No more two-leg League Cup semis

The League Cup is set to switch to one-leg semi-finals next season for the first time in its 63-year history. eFL clubs have already been told about the proposal, which will be confirmed later this season if Premier League clubs sign off a proposed new funding package worth around £900million over six years.

The eFL have been under pressure from the Premier League for years to move to one- off semi- finals to ease fixture congestion, but have previously held firm due to the financial implications.

The Carabao Cup is a valuable commercial property which makes up about one-third of the eFL’s domestic TV deal with Sky Sports.

The fact that the two- leg semi-finals take place in a midweek slot when no other football is played each January make the matches particularly attractive to broadcasters.

Mail Sport can reveal that the eFL have negotiated a clause in their new £935m TV deal with Sky Sports starting next season, however, which enables them to scrap the two-leg semi-finals without incurring a financial penalty.

The prospect of increased funding from the Premier League and the removal of a rebate threat from broadcasters appears to have convinced the eFL to agree to the historic change.

While the precise details have yet to be determined, the move to one- off ties could lead to neutral venues being used for League Cup semi-finals for the first time.

The eFL have been negotiating with the Premier League over a so-called New Deal for Football since 2020, and agreement is close over a package that would see lower-division clubs receive 14.75 per cent of the two organisations’ combined broadcast revenues from next year, in addition to interim funding from the top flight this season.

The Premier League clubs still have to approve the offer, but there is growing confidence on all sides that an agreement can be reached before the end of the campaign.

The historic deal would also see Premier League clubs commit to playing their first teams in the Carabao Cup rather than treating it as a development competition, which had been threatened at earlier stages of the negotiations.

An already congested calendar will be squeezed even further next season by the expansion of the Champions League, which will feature an additional four games for each club in the group stage.

The FA have also been involved in the negotiations and have signalled a willingness to help ease congestion by scrapping FA Cup replays in the third and fourth rounds.