| 2024–25 EFL Cup | |
| Other Titles: | Carabao Cup |
| Country: | England Wales |
| Dates: | [1] |
| Num Teams: | 92 |
| Scoring Leader: | Cody Gakpo Tom Ince (4 goals each) |
| Defending Champions: | Liverpool |
| Attendance: | 923799 |
| Prev Season: | 2023–24 |
| Next Season: | 2025–26 |
The 2024–25 EFL Cup is the 65th season of the English Football League Cup. It is sponsored by Carabao Energy Drink and known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons. The EFL Cup is open to all clubs participating in the Premier League and the English Football League.
The winner of the competition qualifies for the play-off round of the 2025–26 UEFA Conference League.
Liverpool are the defending champions, having beaten Chelsea in the previous season's final.
All 92 clubs in the Premier League and English Football League entered the season's EFL Cup. Access was distributed across the top 4 leagues of the English football league system.
In the first round, 22 of 24 Championship clubs, and all League One and League Two clubs entered.
The following round, the two remaining Championship clubs, who finished 18th and 19th in the 2023–24 Premier League season (Luton Town and Burnley), and the Premier League clubs not involved in either the Champions League, Europa League or Conference League entered.
| Clubs entering in this round | Clubs advancing from previous round | Number of games | Main date | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First round (70 clubs) |
|
| 35 | 13 August 2024 | |
| Second round (50 clubs) |
|
| 25 | 27 August 2024 | |
| Third round (32 clubs) |
|
| 16 | 17 September 2024 24 September 2024 | |
| Fourth round (16 clubs) |
| 8 | 30 October 2024 | ||
| Quarter-finals (8 clubs) |
| 4 | 16 December 2024 | ||
| Semi-finals (4 clubs) |
| 4 (two-legged) | 6 January 2025 3 February 2025 | ||
| Final (2 clubs) |
| 1 | 16 March 2025 |
A total of 70 teams played in the first round: 24 from League Two (tier 4), 24 from League One (tier 3), and 22 from the Championship (tier 2). The draw for this round was split on a geographical basis into "northern" and "southern" sections, where teams were drawn against a team from the same section. The draw was made on 27 June 2024 by Frank Sinclair and Gary McAllister.[2]
A total of 50 teams played in the second round: the 13 Premier League clubs not involved in European competitions and the two best-ranked EFL Championship clubs (Luton Town and Burnley) entered at this stage along with the 35 winners from the first round. The draw for this round was split on a geographical basis into "northern" and "southern" sections, where teams were drawn against a team from the same section. The draw was made on 14 August 2024 by Jermaine Beckford and Curtis Davies.[3]
A total of 32 teams played in the third round: the seven Premier League clubs involved in European competitions (Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur) entered at this stage along with the 25 winners from the second round. The draw was made on 28 August 2024 by Michael Dawson and Les Ferdinand, where conditions were implemented to ensure clubs participating in the UEFA Champions League did not draw clubs participating in the UEFA Europa League due to fixture clashes.[4]
A total of 16 teams played in the fourth round. Championship sides Preston North End, Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke City were the lowest-ranked teams in the draw, which was made on 25 September 2024 by Jamie Redknapp and Kevin Nolan.[5]
A total of eight teams will play in the quarter-finals. For the first time since the 2009–10 season, all eight remaining teams are Premier League sides. The draw was made on 30 October 2024 by Jamie Redknapp and Izzy Christiansen.[6]
