English League Cup matches played in September will be shown live in the UK either through incumbent domestic broadcast rights-holder Sky Sports or streaming services.
Rounds two, three and four of the competition will all take place this month. Those matches not shown by the pay-television broadcaster will be available for live streaming.
Streamed matches will be shown on either rights-holder the English Football League’s iFollow platform, clubs’ equivalent services or the EFL Cup’s dedicated carabaocup.live platform.
The EFL Cup involves clubs from the lower-tier EFL and top-tier English Premier League. However, the latter do not enter the competition until round three.
Streamed matches involving a Premier League club will be shown on carabaocup.live, while those featuring only EFL clubs will be broadcast on iFollow or the club equivalent service.
Viewers will be able to purchase individual passes for streamed matches for £10 (€10.85/$12.91). Club season ticket holders are not exempt from the fee.
The clubs involved in each fixture will split streaming revenues equally.
Incumbent Sky will exclusively show all EFL Cup matches live from the quarter-finals onwards.
The EFL and Sky have allowed streaming of the competition as a temporary measure given the continued absence of supporters from stadiums due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sky is also the incumbent broadcaster of the EFL’s league matches, alongside the EFL Cup, in a deal that runs from 2019-20 to 2023-24.
The two parties had already reached a deal in which all league matches not shown by Sky this season are available to stream on the EFL’s iFollow platform or clubs’ equivalent services until the UK government permits at least 50 per cent occupancy rates at stadiums.
Meanwhile, the Premier League has agreed to make all fixtures played in September available for live broadcast in the UK, but only with its incumbent broadcasters Sky, telco BT, public-service broadcaster the BBC and tech giant Amazon.