Carabao Cup courts more ridicule as third round draw set to take place at 4.15 in the morning

The draw for the first round of the League Cup saw audio equipment failures and Charlton Athletic 'drawn twice' while the second round was branded a 'shambles'

Carabao CEO Sathien Setthasit with former Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder Emmanuel Petit at the the first round draw in Bangkok (AFP/Getty Images)

The Football League has courted more ridicule after announcing that the third round draw of the Carabao Cup will take place at 4.15 in the morning.

Thirty-two teams have made it to this stage of the re-branded competition more widely known as the League Cup.

The first round of the draw - which took place in the sponsor's home city of Bangkok - led to widespread confusion among football fans as a combination of audio technology failure and an on-screen graphics error led many to believe Charlton Athletic had been drawn twice.

The second round was then branded a "shambles" after the Football League announced four ties had been drawn incorrectly.

Round three sees the seven Premier League teams who qualified for European competition entering the draw - including last season's winners Manchester United.

Clubs will find out who they are facing during a draw which takes place in Beijing in the early hours of the morning.

"The draw will take place from approximately 11:15am local time - 4:15am BST - and can be followed live on the EFL’s Twitter feed," the Football League said in a statement.

The news prompted fans to joke that they will need plenty of the Thai energy drink to help them stay awake for the draw.

Carabao signed a three-year sponsorship deal of the competition before this season but the deal has been criticised by fans and managers.

"I thought the draw was poor," said Karl Robinson, the Charlton manager, after round two. "If they want me to start taking the cup seriously then it needs to be done right because we've been stitched up in two draws.

"First it's 'oh, you've got Cheltenham at home, no you haven't you've got Exeter away. Or, you've got Norwich at home and you go 'great' and start preparing. Then you get an email to say 'sorry no, it's away.'

"If they are going to to come to us and start criticising changes [made to the team], well it has to be done professionally [from their end] as well."