Club News

Cup Thais

THE first round draw for the Carabao Cup - formerly the EFL Cup, Capital One Cup, et al - takes place this Friday, June 16, at 1pm UK time.

The draw, which will be made in Bangkok, home to the headquarters of energy drink suppliers Carabao, the competition's new sponsors.

World Cup winner Emmanuel Petit, Carabao CEO Sathien Setthasit, British Ambassador to Thailand Brian Davidson and EFL Chief Executive Shaun Harvey will unveil the 35 Round One ties from the home of the competition’s title sponsor, Carabao Energy Drink.  Fans will be able to watch the draw unfold live on various platforms, including EFL’s new live streaming platform, iFollow, on Facebook via the Carabao Cup and Carabao UK pages and SkySports.com.

Argyle are a non-seed, ball number 31, in the southern section, meaning we could face any of the following teams:

  1. Aston Villa
  2. Birmingham City
  3. Brentford
  4. Bristol City
  5. Bristol Rovers
  6. Cardiff City
  7. Charlton Athletic
  8. Fulham
  9. Ipswich Town
  10. Millwall
  11. Milton Keynes Dons
  12. Norwich City
  13. Oxford United
  14. Peterborough United
  15. Queens Park Rangers
  16. Reading
  17. Southend United
  18. Wolverhampton Wanderers

Here is the full list of Southern non-seeds:

  1. AFC Wimbledon
  2. Barnet
  3. Cambridge United
  4. Cheltenham Town
  5. Colchester United
  6. Crawley Town
  7. Exeter City
  8. Forest Green Rovers
  9. Gillingham
  10. Luton Town
  11. Newport County
  12. Northampton Town
  13. Plymouth Argyle
  14. Portsmouth
  15. Stevenage
  16. Swindon Town
  17. Wycombe Wanderers
  18. Yeovil Town

Nearly 1.5 million people went to matches in the EFL Cup last season as the competition recorded record breaking attendances.  Victory in the competition’s final will guarantee the winner the first piece of silverware of the domestic season and a place in the Europa League in the following campaign. 

Seventy EFL Clubs will be in the draw with matches scheduled to take place week commencing August 7, with Sunderland included. Championship newcomers Hull City and Middlesbrough will join the competition in Round Two alongside the Premier League clubs that are not competing in Europe. 

The draw is also regionalised to minimise travelling time for supporters in the first round with seeding decided by a Club’s finishing position in the EFL.  

Northern section, seeds

1.     Barnsley
2.     Blackburn Rovers
3.     Bolton Wanderers
4.     Bradford City
5.     Burton Albion
6.     Derby County
7.     Fleetwood Town
8.     Leeds United
9.     Nottingham Forest
10. Preston North End
11.  Rochdale
12.  Rotherham United
13.  Scunthorpe United
14.  Sheffield United
15.  Sheffield Wednesday
16.  Sunderland
17.  Wigan Athletic 

Northern Section, non-seeds

18. Accrington Stanley
19.  Blackpool
20.  Bury
21.  Carlisle United
22.  Chesterfield
23.  Coventry City
24.  Crewe Alexandra
25.  Doncaster Rovers
26.  Grimsby Town
27.  Lincoln City
28.  Mansfield Town
29.  Morecambe
30.  Notts County
31.  Oldham Athletic
32. Port Vale
33. Shrewsbury Town
34. Walsall 

This year’s final in February saw Manchester United beat Southampton 3-2 in front of over 85,000 people.  The 2017/18 Carabao Cup Final, the 58th in the competition’s history, will take place at Wembley Stadium on February 25. 

Due to the global appeal of the competition, Carabao, the Thai energy drinks brand, became title sponsor to the competition and official EFL partner earlier this year, with the exclusive partnership running until 2020.  It is anticipated that the relationship with Carabao Energy Drink will increase that further, providing the opportunity to reach new audiences in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).The EFL Carabao partnership also represents a truly powerful and unique platform to expand the Carabao brand and establish Carabao as a major player in the global Energy Drinks market.

The newly named Carabao Cup offers a significant opportunity for the Thai brand to engage with football fans - a third of whom drink energy drinks - via its association with one of the biggest football competitions in the country, and Carabao plans to bring this partnership to life at every opportunity for customers and consumers. 

As well as the partnership with the EFL, Carabao Energy Drink is also a Principal Partner of the Premier League champions, Chelsea FC, and the Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Finalists, Reading FC. Internationally, Carabao is also a partner of Flamengo in Brazil and Apollon FC in Cyprus.

Carabao, established fifteen years ago in Thailand, the home of energy drinks, is a premium, great tasting energy boost, designed to give consumers the energy they need to achieve their everyday goals. The drink takes inspiration from ’the Carabao’, the revered Asian water-buffalo, admired for its physical power, extraordinary stamina and unbreakable spirit 

Carabao is sold in 330ml cans and currently available in four variants: Original, Sugar Free, Green Apple and Green Apple Sugar Free, with further flavour launches planned before the end of 2017.

 

 

1.     Barnsley

2.     Blackburn Rovers

3.     Bolton Wanderers

4.     Bradford City

5.     Burton Albion

6.     Derby County

7.     Fleetwood Town

8.     Leeds United

9.     Nottingham Forest

10.  Preston North End

11.  Rochdale

12.  Rotherham United

13.  Scunthorpe United

14.  Sheffield United

15.  Sheffield Wednesday

16.  Sunderland

17.  Wigan Athletic