The 2026/27 season will begin with the Carabao Cup on Thursday and run over the weekend after a major change was made by the EFL.Following an exciting summer of World Cup football, the return of domestic competition is getting ever closer.The Carabao Cup, won by Man City last season, is getting started this weekGettyAnd the Carabao Cup is always one of the first competitions on the calendar – but not usually the very first…Typically, it would be the EFL kicking things off, with Championship, League One and League Two fixtures scheduled.However, they won’t be happening for another week and instead, it’s the first round of the cup that begins the campaign.Why is the Carabao Cup first round being played over the weekend?The Carabao Cup first round was officially moved to the weekend commencing August 7-9 in January.It was announced that, following consultation with clubs, rather than having the cup games in midweek following the league season’s opener, they would be taking place over a weekend instead.That represented a huge change made by the EFL, considering the Carabao Cup is traditionally always played in midweek.The switch also means that players have more rest at the start of the season, having a week’s break between games, rather than playing three matches during the first week of the campaign.The statement released at the start of 2026 read: “The EFL start dates for the 2026/27 season have been confirmed, with Round One of the Carabao Cup set to kick off the new campaign, before the Sky Bet Championship, Sky Bet League One and Sky Bet League Two begin the following weekend.“The 2026/27 season will see Round One of the Carabao Cup take place over the weekend of 7-9 August, with the League action set to start a week later over the weekend of 14-16 August.”So, the first round fixtures take place this weekend – and in fact, the season opener between Bristol City and Walsall is being played on Thursday night having been moved earlier due to a bizarre reason.The EFL made a major change to the schedule to start the season with the cup competitionGettyCarabao Cup live on talkSPORTtalkSPORT will be bang across all of the action as the 2026/27 campaign officially gets going.You can follow the first round of the Carabao Cup on talkSPORT, starting with Middlesbrough vs Wrexham on Friday.Commentary of the clash will come from Mark Wilson and former Newcastle defender Steve Howey at 8pm.There will also be live commentaries of West Ham vs Portsmouth, Colchester vs Southampton and Mansfield vs Sheffield United across the weekend.Listen talkSPORT through the website or find us on DAB digital radio through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.Download and listen to all our live commentaries via the talkSPORT app.For the latest odds and bet boosts for every big event, visit talkSPORT BET.Subscribe to the talkSPORT YouTube channel for news, views and analysis plus our regular goals show and for more, follow us on talkSPORT Facebook and talkSPORT on X.