Walsall are unseeded in the Northern Section of the draw for the first round of the Carabao Cup, which will take place this Friday, June 16, at 1pm from Bangkok, Thailand.
World Cup winner Emmanuel Petit, Carabao CEO Sathien Setthasit, British Ambassador to Thailand Brian Davidson and EFL Chief Executive Shaun Harvey will unveil the 35 Round One ties from the home of the competition’s title sponsor, Carabao Energy Drink.
Fans will be able to watch the draw unfold live on various platforms, including EFL’s new live streaming platform, iFollow, on Facebook via the Carabao Cup and Carabao UK pages and SkySports.com.
Nearly 1.5 million people went to matches in the EFL Cup last season as the competition recorded record breaking attendances. Victory in the competition’s final will guarantee the winner the first piece of silverware of the domestic season and a place in the Europa League in the following campaign.
Seventy EFL Clubs will be in the draw with matches scheduled to take place week commencing August 7, with Sunderland included. Championship newcomers Hull City and Middlesbrough will join the competition in Round Two alongside the Premier League clubs that are not competing in Europe.
The draw is also regionalised to minimise travelling time for supporters in the first round with seeding decided by a club’s finishing position in the EFL.
This year’s final in February saw Manchester United beat Southampton 3-2 in front of over 85,000 people. The 2017/18 Carabao Cup Final, the 58th in the competition’s history, will take place at Wembley Stadium on 25th February.
As an unseeded team, The Saddlers will be drawn against a seeded team from the Northern Section.
NORTH (seeds): 1 Barnsley, 2 Blackburn Rovers, 3 Bolton Wanderers, 4 Bradford City, 5 Burton Albion, 6 Derby County, 7 Fleetwood Town, 8 Leeds United, 9 Nottingham Forest, 10 Preston North End, 11 Rochdale, 12 Rotherham United, 13 Scunthorpe United, 14 Sheffield United, 15 Sheffield Wednesday, 16 Sunderland, 17 Wigan Athletic.
NORTH (unseeded): 18 Accrington Stanley, 19 Blackpool, 20 Bury, 21 Carlisle United, 22 Chesterfield, 23 Coventry City, 24 Crewe Alexandra, 25 Doncaster Rovers, 26 Grimsby Town, 27 Lincoln City, 28 Mansfield Town, 29 Morecambe, 30 Notts County, 31 Oldham Athletic, 32 Port Vale, 33 Shrewsbury Town, 34 WALSALL.