Carabao Cup third-round draw set for MAJOR change due to expanded new Champions League schedule
THE Carabao Cup third-round draw is set for a major change due to the Champions League.
The round of the tournament will see clubs competing in European competition enter the draw.
GettyThe draw for the third-round of the Carabao Cup will be changed[/caption]
GettyClubs in European competition will not be able to be drawn against each other[/caption]
GettyLiverpool are the current holders of the Carabao Cup[/caption]
Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Manchester United Chelsea and Tottenham all received a bye into the third round due to their qualification into Europe.
The next round will take place in September across two-midweek fixture dates.
Due to this scheduling, they will clash with the fixtures in the Champions League and Europa League.
However, the EFL has implemented a change to the draw to avoid congestion.
The conditions will mean that a club in the Champions League will not be drawn against a team in the Europa League.
This means that their Carabao Cup matches will happen on the alternative week to their European obligations.
The draw will feature two different bowls to make sure the teams can be drawn correctly.
The first bowl will include the six clubs in the Champions League and Europa League.
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The second bowl will then have the remaining 26 clubs left in the competition.
There will be a pre-draw before Nottingham Forest‘s second-round tie against Newcastle on August 28 to determine the home and away position of the Bowl One clubs.
New Champions League format
Each club will play eight matches in the opening phase – against seeded opposition, in a system designed to ensure that teams play opponents of similar difficulty.
The top eight teams in the “final” table will automatically go through to the last 16, where they will be joined by the eight play-off winners of ties between the sides placed ninth to 24th in the table.
Despite there being just eight matches in the opening phase, European matches will be spread over 10 midweek slots.
The new Champions League format also sees the implication of two additional qualifying spots.
They will be awarded to the nations that are top of the “country coefficient” chart each season.
The main draw will then be conducted after the match at the City Ground.
The first six ties will be drawn by alternating between the bowls, with home and away already being determined.
Once all the European teams have been drawn, the remainder of the draw will be taken from the second bowl.
The ball numbers in the main draw will be announced on the morning of August 28.
Liverpool are the current holders of the EFL Cup, having beaten Chelsea in the final at Wembley last term.
The Champions League will feature a new format this season as each club will play a minimum of eight games compared to the previous six in the group stage.
This year’s tournament will have a bigger 24-club league table, with the top eight clubs automatically qualifying for the knockout stage.
They will then be joined in the last 16 by eight play-off winners.
Champions League pots
Here are the pots for the Champions League this season…
Pot 1: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Barcelona
Pot 2: Bayer Leverkusen, Atlético Madrid, Atalanta, Juventus, Benfica, Arsenal, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, Milan
Pot 3: Feyenoord, Sporting CP, PSV Eindhoven, Celtic
Pot 4: Monaco, Aston Villa, Bologna, Girona, VfB Stuttgart, Sturm Graz, Brest
