EFL have confirmed the ball numbers for Round One of 2023-24 Carabao Cup.
The draw for Round One of 2023-24 Carabao Cup will take place live on Sky Sports News at 2:30pm BST on Thursday 22 June 2023.
As is traditional in the opening round of the competition involving EFL clubs, the draw has been split into Northern and Southern sections for geographical reasons.
This season though sees an imbalance in the geographical split with just 34 teams placed in the Southern Section, compared to 38 teams in the Northern Section which includes Wrexham and Notts County who were promoted to League Two at end of last season.
Newly relegated Leeds United and Leicester City will also feature in the Northern Section whilst Southampton have been placed in the Southern Section, due to none of the recently relegated teams being handed a First Round bye.
That particular situation came about after eight Premier League teams qualified for European competitions, with West Ham having achieved their Europa League spot by winning the Europa Conference League despite finishing just 14th in the league.
That in-turn means that just 12 top-flight clubs will feature in the Second Round and necessitated the need for every EFL club to play in the First Round in order to ensure that 24 clubs qualify for the Third Round – alongside the eight clubs in Europe who enter the competition at that stage.
Title-holders, Manchester United plus runners-up, Newcastle United will join West Ham and five other teams in entering at the Third Round.
Round One ties will be played between 8-9 August 2023, with the Round Two draw expected to take place after one of Sky Sports’ live fixtures.
Northern Sections
| Ball Number | Club |
| 1 | Accrington Stanley |
| 2 | Barnsley |
| 3 | Barrow |
| 4 | Blackburn Rovers |
| 5 | Blackpool |
| 6 | Bolton Wanderers |
| 7 | Bradford City |
| 8 | Burton Albion |
| 9 | Carlisle United |
| 10 | Crewe Alexandra |
| 11 | Derby County |
| 12 | Doncaster Rovers |
| 13 | Fleetwood Town |
| 14 | Grimsby Town |
| 15 | Harrogate Town |
| 16 | Huddersfield Town |
| 17 | Hull City |
| 18 | Leeds United |
| 19 | Leicester City |
| 20 | Lincoln City |
| 21 | Mansfield Town |
| 22 | Middlesbrough |
| 23 | Morecambe |
| 24 | Notts County |
| 25 | Port Vale |
| 26 | Preston North End |
| 27 | Rotherham United |
| 28 | Salford City |
| 29 | Sheffield Wednesday |
| 30 | Shrewsbury Town |
| 31 | Stockport County |
| 32 | Stoke City |
| 33 | Sunderland |
| 34 | Tranmere Rovers |
| 35 | Walsall |
| 36 | West Brom |
| 37 | Wigan Atheltic |
| 38 | Wrexham |
Southern Section
| Ball Number | Club |
| 1 | AFC Wimbledon |
| 2 | Birmingham City |
| 3 | Bristol City |
| 4 | Bristol Rovers |
| 5 | Cambridge United |
| 6 | Cardiff City |
| 7 | Charlton Athletic |
| 8 | Cheltenham Town |
| 9 | Colchester United |
| 10 | Coventry City |
| 11 | Crawley Town |
| 12 | Exeter City |
| 13 | Forest Green Rovers |
| 14 | Gillingham |
| 15 | Ipswich Town |
| 16 | Leyton Orient |
| 17 | Millwall |
| 18 | MK Dons |
| 19 | Newport County |
| 20 | Northampton Town |
| 21 | Norwich City |
| 22 | Oxford United |
| 23 | Peterborough |
| 24 | Plymouth Argyle |
| 25 | Portsmouth |
| 26 | QPR |
| 27 | Reading |
| 28 | Southampton |
| 29 | Stevenage |
| 30 | Sutton United |
| 31 | Swansea City |
| 32 | Swindon Town |
| 33 | Watford |
| 34 | Wycombe Wanderers |
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