Fans slam ‘shambolic’ Carabao Cup format shake-up as new seeding system is branded another blow to the ‘magic of the cup’

The Carabao Cup will undergo a format shake-up ahead of next season and it has not gone down well with the majority of supporters.

The changes will be implemented in a bid to avoid fixture congestion at the start of the tournament, according to reports.

The Champions League is gearing up to launch its newly expanded format for the 2024-25 campaign, which will see one of the group stage rounds directly conflict with Carabao Cup matches provisionally scheduled for the same week.

With Europa League clubs also set to be affected by the schedule, the tournament is set to adopt a ‘seeding mechanism’ to ease potential congestion.

As per Telegraph Sport, teams will be ranked to ensure that sides playing in the Champions League do not face sides playing in the Europa League.

Additionally, third-round Carabao Cup fixtures will be spread over two weeks, to ensure that they can be completed in a timely fashion.

And fans have taken to social media to hit out at the incoming changes with one branding them ‘another shambolic decision in this drawn out death of the game’.

Another wrote: ‘genuinely at this point what is the point in the competition if you’re going to engineer it so specifically? There is absolutely no need for this change at all, just tinkering for the sake of it.’

One posted on X: ‘it’s getting to a point where you may as well not play in these cups if you’re not in the Premier League or big six. Magic of the cup is falling rapidly.

Another wrote: ‘cup competitions are there to allow teams to compete against each other across the divisions. 

‘We have a weekly league competition to ensure the teams at a similar level play against each other. They’ve actually managed to defeat the purpose of cup competitions.’