FA Cup vs Carabao Cup: What Is the Difference and Which Matters More?

Both end with a Wembley final, both can put a lower-league side on national television, and both get treated as an afterthought by half the managers in the Premier League. But the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup are very different competitions in history, in prize money and in prestige. Here is how they stack up.

The FA Cup: the oldest cup in the world

First played in 1871-72, the FA Cup is the oldest domestic cup competition anywhere, and its defining feature is who is allowed in: around 700 clubs, from the Premier League down to the far reaches of non-league football. For the full run-through, see our guide to how the FA Cup works.

It is a straight knockout with no replays. Level after 90 minutes and it goes to extra time, then penalties. Premier League clubs join in the third round in January, and the final is at Wembley in May. The prestige comes from that open door and the tradition of giant-killings: the third round throws non-league sides at Premier League opponents every year, and produces the most reliably dramatic days in the English calendar.

The Carabao Cup: the League Cup by another name

The Carabao Cup, still widely called the EFL Cup or League Cup, is open to all 92 clubs in the Premier League and EFL, and runs from July to a final at Wembley in March. There is no non-league involvement. Premier League clubs not in Europe enter in the second round; those in Europe join in the third.

It was created in 1960 to give clubs extra midweek revenue, and it has carried a sponsor's name continuously since 1981, which is why it keeps changing what it is called. Our full explainer on the Carabao Cup covers the format in more detail.

How the formats differ

Both competitions are single-leg knockouts that finish with a one-off Wembley final, but there are two wrinkles. The FA Cup plays single-leg ties from the third round with two-legged semi-finals; the Carabao Cup is single-leg throughout until its semi-finals, which are two-legged. The bigger difference is scale: the FA Cup's open entry means qualifying starts in August and runs to May, while the Carabao Cup is a tighter competition that usually wraps up in March.

What do the winners actually get?

The financial gap is large. The FA Cup winner takes around £2.12 million for the final itself, with total prize money for the champions reaching over £4.14 million across the competition. The Carabao Cup winner receives about £100,000, rising to a maximum of £187,000 for a club that enters in the first round and wins every tie.

Europe is where it really diverges. The FA Cup winner earns a place in the Europa League; the Carabao Cup winner drops into the Conference League play-off round, a less prestigious way in. Our guide to Europa League qualification explains how those routes fit together.

For lower-league clubs, though, the FA Cup's real value is not the prize pot but the gate-receipt sharing. A League Two side drawn at home to a Premier League club can earn more from that one afternoon than from an entire cup run elsewhere.

How seriously do Premier League clubs take each cup?

The FA Cup, generally, and mostly because supporters demand it. Managers routinely field weakened sides in the early rounds of the Carabao Cup, using it to blood fringe players and academy graduates, and only take the FA Cup fully seriously from the fifth round once the glamour ties arrive.

It is not a hard rule. Smaller clubs with a realistic shot at Wembley back the Carabao Cup all the way, and a serial winner like Manchester City, nine-time Carabao Cup winners, keep turning up for it. Silverware of any kind still counts towards the trophies that define a club's history.

Will the Carabao Cup ever match the FA Cup?

Almost certainly not. The FA Cup's age, open entry and cultural weight give it a lead that no amount of rebranding can close, and nothing the Carabao Cup offers can replicate a non-league side drawing a Premier League giant. What the Carabao Cup does offer is a genuine route to Wembley for clubs who will never trouble the top of the Premier League, and the odd October night where a well-drilled Championship side knocks out a distracted top-flight team and finds itself in a semi-final by January. That is not nothing, even if it is not the FA Cup.