EFL fury over Carabao Cup seeding plan, which will give Premier League teams in Europe an easier path in bid to reduce fixture congestion

Premier League clubs in Europe will benefit from a seeding system in next season’s Carabao Cup,

which will provide them a potentially smoother path in an effort to decrease fixture congestion.

Multiple chief executives of English Football League (EFL) teams have informed Mail Sport that they were not consulted on the decision,

and they have lambasted it as yet another attempt to protect ‘big clubs’,

only months after FA Cup replays were eliminated.

It also comes after Premier League clubs walked away from a proposed £900 million-plus arrangement with

EFL counterparts that would have seen them split more money with teams further down the pyramid,

causing uproar inside the game and across Westminster.

The Carabao Cup will now provide European clubs a modest advantage owing to seedings in its third round,

when top-tier teams enter the competition,

which will prevent Champions League-qualified teams from drawing teams from the Europa League.

Though some perceive this as another ploy to shield the elite teams,

EFL insiders stress it is just a logistical shift resulting from the new Champions League structure,

as the third round of the domestic cup coincides with a UEFA matchday.

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However, it prevents Europa League-bound Manchester United from facing one of this season’s top four –

Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, or Aston Villa – giving these larger clubs an easier path to the knockout stages.

Lincoln City CEO Liam Scully tells Mail Sport:

‘We respect and understand that we may have some work to do with the competition calendar in the future,

as well as the competition framework; however, we must not lose sight of the fact that the calendar,

and thus the competition format, is a shared asset.

Lincoln City CEO Liam Scully tells Mail Sport:

‘We respect and understand that we may have some work to do with the competition calendar in the future,

as well as the competition framework;

however, we must not lose sight of the fact that the calendar, and thus the competition format, is a shared asset.

The adjustments will be applied over the course of a two-week Carabao Cup third round,

which begins September 18 and ends September 25.

They are intended to avoid the situation in which Europe-qualified clubs must participate in two cup competitions in the same week.

Teams in the Champions League, however, can still play each other, as can those in the Europa League.

Chelsea, who will play in the Conference League, are expected to be unaffected because the competition’s group round begins later.

‘First I’ve heard of it,’ was the gist of other responses when asked EFL executives,

who blasted the decision as one to ‘further protect the elite’.

However, one EFL employee did note out that it made them more likely to draw ‘major clubs’,

giving them a positive chance of better gate receipts.

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