Teams are grouped into zones and drawn into a fixed path at the start of the competition. From 2027, the way home venues are decided from Round 2 onwards has changed. You can read the background in the 2027 announcement.

Draw principles #

• All entered teams are divided into a group or zone. A zone may overlap with others, and clubs may have teams allocated across multiple groups or zones
• Within each zone, a random draw decides the match-ups. In Round 1, teams are assigned home or away at random, as drawn.
• Where possible, we avoid a club playing another team from the same club in Round 1.
• The draw follows a predetermined path and is made only at the start of the competition. This allows play in the following rounds to start as soon as opponents are known.

How home venues are decided from Round 2 New for 2027 #

From Round 2 onwards, the draw takes account of the home matches each team has already had:

1. The team that has had fewer home matches so far hosts the tie.
2. If both teams have had the same number, the tie is decided by each team’s Home Ballot Number, a random number allocated at the Round 1 draw.

Venues are still set automatically, so there is no extra draw between rounds and no delay. The Draw and Results pages show a short plain-English reason for each venue.

This is a rebalancing, not a guarantee. It breaks up many long runs of home or away draws, but it cannot give every team an even split. Neutral venues for semi-finals and finals, and how tied matches are settled, are unchanged.

Before 2027, for comparison #

Until 2026, home venues from Round 2 onwards were decided by the bracket and where a team was first drawn. This was simple and random, but it could leave some teams on a long run of away ties while others hosted round after round.