| Updated:
On Sunday at Wembley Stadium one of Liverpool or Newcastle United will pick up the first major trophy of the English football season: the Carabao Cup.
Liverpool have won the League Cup on 10 occasions, two more than any other team, while Newcastle’s best finishes came in both 1976 and 2023 when they finished second.
And with trophies comes prize money.
The winner of the FA Cup, which concludes in May, will receive a whopping £2m bonus from the Football Association. But what is the state of play in the Carabao Cup?
Carabao Cup prize money
| Position | Prize Money |
| Winner | £100,000 |
| Runner-up | £50,000 |
That’s right, one of Newcastle or Liverpool will pick up just £100,000 for winning the title, while the loser takes home half that figure.
Liverpool are out of the FA Cup but Newcastle remain in the premier knockout competition, and if they win both their Carabao Cup prize will equate to just 5 per cent of their FA Cup winning bonus.
Carabao Cup prize money is awarded by the Football League, who are currently backing changes to football that would introduce a regulator to help spread the financial benefits of the sport further down the pyramid.
So how far into the FA Cup do you need to go before eclipsing the Carabao Cup winning prize?
FA Cup prize money
| Round | Winner prize money | Loser prize money |
|---|---|---|
| First round | £45,000 | £15,000 |
| Second round | £75,000 | £20,000 |
| Third round | £115,000 | £25,000 |
| Fourth round | £120,000 | None |
| Fifth round | £225,000 | None |
| Quarter-finals | £450,000 | None |
| Semi-finals | £1,000,000 | £500,000 |
| Final | £2,000,000 | £1,000,000 |
Just reaching the 2024-25 FA Cup fourth round grants you more in prize money, £115,000, than winning the Carabao Cup, while winning your first round tie guarantees you £65,000 in the FA Cup – £15,000 more than the loser will get on Sunday.
Financially speaking, then, the Carabao Cup isn’t really worth the effort. But for Liverpool – who were dumped out of the Champions League by PSG last week – and Newcastle United – whose last major domestic trophy came in the 1954-55 FA Cup – a piece of silverware is a piece of silverware.
And today at Wembley the money will be an afterthought to the football, which is the way it should be.