Despite the fact that the EFL Cup second round is still divided into northern and southern regions, long journeys from east to west remain a possibility.

Norwich City’s trip to divisional rivals Cardiff City is perhaps the country’s longest regionalized away day, with fans in Norfolk having to travel 548 miles to South Wales and return to witness their team in the cup tie.

Canaries fans will have to make the trip again towards the end of winter, with the league encounter at Cardiff City Stadium planned for February 6.

Match-ups between Norwich City and Cardiff City in 2026/27

Competition

Venue

Date / Time

The EFL Cup

Cardiff City Stadium

25th August / 7pm.

Championship

Carrow Road

21st November, 12:30pm

Championship

Cardiff City Stadium

6th February, 3pm

Finally, whomever makes the trip for either will be commended, particularly next Tuesday, given the prices for a weekday evening game.

Norwich City publish official supporters coach prices for Cardiff City’s EFL Cup trip.

The early stages of the EFL Cup are typically poorly attended. The EFL has made changes throughout the years to try to improve, such as scheduling the first round the weekend before the regular season begins.

The regionalization of the draw before the European clubs enter in round three has been in place for some seasons to encourage away supporters to make shorter flights, although there is always the possibility of a lengthy anomaly arising due to the locations of certain teams.

Norwich understands how long a trip to Cardiff may be, therefore they have booked official supporters’ coach travel for the encounter in South Wales. Unfortunately, the prices they’ve revealed are rather high.

A typical coach ticket is £67, although season ticket holders and members can travel for £66. Furthermore, the coach departs Carrow Road at 10:45 a.m., requiring supporters to schedule a full day off work, possibly even two, due to the long journey back.

Norwich City fans respond to the price of the supporters’ trip to Cardiff City.

While the cost of the coach is partially offset by the cost of a game ticket, with the most expensive adult ticket being £17, the trip is still extremely expensive, particularly for an early-round EFL Cup encounter against a team in their tier.

The coach ticket costs have received a lot of harsh feedback online. In response to the Norwich tweet detailing the fees, one fan wrote, “Would it kill the ownership/club to finance travel on occasion for games like this? £66 for travel is absurd. Constantly reminded how much they respect the fan base; perhaps do something to demonstrate it.”

“£84 to play Cardiff away on a Tuesday night. “Clubs have recently become very greedy,” another added.

There was also some resentment at the season ticket holder discount of just £1. Some believe that to be somewhat disrespectful, adding, “Thanks for the extremely kind offer of £1 off coach travel for season ticket holders! Honestly, it’s just insulting at this point.”

“You want £67 for coach travel .. and you’ve given STH £1 off that .. and you think that’s acceptable .. what a club,” another replied.Stone me! I had to investigate this for myself. £66 for a coach ticket, knowing that trains are out of the question. Do you love robbing your fans? “That’s a joke,” one West Brom fan commented. This choice appears to be a source of contention for more than just Norwich fans.

Norwich City supporters who make the long EFL Cup trip should be applauded.

Bradford City’s incredible run in 2013 was the last time a club from outside the Premier League reached the EFL Cup final. While this may be a negative assessment, Norwich is unlikely to make a deep run in the competition.

When you consider that the game will be shown on Sky Sports Plus, the long drive to a club in the same tier on a Tuesday night for that much money does not appear to be a wise move for Canaries fans.

As a result, whoever makes the nearly 10-hour round trip to the Welsh capital next Tuesday should be praised and likely reimbursed for any travel expenses, rather than forced to pay exorbitant fees to get there.

Clubs are operating more sustainably than ever before, but in this case, it may be prudent to incur a small loss in order to boost the likelihood of attracting a decent audience to the Cardiff City Stadium.