The Carling Cup

Forev · Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 10:02 pm

The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup, is an English football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout (single elimination) basis. Unlike the FA Cup where 674 teams entered in 2005–06, only 92 clubs can enter: the 20 clubs of the FA Premier League, and the 72 clubs of The Football League who organise the competition. Unlike the FA Cup, the semi-finals are played over two legs. The winners qualify for the UEFA Cup, if they have not qualified for European competition in some other way.

Since 1982, the League Cup has been named after its sponsor, giving it the following names:

* Milk Cup (1981–82 to 1985–86)
* Littlewoods Challenge Cup (1986–87 to 1989–90)
* Rumbelows Cup (1990–91 and 1991–92)
* Coca-Cola Cup (1992–93 to 1997–98 )
* Worthington Cup (1998–99 to 2002–03) - leading to the nickname "Worthless Cup"
* Carling Cup (2003–04 to present)

The League Cup is unusual as most other European leagues only offer a single knockout cup competition. It is regarded as the domestic game's least popular trophy that is open to all league sides (the Football League Trophy does not include the top two divisions). The League Cup usually has lower attendances than the FA Cup (the last sixteen stages of the 2005-06 League Cup had a 25% lower attendance than the last sixteen of the 2004-05 FA Cup) and it is fairly usual for larger clubs to field a reserve or youth team unless they make it into the later stages.

To learn more about the format and history of the cup, Click Here

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