Sky Sports to stream EFL Cup first round draw in Facebook Live event

Sky Sports has teamed up with the English Football League to stream the EFL Cup first round draw live on its platforms.

The draw, which will be broadcast live from Sky Sports' studios, will take place at 1pm on Wednesday, June 22 - four hours after the new season's fixtures are released - and marks the first time a major football cup draw has been streamed as a Facebook Live event.

Fans at home and abroad will be able to follow the draw on skysports.com and the Sky Sports apps, as well as on the official EFL Cup Facebook page and the Sky Sports Facebook page.

Ray Wilkins will join presenter Tom White to pull out the ties for round one, which includes 70 of the 72 EFL clubs this season. Newcastle and Norwich are granted byes after finishing highest in the football pyramid among the sides involved, despite their relegation from the Premier League.

The draw is seeded, based on club finishing positions in the league last season, as well as being regionalised on a north/south basis. 

First-round ties will be played in the week commencing August 8, with Premier League clubs entering the competition in round two and clubs that have qualified for the Champions League or Europa League joining in round three.

David Gibbs, digital director at Sky Sports & Sky News said: "As a close partner of Facebook, we're pleased to be working with the EFL to bring the EFL Cup draw to the platform.

"We recognise that our audience want to consume our content on lots of different platforms so bringing this to our nine million followers on Facebook, as well to 30 million-plus users on our own digital platforms helps bring this to even bigger audience."

Drew Barrand, marketing director of the EFL, said: "Facebook Live hadn't even been launched when we did last year's round one draw, so this really is a great opportunity for us to do something different to ensure as many fans as possible can engage with our competitions.

"The round one draw is not usually broadcast and traditionally just announced as a list but with our Facebook network of official EFL and club pages having a combined audience of over 15 million fans it is a natural platform for us provide content like this."

EFL fixtures day - your guide

Timings, key dates and how to follow with Sky Sports

SEEDS

North: Barnsley, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Bradford City, Burton Albion, Derby County, Huddersfield Town, Leeds United, Nottingham Forest, Port Vale, Preston North End, Rochdale, Rotherham United, Scunthorpe United, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Wigan Athletic.

South: Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Brentford, Brighton & Hove Albion, Bristol City, Cardiff City, Charlton Athletic, Coventry City, Fulham, Gillingham, Ipswich Town, Millwall, Milton Keynes Dons, Peterborough United, Queens Park Rangers, Reading, Walsall, Wolverhampton Wanderers.

NON-SEEDS

North: Accrington Stanley, Blackpool, Bury, Cambridge United, Carlisle United, Chesterfield, Crewe Alexandra, Doncaster Rovers, Fleetwood Town, Grimsby Town, Hartlepool United, Mansfield Town, Morecambe, Northampton Town, Notts County, Oldham Athletic, Shrewsbury Town.

South: AFC Wimbledon, Barnet, Bristol Rovers, Cheltenham Town, Colchester United, Crawley Town, Exeter City, Leyton Orient, Luton Town, Newport County, Oxford United, Plymouth Argyle, Portsmouth, Southend United, Stevenage, Swindon Town, Wycombe Wanderers, Yeovil Town.

Follow the EFL fixtures announcement on Sky Sports News HQ at 9am or via our live blog on skysports.com and the Sky Sports apps.