The
Football League Cup, commonly known as the
League Cup, and since
1982 named after a variety of sponsors (the
Milk Cup,
Littlewoods Cup,
Rumbelows Cup,
Coca-Cola Cup, and presently the
Worthington 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 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.
The League Cup was introduced in the
1960/61 season.
Liverpool have won it the most, with seven victories including four successive trophies in the early
1980s. The present holders (2003) are Liverpool, after defeating
Manchester United in the final by a scoreline of 2-0.