2023/24 Carabao Cup prize money: How much winners earn & round breakdown

The Carabao Cup is back baby! Yes, the energy drink trophy returns for yet another instalment, with all the second-string sides and midweek snooze fests you’ve come to love.

It is not a competition that an awful lot of sides take seriously, even lower league opposition, and that is probably because there is not an awful lot of money in it.

When compared to European football or even the FA Cup, winning the Carabao Cup is the football equivalent of finding an extra £5 note in your jacket pocket for most of the big clubs.

So, just how much, or little, do teams earn for their Carabao Cup progression?

The money involved in the early rounds of the Carabao Cup borders on pitiful. Even for lower league teams that are not accustomed to the disgusting wealth that Premier League football clubs are, the rewards are pretty poor.

For winning in the first round of the competition, clubs earn just £5,000. It doesn’t get much better in the second round, with clubs winning £7,000 for progression, while those who make it past the third round will bring in £10,000.

This year, both Chelsea and Tottenham enter the Carabao Cup at the second round due to their lack of European commitments. If Chelsea beat AFC Wimbledon they will bring in £7,000, which works out as 0.006% of the £115m transfer fee that the Blues just splashed on Moises Caicedo.

It’s little wonder that the big clubs don’t take the competition too seriously.

Even for making it all the way to the final of the Carabao Cup, a team is only guaranteed £50,000. If you can manage to win the competition that total is doubled to £100,000.

To put it into context, winning the Carabao Cup wouldn’t even cover Kevin De Bruyne’s weekly wage. In fact, it would enable Manchester City to pay him for about a day-and-a-half.

It really is a drop in the ocean for the teams most likely to succeed in the competition. A good cup run for lower league opposition doesn’t even bring in the kind of of financial reward to make it worthwhile, unless you draw one of the big boys and earn some TV money.

If you are looking to prioritise one domestic cup competition, it should be the FA Cup. It’s obviously the more prestigious tournament historically, but it’s also a significant earner in comparison to the Carabao Cup.

The winners of the FA Cup bring in £2m, which is 20 times the amount the winners of the Carabao Cup achieve. It’s the same multiplier for runners-up, who still earn £1m from losing the final compared to just £50,000 in the Carabao Cup.

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