Check the competition label when reading a fixture or result to keep the two cups distinct.

The Premier League, by contrast, is a points race over a full season, where consistency across many months decides the title. The League Cup is decided by a handful of single nights and one final, so a team in strong form for a few weeks can lift it. In my opinion, that is why it suits squad rotation so well, and why African fans should treat it as the best place to spot the next breakthrough player from their country before the league catches up.

Why Is It Called the Carabao Cup, and What Were Its Earlier Names?

It is called the Carabao Cup because of a sponsorship deal, and the name has been in use since 2017. The competition itself began in 1960 as the Football League Cup, with the first season played in 1960-61, and it was renamed the EFL Cup for 2016-17. That remains its official title behind the sponsor's name, which is why EFL Cup and Carabao Cup appear side by side in match reports and searches across all five countries.

Earlier sponsors gave the cup a long list of names. It was the Milk Cup in 1981-86, the Littlewoods Challenge Cup in 1986-90 and the Rumbelows Cup in 1990-92. The Coca-Cola Cup followed in 1992-98.

Then came the Worthington Cup (1998-2003), the Carling Cup (2003-12) and the Capital One Cup (2012-16) before the Carabao name. Each of those names refers to the League Cup, so historical winners belong to the same competition record.