The League Cup final will be played at Wembley on Sunday 16th March 2025.
Defending champions Liverpool are still in contention but must overturn a first-leg deficit against Tottenham Hotspur in their semi-final tie. Newcastle United hold a 2-0 lead over Arsenal in the other semi-final.
With the line-up for the final all set to be confirmed after this week’s second leg fixtures at St James’ Park and Anfield, what’s on the line for the quartet of Premier League giants at the conclusion of the Carabao Cup campaign?
Do the League Cup winners get into Europe?
The first piece of the picture is straightforward. The winners of the EFL cup qualify for the play-off round of the UEFA Conference League.
They will join the League Path along with five sixth-placed teams from Europe’s top leagues, 26 third qualifying round winners, and seven of the teams eliminated from the Europa League third qualifying round.
But that straightforward Conference League place might apply only to Tottenham this season. Liverpool, Arsenal and Newcastle will all hope to qualify for Europe through the Premier League at a minimum.
Liverpool are in good shape to win the Premier League and are also still involved in the Champions League and FA Cup. Arsenal are second in the Premier League and are still in the Champions League.
Newcastle are in the European places in the Premier League and looking up the table for more, as well as getting a favourable FA Cup draw in the Fourth Round. Spurs need to win something to make the grade and that could be the FA Cup, the League Cup or the Europa League.
Should any of those opportunities come to fruition on top of an EFL Cup win in March, the European qualification picture will change.
If the League Cup winners finish in the top five in the Premier League, the Conference League play-off place will go to “the next-highest ranked team that have not qualified for UEFA competitions in the Premier League.”
In other words, the League Cup winners would take up a Europa League spot but their Conference League place would move down the league rather than going to the losing finalists.
If the FA Cup winners finish in the top five, that possibility would move down a place and the League Cup winners would need to drop out of the top six (instead of the top five) to miss out on the Europa League.
Again, if that were the case then their Conference League place would slide down the Premier League to the highest-placed team who haven’t qualified for Europe.
Arsenal and Liverpool are still hoping to win the Champions League but the outcome for the EFL Cup place wouldn’t change even if one of them did so and won the EFL Cup too.
While the Champions League winners’ qualification through a top-four finish – likely for both teams – wouldn’t be transferred to another team, the Conference League play-off round place would still be awarded to the highest-placed Premier League team who haven’t qualified for Europe.
