The draw for the first round of the newly named Carabao Cup – formerly the Coca Cola Cup and more recently the EFL Cup – descended into total farce on Friday.
The draw was being held in Bangkok as part of the agreement with new sponsors, the Thai energy drinks firm Carabao.
Former Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Petit and British Ambassador to Thailand Brian Davidson were on hand to draw the teams, which was being livestreamed on Facebook.
However, just moments after the first club was drawn, Birmingham City, the live stream crashed leaving viewers around the world having to rely on updates on the EFL Twitter page.
When the stream eventually returned the broadcast was plagued by sound and image issues.
If that wasn’t bad enough, League One side Charlton Athletic were drawn twice, while other teams were given different opponents to those displayed in an on screen graphic.
Charlton were first drawn away to Exeter City but were then later shown to be drawn at home to Cheltenham town, who are actually due to play Oxford United.
The same graphic also claimed that AFC Wimbledon would play Swindon Town, which was impossible given that neither team were seeded in the draw.
The graphic also stated that Forest Green Rovers would play Wolverhampton Wanderers, but they were actually drawn against MK Dons. Wolverhampton Wanderers will instead play Yeovil Town.
A statement from the EFL blamed “human error” and “third party technical issues” for the problems.
The statement in full read:
“The EFL would like to apologise for a number of third-party technical issues that affected the coverage of this afternoon’s Carabao Cup round-one draw in Bangkok.”
“The EFL can confirm that the draw was not compromised in any way and all clubs have received confirmation of the round-one ties.”
The EFL later confirmed the full draw on the Carabao Cup Twitter page:
Welcome to Thailand !!!!
(Source:-Thai Visa News)