Carabao Cup first round features West Ham, Wolves, Burnley, and Wrexham

By Megan Sinclair — 6 August 2026 — 3 min read

Carabao Cup 2026/27 First Round Fixtures

The Carabao Cup for the 2026/27 season is set to commence with its first round, featuring a range of clubs including West Ham, Burnley, and Wolves. All first-round matches will be available for live viewing. Clubs from the Championship, League One, and League Two are entering the competition at this stage.

The initial action begins on Thursday with Bristol City hosting Walsall at Ashton Gate. Following this, three additional matches are scheduled for Friday evening. Wolves will start their campaign at home against Port Vale, while Middlesbrough will host Wrexham, and Stevenage will travel to face Wycombe.

Weekend Matches and Schedule Changes

Saturday will see the majority of the first-round fixtures. The day’s games will begin with Cambridge United playing against Barnet at 1pm, followed by QPR hosting their London rivals Millwall at 2pm. A busy programme of 3pm kick-offs includes Burnley hosting Notts County, West Ham taking on Portsmouth, and Leicester facing Northampton Town.

Other Saturday matches include Swansea meeting Birmingham City, Sheffield Wednesday hosting Bolton, and Norwich welcoming MK Dons. Southampton will travel to Colchester United. The Saturday schedule concludes with Cheltenham against Charlton, Colchester versus Southampton, and Rotherham facing West Brom, with all these games kicking off at 5.30pm.

The opening round will continue into Sunday, with Mansfield Town hosting Sheffield United at 4pm. The first round concludes on Monday night with a Devon derby between Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City.

The adjustment to the competition schedule sees first-round fixtures taking place between August 7 and August 9, one week before the league campaign begins. This change, which follows consultation between the EFL and its clubs, aims to ease early-season congestion. Traditionally, the competition’s early rounds were played in midweek.

Nigel Clough, manager of Mansfield Town, has commented on the schedule change, noting that moving the first round to the weekend before the new EFL season could benefit the competition. Clough, who won the competition twice as a player with Nottingham Forest in 1989 and 1990, and guided Burton Albion to the semi-finals in 2019, believes that teams will field stronger sides. He stated that with a place in the second round at stake, there is something significant to play for.

Upcoming Rounds and Premier League Entry

The competition will continue throughout the season. The second round is scheduled for the week commencing August 24. The nine Premier League sides participating in European competitions—Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Bournemouth, Brighton, Sunderland, and Crystal Palace—will enter the tournament in the third round.

Other Premier League clubs, such as Leeds United, will enter the competition in the second round. The draw for the second round is set to take place live on Monday, August 10, during the build-up to the Plymouth Argyle versus Exeter City match. This draw will be hosted by David Prutton, alongside pundits Jobi McAnuff and Jamie Mackie, at approximately 7:20pm.

The full schedule for the Carabao Cup 2026/27 includes:

• Round one: Friday August 9, Saturday August 10, and Sunday August 11
• Round two: week commencing August 24
• Round three: week commencing September 7 and week commencing September 14
• Round four: week commencing October 26
• Round five: week commencing December 14
• Semi-final first leg: week commencing January 11
• Semi-final second leg: week commencing February 1
• Final: Sunday March 21

Mansfield Town will welcome Sheffield United to the One Call Stadium on Sunday for their first-round tie.

Source: skysports.com