The draw for the second round of this season's Carabao Cup takes place on Monday, August 10, 2026, with proceedings getting underway during the build-up to the Devon derby between Plymouth and Exeter at Home Park. The draw is scheduled to begin at approximately 7:20pm BST.
Sky Sports presenter David Prutton will host the draw, with pundits Jobi McAnuff and Jamie Mackie on hand to pull out the numbers. Coverage will be shown live on Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Ultra HDR, while Sky Sports subscribers can also stream the action through the Sky Go app.
Eleven Premier League clubs enter the competition at this stage, joining the 35 winners from the first round. Among the top-flight sides involved are London rivals Chelsea and Tottenham, whose relatively low finishes last season - 10th and 17th respectively - mean neither side qualified for European competition this term, resulting in an earlier entry into the cup than usual.
Other Premier League clubs joining the second round include Brentford, Fulham, Newcastle, Everton, Leeds and Nottingham Forest, along with promoted trio Coventry, Ipswich and Hull. Meanwhile, the three clubs relegated from the Premier League last season - West Ham, Burnley and Wolves - entered the competition at the earlier first-round stage.
Clubs competing in European competitions this season will not join the Carabao Cup until the third round next month. That group includes holders Manchester City, along with Arsenal, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Liverpool, all involved in the Champions League. Bournemouth, Sunderland and Crystal Palace, competing in the Europa League, and Brighton, who qualified for the Conference League, will also wait until the third round to enter.
The competition remains organized on a regional basis through the first two rounds before opening up nationally from the third round onward.
The first round produced a host of results across both the Northern and Southern sections. Notable outcomes included Wolves seeing off Port Vale 3-0, Sheffield United thrashing Mansfield 3-0, and West Brom edging out Rotherham 4-1. Several ties went to penalties, including Barnsley's shootout win over Wigan, Doncaster's victory over Stockport, and Shrewsbury's success against Salford.
In the Southern section, Millwall progressed past QPR on penalties, while Reading came through a shootout against Bromley. West Ham eased past Portsmouth 3-1, and Norwich enjoyed a comfortable 4-1 win over MK Dons. The Plymouth versus Exeter tie remains the outstanding fixture from the first round, with the result set to be known before the second-round draw is conducted.
Ball numbers for Monday's draw will be confirmed once the bulk of the first-round matches have concluded over the weekend. Given the ongoing regionalisation of the competition, clubs will continue to be split into Northern and Southern sections for this stage.
Second-round matches are scheduled to be played during the week commencing August 24, returning the competition to its familiar midweek slot after the weekend-heavy first round fixtures.
Based on reporting from Standard Sport.