EFL Cup changes announced for 2025-26 with nine Premier League teams in Europe

The EFL Cup will have an extra round for 2025-26 due to the number of Premier League teams who will be involved in European competition.

Nine Premier League teams are set to compete in UEFA tournaments next season.

Six Premier League sides will feature in the Champions League, among them champions Liverpool and Newcastle United, who beat the Reds 2-1 in this year’s EFL Cup final to end a 70-year wait for a domestic major trophy.

They will be joined by Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Europa League winners Tottenham.

Aston Villa and FA Cup winners Crystal Palace are set to enter the Europa League, though the latter’s participation is in doubt due to a potential breach of UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules. John Textor is the owner of Eagle Football, which holds a 43 percent stake in Palace. However, Eagle football also has a controlling 77 percent stake in French side Lyon, who also qualified for the Europa League.

Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest are set to compete in the Conference League after finishing seventh.

Premier League clubs in European competition do not enter the EFL Cup until the third round. However, to accommodate those nine teams, the EFL has elected to introduce a four-team preliminary round, reducing the number of sides in rounds one and two.

It will consist of the two sides promoted from the National League, Barnet and Oldham Athletic, and the teams who finished third and fourth from bottom in League Two, Newport County and Accrington Stanley.

The ties will be regionalised into North and South, meaning Accrington will face Oldham and Newport will take on Barnet, and take place during the week commencing August 4.

The draw for the first round will be held on June 26, with those ties taking place during the week beginning August 11.

Newcastle will begin their defence in the third round, with the Magpies and the eight other European teams contesting those ties in the weeks commencing September 15 and September 22.

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