The draw for the Carabao Cup first round will take place on Thursday night at a completely different venue from in previous years – a local supermarket!
From Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City, the Round One draw has been live from various locations, but on Thursday it will be held a short distance from where the final takes place at Wembley.
Live from Morrisons, Colindale, at 7.00 pm, it will be conducted by two former EFL Cup winners with supporters able to engage with the competition as they go about their daily routine… A true modern-day supermarket sweep!
Drawing the 70 balls from the hat will be former Liverpool and England star John Barnes and ex-Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour. They will select the 35 fixtures for Round One, which includes EFL Clubs from Carlisle all the way down to Plymouth and features EFL Cup debutants Salford City.
Last season, Wimbledon earned an impressive 2-1 win at Portsmouth in the competition to set-up the first of two cup matches last season against Premier League West Ham. The picture above shows Joe Pigott celebrating his opening goal against the Hammers with one of his trademark knee slides and Mitch Pinnock joining in!
Fans will be able to watch the draw live in store and also tune in to the Carabao Cup Facebook page, with live text updates on EFL Twitter and EFL.com. Of course, we will also keep you updated via our social media accounts and the official website.
John Barnes said: “I’m delighted to be involved in the Carabao Cup Round One draw this season, it’s a fantastic competition and Round One is always a great occasion for fans of EFL Clubs. They get an early glimpse of their summer signings and it can be a good opportunity for families to get together and watch their local team, thanks to how accessible the Cup is.”
Ray Parlour added: “I always enjoy watching the Carabao Cup, so it’s great to be involved in the Round One draw. Hosting the draw in a supermarket as fans go about their daily lives provides them with a great opportunity to engage with the competition and I can’t wait to see who will be crowned Carabao Cup winners this season.”
John Luck, CMO of Intercarabao UK said, “We’re delighted to be hosting the Carabao Cup Round One draw later this week with the help of our friends at Morrisons. We sell lots of our great tasting low sugar energy drinks in supermarkets, so we thought why not let football fans watch the draw whilst stocking up on Carabao? Even better still, we’re delighted that it means we can continue to keep the Cup as inclusive as possible by giving fans the chance to come along to watch live. We’ve held Carabao Cup Round One draws all across the globe in Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City, but it feels very exciting to us to bring it back to the UK this year.”
70 EFL Clubs will feature in the Round One draw which will see teams drawn in Northern and Southern sections, as in 2018.
Matches are scheduled to take place week commencing 12 August.
Huddersfield Town will be included, while fellow Championship newcomers Cardiff City and Fulham join the competition in Round Two alongside the Premier League Clubs that are not competing in Europe.