Stags set to find out Carabao Cup opponents

The Stags will be ball number 28 in the North draw as the EFL Cup begins a new incarnation under new backers, Thai energy drink manufacturers Carabao, who will sponsor the competition for the next three years.

A total of 70 EFL clubs will be in the draw with matches scheduled to take place week commencing 7th August, with Sunderland included.

Fellow Sky Bet 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 last season.

ROUND ONE SEEDINGS

North – 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

North – 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

South – Seeds

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

South – Non-Seeds

19. AFC Wimbledon

20. Barnet

21. Cambridge United

22. Cheltenham Town

23. Colchester United

24. Crawley Town

25. Exeter City

26. Forest Green Rovers

27. Gillingham

28. Luton Town

29. Newport County

30. Northampton Town

31. Plymouth Argyle

32. Portsmouth

33. Stevenage

34. Swindon Town

35. Wycombe Wanderers

36. Yeovil Town

Fans can 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.

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.

The green, red and white colours of Carabao will adorn the ribbons of the trophy, the match balls and backdrops up and down EFL stadia throughout 2017/18, and at Wembley on Carabao Cup Final day.

Due to the growing global appeal of the competition, it is anticipated that the relationship with Carabao will increase that further, providing the platform to reach new audience in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The new deal is also set to benefit the game at all levels with funds being invested into community and grass roots football via the EFL Trust.

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.

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 25th February 2018.

With that date in their diary, Stags fans can next look forward to the release of the full EFL League Two fixture list for 2017/18 on Wednesday (21st June).