How to watch the EFL Cup & EFL Trophy on TV

Jonathan Victoria • 26 Sep 2024 Guides

The competitions are heating up…

How to watch the EFL Cup & EFL Trophy on TV

Last updated: 26/09/2024

New EFL Cup and Trophy campaigns are officially underway, both providing the first offering of silverware later in the season.

With the two competitions already in full swing, let's take a look at some of the key information for both, including where to catch the EFL Cup and EFL Trophy on TV this season.

EFL Cup & EFL Trophy on TV

The EFL and subsequent EFL competitions, including the EFL Cup and Trophy, will be more available to watch than ever before thanks to a groundbreaking deal with Sky Sports.

In the deal, fans will be able to watch every round of the EFL Cup and Trophy this season live when they’re on exclusively on Sky Sports.

This will be achieved thanks to the new service Sky Sports+, which comes as a new channel but mainly on the revamped Sky Sports app, in particular the ‘Watch’ tab that includes all the streams for the games every weekend.

Sky Sports+

Sky Sports+ is bringing 50% more sport than ever before, most notably with more EFL coverage that will see over 1000 games broadcast live across the three leagues, plus all 93 EFL Cup (Carabao Cup) games and 127 EFL Trophy (Bristol Street Motors Trophy) fixtures.

Sky Sports+ is available for free for all Sky Sports subscribers. All you need to do is purchase a relevant package or add Sky Sports to your existing package if you don’t already have it. Once you have done so, you’ll have access to the apps plethora of streams.

EFL Cup

The EFL Cup, better known as the Carabao Cup, has been contested every year since 1960, running as a secondary domestic competition, with lesser importance than the FA Cup but still holds some weight.

In previous years, many teams and managers specifically didn’t pay much attention to the EFL Cup. But it has seen a resurgence in recent years in terms of importance, most notably after Manchester City became the first team to achieve the domestic treble (Premier League, FA Cup and EFL Cup).

That has now become the goal for many teams aiming for as much silverware as possible, with Liverpool going for the unprecedented quadruple in the 2021/22 season (they ended up walking away from the season with a domestic double, FA Cup and EFL Cup).

Each round of the EFL Cup is single-legged, with any tied games at full-time going straight to a penalty shootout to determine a victor. The only exception to this is the semi-final, which features two legs.

EFL Cup Round Three

Round Three of the EFL Cup is now pretty much complete, save for the postponed Newcastle vs AFC Wimbledon game, which was scheduled to take place this past week but was postponed due to damage to Wimbeldon's pitch. They will now play their fixture on Tuesday 1st October.

Every other fixture has been played and decided, with no real major surprises taking place this time around.

The biggest upset came from the Preston North End vs Fulham match, where the Premier League side was dumped out via a very long penalty shootout, in which 31 penalties were taken in total.

Aside from that, most other Prem teams saw themselves into the next round, bar the few who played other Prem teams; Everton who lost to Southampton on penalties; Wolves who were narrowly beaten by Brighton; and West Ham who were embarrassed 5-1 by Liverpool.

Manchester United had the most solid win, beating League One side Barnsley 7-0. Chelsea also easily handled their inferior opponent, putting five past current League Two leaders Barrow.

Bolton was no match for Arsenal, managing to score one but conceding five at the Emirates.

The rest of the matches were slightly closer affairs, such as Tottenham who left it until the 88th minute to turn around their 1-0 deficit to beat Coventry 2-1.

And finally of note, surprisingly Aston Villa made a meal of their trip to Wycombe, coming away with a not-so-confident 2-1 win, although that is just when looking at the stats, which shows the hosts having more shots and in general seeming better than the Prem side on the attack.

EFL Cup Round of 16 fixtures

The Round of 16 is next and the draw for it came last night following Liverpool’s win over West Ham.

While dates and times for the individual fixtures have not yet been confirmed, we do know they will take place towards the end of October, likely on Tuesday 29th and Wednesday 30th October. This article will be updated when official dates and times are confirmed.

Preston North End vs Arsenal
Tottenham vs Manchester City
Southampton vs Stoke City
Manchester United vs Leicester City
Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace
Brighton vs Liverpool
Brentford vs Sheffield Wednesday
Newcastle or AFC Wimbledon vs Chelsea

A few solid matchups for the next round, with the pick of the bunch for us being Spurs vs Man City. Tottenham has got a real chance at advancing with the favourable home draw, so that is certainly one to watch.

As is Brighton vs Liverpool, another where the home side could spring a bit fo a surprise. Brighton is not a team Liverpool can take easy if they want to go through to the next round, so expect a strong fight there.

Should Newcastle see off the challenge of Wimbledon, Chelsea awaits for a visit up north. Both could do with some silverware, so that could be an interesting tie too.

Arsenal has arguably the most favourable draw out of all the top Prem teams still left, although never take for granted the home-ground effect when playing the lower-league sides who really have nothing to lose.

EFL Cup draw: Quarter-finals

The Quarter-final draw for the EFL Cup will likely take place following the conclusion of the final scheduled game of the Round of 16.

We don’t know right now what game that will be or even when it will be, but we’ll say a provisional Wednesday 30th October at 10pm.

EFL Cup round dates & final

Round one: Tuesday 13th & Wednesday 14th August 2024

Round two: Tuesday 27th & Wednesday 28th August 2024

Round three: Wednesday 18th & Wednesday 25th September

Round four: W/C Tuesday 29th & Wednesday 30th October 2024

Quarter-final: W/C Tuesday 17th & Wednesday 18th December

Semi-final: First leg – Wednesday 8th January 2025 | Second leg – Wednesday 5th February 2025

Final: Sunday 16th March

Note: The majority of the dates listed are not confirmed. Date are subject to change according to each round draw.

EFL Trophy

The EFL Trophy, currently known as the Bristol Street Motors Trophy, is a competition for teams in the third and fourth tier of English football (League One and League Two) plus 16 under-21 teams from Premier League and Championship clubs.

It was launched in 1981 as is a good chance for the lower league clubs to claim silverware, given that the chance of them achieving FA Cup or EFL Cup glory is rather slim.

The EFL Trophy’s format differs from that of the FA Cup and EFL Cup in that it isn’t simply single-leg rounds, but instead starts with a league system. Round One, or the group stage, consists of 16 groups of four teams, with the groups divided between northern and southern sections depending on the teams’ location.

There are only three games in the group stage so each team plays the other in the group just once. At the end of the group stage, the top two teams will advance to the knockout stage, where the competition then becomes single-leg elimination matches including in the semi-finals.

EFL Trophy groups & fixtures

Northern section

Group A

Teams

Accrington Stanley (L2)
Everton U21 (PL2)
Stockport County (L1)
Tranmere Rovers (L2)