League Cup

The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup, is an English football competition. Like the more prestigious FA Cup, it is played on a knockout (single elimination) basis. Unlike the FA Cup, only the 92 members of The Football League (who organise the competition) and FA Premier League can enter. The winners qualify for the UEFA Cup, if they have not qualified for European competition in some other way.

Format

Preliminary Round

This is only used when the number of teams in European competition affects the number of byes to the third round and it would not be easier to give a club a bye to the second round. The match(es) involve the eligible clubs who finished lowest in the English football league system last season (normally clubs promoted from Conference National).

Related Topics:
English football league system - Conference National

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The ties are single matches, with extra time and kicks from the penalty mark (penalty shootout) if necessary, with the winners progressing to the next round.

Related Topics:
Extra time - Kicks from the penalty mark

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First Round

All clubs playing in The Football League (the Football League Championship, Football League One and Football League Two), unless they are competing in the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup, enter at this stage and join any Preliminary Round winners. Sometimes (depending on the number of clubs competing in Europe, whether or not they play in The Football League and whether a preliminary round would be an easier way to even up the numbers) it is necessary to give one or more clubs a bye to the second round. The clubs would be those eligible to compete in the First Round who finished highest in the English football league system last season (normally clubs relegated from the FA Premier League).

Related Topics:
Football League Championship - Football League One - Football League Two - UEFA Champions League - UEFA Cup - FA Premier League

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For this round, the clubs are divided in northern and southern sections (though not always equally, so there could be more clubs in one section than another). Half of the clubs from each section are seeded and half are not. First a draw is made to determine whether the seeded club is to play at home or away, and then the club is drawn against an unseeded club from their section.

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The ties are single matches, with extra time and a penalty shootout if necessary, with the winners progressing to the next round.

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Second Round

All clubs playing in the FA Premier League, unless they are competing in the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup (or took part in the UEFA Intertoto Cup), as well as any clubs that may have been given a bye to this round, enter at this stage and join the First Round winners.

Related Topics:
UEFA Champions League - UEFA Cup - UEFA Intertoto Cup

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The ties are single matches, with extra time and a penalty shootout if necessary, with the winners progressing to the next round.

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Third Round

All clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup enter at this stage and join the Second Round winners (making for a total of thirty-two clubs).

Related Topics:
UEFA Champions League - UEFA Cup

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The ties are single matches, with extra time and a penalty shootout if necessary, with the winners progressing to the next round.

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Fourth Round

The sixteen Third Round winners compete in this round.

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The ties are single matches, with extra time and a penalty shootout if necessary, with the winners progressing to the next round.

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Quarter-Finals

The eight Fourth Round winners compete in this round.

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The ties are single matches, with extra time and a penalty shootout if necessary, with the winners progressing to the next round.

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Semi-Finals

The four Quarter-Final winners compete in this round.

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The ties are played over two matches (one at each club's stadium) with the aggregate score being used to determine the winners. If the scores are level at the end of the second match extra time is played. If the scores are still level at the end of extra time the club who has scored the most away goals goes through. If the number of away goals is level a penalty shootout is used to decide the winners.

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Final

The two Semi-Final winners compete to win the cup.

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The tie is a single match played at a neutral stadium (currently the Millennium Stadium), with extra time and a penalty shootout if necessary.

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