Teams qualifying for Europe receive a bye to the third round of the EFL Cup.<\/p>\n
And ordinarily, the teams who finish 18th and 19th in the Premier League receive a bye into round two – with the rest of the top-flight teams who avoided relegation.<\/p>\n
But all this depends on the number of clubs who qualify for Europe, which affects the number of slots in the third round. The more teams who get a bye to round three, the fewer slots there are for teams to come through round two.<\/p>\n
For the straight knockout format to work, there must be 32 teams in round three.<\/p>\n
That means if eight teams have had a bye through qualifying for Europe, 24 teams must come through from the second round.<\/p>\n
And that means 24 knockout ties in round two – which must therefore have 48 teams. And it means 36 teams must come through from the first round.<\/p>\n
For the maths to work, West Ham<\/a> and Burnley<\/a> must start in the first round, to be played on the weekend of 7-9 August. They make it 72 teams and 36 first-round ties. <\/p>\n With nine teams having qualified, it is a little more complicated. <\/p>\n Only 23 slots are available in round three, so the EFL must lose a tie – or two teams – via preliminary round fixtures. <\/p>\n It will feature the two teams promoted from the National League – York and Rochdale – and the clubs who were 21st and 22nd in League Two – Tranmere and Crawley.<\/p>\n But there is a snag, because the first round is regionalised into northern and southern sections.<\/p>\n When this happened last season, there was the perfect solution. Accrington played Oldham and Barnet took on Newport – one winner feeding into the north and the other to the south.<\/p>\n Next season, three northern clubs and one from the south are set to be in the preliminary round.<\/p>\n The EFL could choose Crawley to play Tranmere – the most southerly of the three northern clubs in the preliminary round.<\/p>\n