The 2022–23 EFL Cup was the 63rd season of the

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

(known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons). The competition was open to all clubs participating in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

and the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

. The winner of the competition qualified for the play-off round of the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League.

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

were the defending champions, having beaten Chelsea on penalties to secure a record 9th title in the previous season's

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, but were eliminated by

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

in the fourth round. The

was played at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

on 26 February 2023 between

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

, with Manchester United winning 2–0 for their sixth title.

Access

All 92 clubs in the Premier League and English Football League entered the season's EFL Cup. Access was distributed across the top 4 leagues of the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the ...

. In the first round, 22 of 24

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

clubs, and all League One and League Two clubs entered. The following round, the two remaining Championship clubs, who finished 18th and 19th in the

2021–22 Premier League The 2021–22 Premier League was the 30th season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs since its establishment in 1992, and the 123rd season of top-flight English football overall. The start a ...

season (Burnley and Watford), and the

clubs not involved in either the Champions League,

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

or Europa Conference League entered.

First round

A total of 70 clubs played in the first round: 24 from League Two (tier 4), 24 from League One (tier 3), and 22 from the

(tier 2). The draw for this round was split on a geographical basis into "northern" and "southern" sections. Teams were drawn against a team from the same section.

Northern section

Southern section

Second round

A total of 50 clubs played in the second round: the 35 winners from the first round, the 2 clubs from the

(tier 2) who did not enter in the first round, plus the 13

clubs who were not in European competition. The draw for this round was split on a geographical basis into "northern" and "southern" sections. Teams were drawn against a team from the same section.

Northern section

Southern section

Third round

A total of 32 teams played in the third round.

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, Chelsea,

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

, and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

entered in this round due to their participation in either the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League, the

2022–23 UEFA Europa League The 2022–23 UEFA Europa League was the 52nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 14th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla defeated Roma in the final pl ...

, and the

2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League The 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League was the second season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The final was played at Fortuna Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. It was won ...

. The draw was made on 24 August 2022. The third round consisted of 19 clubs from the Premier League, three from the Championship, six from League One and four from League Two. Ties were scheduled to be played in the week commencing 7 November 2022''.''

Fourth round

A total of 16 teams played in the fourth round. League Two side Gillingham was the lowest-ranked team in the draw, which was made on 10 November 2022.

Quarter-finals

A total of eight teams played in the quarter-finals. League One side Charlton Athletic was the lowest-ranked team in the draw and the only non-Premier League team left.

Semi-finals

A total of four teams, all of them from the Premier League, played in this round.

Summary

''Manchester United won 5–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Newcastle United won 3–1 on aggregate.''

Final

Top goalscorers

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2022-23 EFL Cup EFL Cup seasons League Cup

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...