the roll-out of floodlights, allowing fixtures to be played as midweek evening games. With the renaming of the Football League as the English Football League in 2016, the tournament was rebranded as the EFL Cup from the 2016-17 season onwards.

The tournament is played over seven rounds, with single-leg ties throughout, except for the semi-finals, which have home and away legs. The final is held at Wembley Stadium,