It is, of course, now called the Carabao Cup, an energy drink company, that sponsors the competition. Some top flight clubs did not take the competition seriously in its early years but now it is important and Liverpudlians will agree today. Manager Jergen Klopp "goes out with a bang" and with a bunch of footballers from the "squad", some of which we have not heard of before...15 Academy players used en route for example. The club's 10th win of this trophy.
Early sponsors were The Milk Marketing Board! hence the Milk Cup then; Littlewoods; Rumbelows, Coca Cola, Worthingtons, Molson Coors/Carlsberg, Captal One.It was not necessarily played for by all clubs! It was regarded in its early days and an unecessary competition.
The Trophy shown above is the original, which was put in a cupboard when sponsors liked to have their own designed award! These days players received medals...they used to get tankards!
Liverpool have won the League Cup 8 times and been runners up 4 times. Man Utd 5/4 times.
Aston Villa 5/3 winning the first cup competition in 1960-1, a final held over two legs. Villa beat Rotherham Utd!! These days there is not even a replay-time is limited.
Early days saw some less prestigious clubs winning the cup; Swindon Town and Don Rogers (1968-9) comes to mind on a Wembley pitch ruined by the Horse of the Year Show! Don't ask. Rogers was spectacular on a "hoofed" surface.
Other regular finalists include:-
Chelsea 5/3 Spurs 4/4 Nottingham Forest 4/2 Leicester 3/2 Arsenal 2/6 Norwich 2/2 Birmingham 2-1 and Wolves 2/0, amongst losing teams such as Swansea, Blackburn Rovers, Oxford Utd, Sheffield Wednesday, Luton, Stoke City, Leeds Utd, QPR, Middlesbrough and WBA
Man of the Match, the Alan Hardaker Trophy (Hardaker was FL secretary), sponsored by Prostate Cancer Charity this time was: Phil Foden, not necessarily regarded as a first team regular but he will be and he's a LOCAL lad!
When Aston Villa won the first trophy in 1960-1, a two-legged affair, the next three finals saw winners who had never won a serious trophy before hand. Norwich, Brum and Leicester.
Norwich's opponents in the final that day was Rochdale ( a third tier side). Norwich, had, at the time, never played in the First Division. Two legged finals lasted until 1966.
The EFL Cup (historically and colloquially referred to as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual ko competition in EFL men's domestic football. It is open to any club within the top four levels of the EFL system—92 clubs in total—comprising the top-level Premier League, and the three divisions of the English Football League's own league competition; Championship, FL1 and FL2.
First held in 1960-1 as the Football League Cup, it is one of the three top-tier domestic football competitions in England alongside the Premier League and FA Cup. It concludes in February, long before the other two, which end in May. It was introduced by the league as a response to the increasing popularity of European football, and to also exert power over the FA. It also took advantage of the roll-out of floodlights, allowing the fixtures to be played as midweek evening games. With the renaming of the Football League as the English Football League in 2016, the tournament was rebranded as the EFL Cup from the 2016-17 onwards.
The tournament is played over seven rounds, with single-leg ties throughout, except for the semi-finals. The final is held at Wembley Stadium, which is the only leg in the competition played at a neutral venue and on a weekend (Sunday). The first two rounds are split into North and South sections, and a system of byes based on league level ensures higher ranked teams enter in later rounds and defers the entry of teams still involved in Europe. Winners not only receive the EFL Cup, of which there have been three designs, the current one also being the original but also qualify for European football: from 1966–67 until 1971–72 the winners received a place in the Inter-cities Cup from 1972–1973 until the 2019–20 season in the UEFA European Cup (formerly the UEFA Cup) and starting with the 2020–21 season in the UEFA European Conference League. Should the winner also qualify for Europe through other means at the end of the season, this place is transferred to the highest-placed Premier League team that has not already qualified for European competition. The current holders are Liverpool, who defeated Chelsea 1–0 in the 2024 Final, to win their tenth League Cup.
As of 2024:
- Most tournament wins (team): 10 – Liverpool
- Most consecutive tournament wins (team): 4 – Liverpool (1981–1984) and Manchester City (2018–2021)
- Most final appearances (team): 13 – Liverpool
- Most tournament wins (individual): 6
- Sergi Aquero and Fernandinho for Manchester City (2014, 2016, 2018–2021)
- Most final appearances: (individual): 6
- IIan Rush for Liverpool (1981–1984, 1987, 1995)
- Emile Heskey for Leicester City (1997, 1999, 2000), Liverpool (2001, 2003) and Aston Villa (2010)
- Fernandinho for Manchester City (2014, 2016, 2018–2021)
- Most goals scored (individual, career): 49 – Ian Rush
- Most goals scored (individual, season): 12 – Andu Ritchie, Oldham Athletic (1989–90)
- Most goals scored (individual, match): 6 – Frankie Bunn (Oldham Athletic vs Scarborough, 25 October 1989)
- Biggest win: West Ham Utd v Burt 10-0, second round, second leg, 25 October 1983
- Liverpool v Fulham 10-0 second round first leg, 23 September 1986
- Biggest aggregate win in a semi-final: Manchester City 10–0, Burton Albion (9–0 home, 1–0 away), 23 January 2019
- Biggest win in a final: Swansea City 5–0 Bradford City, 24 February 2013
- Highest scoring game: 12 goals
- Reading 5–7 (aet) v Arsenal, fourth round, 30 October 2012
- Dagenham and Redbridge 6–6 (a.e.t.) v Brentford, first round, 12 August 2014
- Most penalties scored in a penalty shoot-out: 27 Liverpool 14–13 Middlesbrough (23 September 2014) and Derby County 14–13 Carlisle Utd (23 August 2016)
- Most penalties attempted in a penalty shoot-out: 32 – Derby Cty vs Carlisle Utd (23 August 2016)
- Lowest league tier of a League Cup winner: tier 3
- QPR (1966-7; FL Third Division— overall rank 45th)
- Swindin Town (1968-9; FL Third Div — overall rank 46th)
- Lowest league tier of a League Cup runner-up: tier 4
- Rochdale FC(1961-2; FL Fourth Div— overall rank 80th)
- Bradford City (2012-3; FL Two Div — overall rank 75th)
No comments:
Post a Comment