2 hours ago
22
Man United will be hoping to book their place in the Carabao Cup third round draw on Wednesday night.
15:14, 26 Aug 2025Updated 15:14, 26 Aug 2025
Manchester United will be hoping to join Manchester City in the third round of the Carabao Cup when they face Grimsby Town at Blundell Park on Wednesday night.
As a result of failing to qualify for Europe for this season, United are entering the competition at the second round stage for the first time since 2014. Those who are participating in Europe do not enter the competition until the third round.
Therefore, United will have to overcome the League Two Mariners to join the likes of City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea in the third round draw.
The Reds reached the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup last season, exiting the competition just before Christmas after a 4-3 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. City were knocked out of the competition by Spurs in the previous round, losing 2-1.
Unlike for the second round draw that was made earlier this month, the third round draw will be made following the conclusion of all second round ties and will immediately follow the conclusion of United's clash with Grimsby, at approximately 10pm.
The draw will be shown live on Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports News.
Outlining how the third round will unfold, the EFL said in a statement: "Following the expansion of the European competition calendar ahead of the 2024/25 season, the EFL will again be required to implement additional conditions for the Carabao Cup Round Three draw.
"In-line with last year's competition, this season's Carabao Cup Round Three fixtures will take place across two weeks (beginning 15 and 22 September), with fixtures in the Champions League (week beginning 15 September) and Europa League (week beginning 22 September) also scheduled during this period.
"As UEFA competition fixtures cannot be rescheduled, and to enable the Carabao Cup to proceed within its agreed schedule without disrupting other League or domestic cup fixtures, the additional conditions will ensure that Clubs participating in the Champions League or Europa League cannot meet each other in Round Three of the League Cup.
"This will ensure that both teams drawn in each tie will be able to fulfil the fixture in one of the allocated weeks.
"It would always be the EFL's preference to conduct the draw in the traditional manner, but these changes have been forced upon us for the second season in succession as a result of UEFA's failure to consult with the Leagues of Europe prior to finalising its competition schedule."
Offering more information on how the draw will work, the EFL added: "For the main draw, two separate bowls will be utilised – one consisting of the eight UCL (Champions League) and UEL Clubs (Europa League), and one consisting of the remaining 24 Clubs.
"As the balls will be split across two pots, a pre-draw will be required first to determine whether each of the eight UCL/UEL teams will be playing home or away.
"This will be drawn live on Sky Sports during the build-up to Grimsby Town's Round Two tie against Manchester United.
"For the main draw, the first eight-ties will be drawn by alternating between one Club from Bowl 1 and one Club from Bowl 2, with the Home/Away positioning of the UCL/UEL team already pre-determined in the earlier draw.
"Once the first eight ties featuring the UCL/UEL teams have been drawn, the remaining eight ties will then be drawn from Bowl 2 only."
The ball numbers are yet to be confirmed for the draw.
English (US) ·