The Carling Cup

The Carling Cup, also known without sponsorship as the “League Cup”, is the English Football Association’s (The FA) secondary cup competition. It is not as prestigious or important as the FA Cup, and is only open to teams from the top professional divisions of the Football League, unlike the FA Cup which is open to the entire Football League – amateur, semi-professional and professional. A feature of this tournament in recent years has been the habit of the big teams in playing their reserve and youth team players, due to their commitments in Europe. This makes the Carling Cup a bit more competitive, as the smaller teams stand a better chance. However, it has also served to illustrate the gulf in class between teams, as Arsenal have reached the semis, final, and semis in consecutive years with primarily youth team players. Recent winners include Chelsea, Manchester United, and Liverpool.

The Carling Cup: An alternate route into Europe

One of the top reasons to win the Carling Cup is that the winner gains entry into Europe club play, via the UEFA Cup. It’s been another reason why the “big” clubs have ignored the Carling Cup’s importance over the years, because they are likely to qualify for Europe via the league. However, smaller teams like Tottenham and Blackburn have long seen it as their best possible chance of getting into UEFA-sponsored competitions. Unlike the FA Cup however, where the runners-up get the UEFA Cup spot if the winners are already qualified for Europe through the league, the Carling Cup runners-up have no such luck.

Carling Cup Results

This OleOle community is for fans of English football and the Carling Cup to find news, scores, results, tables and fixtures for all tournament matches. See club standings, contribute to the Carling Cup facts and history, discuss and comment in the English football forum, or follow live matches online in the MatchCentre.