Carabao Cup first-round draw details including date, time, Middlesbrough's ball number and more
Middlesbrough will find out their first cup opponents of the new season next week, with the first-round draw for the Carabao Cup being made next Thursday morning.
The draw will come a little over 24 hours after Boro learn their league schedule for the upcoming campaign. Fixture Release Day is at 9 am on Wednesday morning, and we'll have full coverage of Boro's fixture list right here on Teesside Live. A day later, at 11.30 am on Thursday (June 27) the Carabao Cup draw will be made.
The draw will take place live on Sky Sports News and sees 70 clubs from the Championship and Leagues One and Two in draws regionalised into Northern and Southern sections. From the EFL, Burnley and Luton Town have received byes to round two, as the highest-placed league finishers last term.
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Boro will be hoping for another strong cup run, with last season's competition seeing Michael Carrick's side reach the semi-finals as the last remaining EFL club. They were eventually beaten comfortably by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge after winning the first leg, but used the cup run throughout as a means of helping fringe players top-up game time and develop.
The first round games will take place in the week commencing August 12, which comes in between Boro's first and second games of the new Championship campaign. In this term's first-round draw, Boro will be ball number 22 in the Northern Section of the draw, with the likes of Wrexham, Stoke City and West Brom providing them with their longest potential trips were they to be drawn away.
Last term, until the semi-final first leg, Boro spent their Carabao Cup campaign exclusively on the road. They started with victory over Huddersfield Town and then enjoyed wins over Bolton Wanderers, Bradford City, Exeter City and Port Vale.
All games in the Carabao Cup will now be broadcast live as part of the EFL's new broadcast deal with Sky Sports. They will all be shown on the new Sky Sports+ platform in the UK, and on club platforms for international supporters. If ties are level after 90 minutes they will go straight to a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner.
Full Northern Section draw ball numbers
1. Accrington Stanley
2. Barnsley
3. Barrow AFC
4. Blackburn Rovers
5. Blackpool
6. Bolton Wanderers
7. Bradford City
8. Burton Albion
9. Carlisle United
10. Chesterfield
11. Crewe Alexandra
12. Derby County
13. Doncaster Rovers
14. Fleetwood Town
15. Grimsby Town
16. Harrogate Town
17. Huddersfield Town
18. Hull City
19. Leeds United
20. Lincoln City
21. Mansfield Town
22. Middlesbrough
23. Morecambe
24. Notts County
25. Port Vale
26. Preston North End
27. Rotherham United
28. Salford City
29. Sheffield United
30. Sheffield Wednesday
31. Shrewsbury Town
32. Stockport County
33. Stoke City
34. Sunderland AFC
35. Tranmere Rovers
36. West Bromwich Albion
37. Wigan Athletic
38. Wrexham