The League Cup

During the late 1950's and early 1960's most Football League club grounds became equipped with floodlights and, therefore, midweek winter evening matches were able to be hosted for the first time.  The Football League introduced the League Cup to fit this niche and so, in the 1960/61 season, the first tournament was held.

Unlike the F.A Cup, the League Cup is only open to teams whom currently reside in one of the four top tiers of English football (this is currently the twenty FA Premier League sides and the seventy two Football League teams).

Since the 1981/82 season the cup adopted the name of its current sponsor, namely: Milk Cup (1981/82 to 1985/86), Littlewoods Challenge Cup (1986/87 to 1989/90), Rumbelows Cup (1990/91 to 1991/92), Coca-Cola Cup (1992/93 to 1997/98), Worthington Cup (1998/99 to 2002/03) and Carling Cup (2003/04 to present).

Roll of Honour

Finals were played over two legs between 1961 and 1966 (i.e. the scores stated below are aggregate score).

1961 Aston Villa 3-2 Rotherham United (aet)

1962 Norwich City 4-0 Rochdale

1963 Birmingham City 3-1 Aston Villa

1964 Leicester City 4-3 Stoke City

1965 Chelsea 3-2 Leicester City

1966 West Bromwich Albion 5-3 West Ham United

Finals played as a single match (at Wembley 1967-2000 & 2008 and at The Millennium Stadium 2001-2007)

1967 Queens Park Rangers 3-2 West Bromwich Albion

1968 Leeds United 1-0 Arsenal

1969 Swindon Town 3-1 Arsenal (aet)

1970 Manchester City 2-1 West Bromwich Albion (aet)

1971 Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Aston Villa

1972 Stoke City 2-1 Chelsea

1973 Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Norwich City

1974 Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 Manchester City

1975 Aston Villa 1-0 Norwich City

1976 Manchester City 2-1 Newcastle United

1977 Aston Villa 3-2 Everton (replay aet and 0-0 & 1-1 draws)

1978 Nottingham Forest 1-0 Liverpool (replay after 0-0 draw)

1979 Nottingham Forest 3-2 Southampton

1980 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 Nottingham Forest

1981 Liverpool 2-1 West Ham United (replay after 1-1 draw)

1982 Liverpool 3-1 Tottenham Hotspur (aet)

1983 Liverpool 2-1 Manchester United (aet)

1984 Liverpool 1-0 Everton (replay aet after 0-0 draw)

1985 Norwich City 1-0 Sunderland

1986 Oxford United 3-0 Queens Park Rangers

1987 Arsenal 2-1 Liverpool

1988 Luton Town 3-2 Arsenal

1989 Nottingham Forest 3-1 Luton Town

1990 Nottingham Forest 1-0 Oldham Athletic

1991 Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Manchester United

1992 Manchester United 1-0 Nottingham Forest

1993 Arsenal 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday

1994 Aston Villa 3-1 Manchester United

1995 Liverpool 2-1 Bolton Wanderers

1996 Aston Villa 3-0 Leeds United

1997 Leicester City 1-0 Middlesbrough (replay aet after 1-1 draw)

1998 Chelsea 2-0 Middlesbrough (aet)

1999 Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Leicester City

2000 Leicester City 2-1 Tranmere Rovers

2001 Liverpool 1-1 Birmingham City (aet Liverpool win 5-4 on pens)

2002 Blackburn Rovers 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur

2003 Liverpool 2-0 Manchester United

2004 Middlesbrough 2-1 Bolton Wanderers

2005 Chelsea 3-2 Liverpool (aet)

2006 Manchester United 4-0 Wigan Athletic

2007 Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal

2008 Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Chelsea (aet)

Notes

aet = after extra time

Replay Grounds

Hillsborough, Sheffield: 1977 (first replay), 1997

Old Trafford, Manchester: 1977 (second replay), 1978

Villa Park, Birmingham: 1981

Maine Road, Manchester: 1984

Wins By Club (1961-2008)

7 Wins: Liverpool

5 Wins: Aston Villa

4 Wins: Nottingham Forest, Chelsea & Tottenham Hotspur

3 Wins: Leicester City

2 Wins: Norwich City, Manchester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Arsenal & Manchester United

1 Win: Birmingham City, West Bromwich Albion, Queens Park Rangers, Leeds United, Swindon Town, Stoke City, Oxford United, Luton Town, Sheffield Wednesday, Blackburn Rovers & Middlesbrough

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