The draw for the first round of the 2026/27 EFL Cup will take place on Thursday as part of the EFL's wider fixture release day.
Seventy sides, from the Championship, League One and League Two will enter the competition in the opening round, with the draw being regionalised into Norther and Southern sections.
There are two EFL Cup Preliminary Round fixtures scheduled to take place in early August - Tranmere Rovers v Rochdale and York City v Crawley Town - the winners of which will feature in the first round.
These matches are being staged due to the fact that there are nine Premier League clubs featuring in European competitions across the 2026/27 season.
Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Liverpool will all feature in the UEFA Champions League, whilst there are three top-flight representatives in the Europa League: Bournemouth, Sunderland and Crystal Palace.
After finishing eighth, Brighton & Hove Albion will also compete in the Conference League.
Clubs that are competing in Europe do not enter the EFL Cup until the third round, which means a preliminary round must take place to ensure that the total numbers of teams in the pot at that stage of the competition is 32 (the nine aforementioned Premier League teams and 23 winners from the second round).
EFL Cup First Round Ball Numbers
Northern Section
- Accrington Stanley
- Barnsley
- Blackburn Rovers
- Blackpool
- Bolton Wanderers
- Bradford City
- Burnley
- Burton Albion
- Chesterfield
- Crewe Alexandra
- Derby County
- Doncaster Rovers
- Fleetwood Town
- Grimsby Town
- Huddersfield Town
- Lincoln City
- Mansfield Town
- Middlesbrough
- Notts County
- Oldham Athletic
- Port Vale
- Preston North End
- Rotherham United
- Salford City
- Sheffield United
- Sheffield Wednesday
- Shrewsbury Town
- Stockport County
- Stoke City
- West Bromwich Albion
- Wigan Athletic
- Wolverhampton Wanderers
- Wrexham
- Tranmere Rovers or Rochdale
Southern Section
- AFC Wimbledon
- Barnet
- Birmingham City
- Bristol City
- Bristol Rovers
- Bromley
- Cambridge United
- Cardiff City
- Charlton Athletic
- Cheltenham Town
- Colchester United
- Exeter City
- Gillingham
- Leicester City
- Leyton Orient
- Luton Town
- Millwall
- Milton Keynes Dons
- Newport County
- Northampton Town
- Norwich City
- Oxford United
- Peterborough United
- Plymouth Argyle
- Portsmouth
- Queens Park Rangers
- Reading
- Southampton
- Stevenage
- Swansea City
- Swindon Town
- Walsall
- Watford
- West Ham United
- Wycombe Wanderers
- York City or Crawley Town
All matches in round one are scheduled to be played between Friday 7th August and Sunday 9th August, with all EFL clubs kicking off their league campaigns a week later.
