Watch Cardiff City vs Chelsea today as the League One Bluebirds plot a major Carabao Cup upset at Cardiff City Stadium, with FourFourTwo bringing you all the details on live streams and TV channels, wherever you are in the world.
• Date: Tuesday, 16 December 2025
• Kick-off time: 8:00pm GMT / 3:00pm ET
• Venue: Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff
• TV & Streaming: Sky Sports (UK), Paramount+ (US), beIN Sports Australia (Australia)
• Watch from anywhere: Get NordVPN's holiday deal
Enzo Maresca doesn't seem one to take the path of least resistance. After ending a four-match winless run – Chelsea hadn't won since they beat Barcelona – he attracted headlines with an unclarified comment about a lack of support.
In this week's first Carabao Cup quarter-final on Tuesday, Maresca will be up against a familiar counterpart in the form of Cardiff City boss Brian Barry-Murphy, a former colleague at Manchester City.
Read on as FourFourTwo brings you all the information on how to watch Cardiff City vs Chelsea online, on TV, and from anywhere.
How to watch Cardiff City vs Chelsea in the UK
Cardiff City vs Chelsea will be broadcast live in the UK on Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Main Event. Fans with the appropriate subscriptions can stream the game via NowTV, Sky Go or the Sky Sports+ app.
Watch Cardiff City vs Chelsea in the US
Fans in the United states will be able to stream Cardiff City vs Chelsea live via EFL broadcast partner Paramount+ on Tuesday.
How to watch Cardiff City vs Chelsea in Australia
Football fans in Australia can watch Cardiff City vs Chelsea through beIN Sports Australia. It will be shown on beIN Sports 3.
Is there a Cardiff City vs Chelsea free live stream?
There are no dedicated free-to-air broadcasters showing the game.
One way you could watch Cardiff City vs Chelsea for free is with the Paramount+ seven-day free trial in the USA.
Watch Cardiff City vs Chelsea from anywhere
What if you're away from home when Cardiff City vs Chelsea is on, and find access to your usual streaming service geo-blocked? The solution is a VPN, a piece of software that sets your devices to appear to be in any country in the world.
Assuming it complies with your broadcaster’s T&Cs, you can use a VPN to unblock the streaming services you're subscribed to, with a host of privacy and protection benefits on top – that sounds like a result.
FourFourTwo’s colleagues TechRadar are experts in this field, and they reckon NordVPN is the best VPN provider on the market.
Routes to the quarters
How Cardiff City reached the quarter-finals
- R1: Cardiff City 2-1 Swindon Town
- R2: Cardiff City 3-0 Cheltenham Town
- R3: Burnley 1-2 Cardiff City
- R4: Wrexham 1-2 Cardiff City
How Chelsea reached the quarter-finals
- R3: Lincoln City 1-2 Chelsea
- R4: Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-4 Chelsea
Cardiff City vs Chelsea: Carabao Cup preview
Cardiff are rattling along very nicely at the top of League One after 19 matches. They're four points clear of Bradford City and have won their last five league matches by scoring nearly three goals a game on average.
The Bluebirds have already seen off Premier League opposition in the Carabao Cup this season. Before defeating Wrexham in an all-Welsh tie in the last round, Cardiff beat Burnley 2-1 at Turf Moor.
Danish striker Yousef Salech has led the team from the front literally and figuratively. His 10 League One goals suggest there's more to come after a decent return in half a season in the Championship after Cardiff brought him in from Sweden last term.
The last time Cardiff played Chelsea and didn't lose was in fact a League Cup win way back in 1986. In two shared Premier League seasons and an FA Cup tie, the Welsh capital club came away with nothing against their west London opponents.
Despite a recent wobble and some noteworthy injuries, Chelsea are fourth in the Premier League and well positioned to achieve at least a seeded play-off spot from the league phase of the Champions League if they can hold their nerve.
The seven Premier League teams still standing in the League Cup will already have turned their attentions to the idea of winning it and Chelsea are among the favourites.
Only Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United have won the League Cup more times than the Blues but it's been more than a decade now since their last.
Chelsea might have other goals in mind but a Wembley win to add to last season's Conference League success and the Club World Cup would surely be welcome now they've come this far.
FourFourTwo's prediction
Cardiff City 1-3 Chelsea
FourFourTwo is predicting a last four made up of Premier League teams but a goal for the Bluebirds could make this quarter-final a tricky one for the visitors.
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