Football League Cup 2008–09

The Football League Cup 2008-09, known as the Carling Cup due to the competition's sponsorship by lager brand Carling, is the 49th Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92 football clubs.

Tottenham Hotspur are the current holders, having beaten Chelsea in the previous season's final.

First Round

The draw for the first round took place on 13 June 2008, with matches due to be played two months later in the week beginning 11 August 2008. [cite news |title=2008/09 CARLING CUP ROUND ONE DRAW |url=http://www.football-league.co.uk/page/CarlingCupDetail/0,,10794~1322373,00.html |publisher=The Football League |date=2008-06-13 |accessdate=2008-06-13 ]

The 72 Football League clubs compete from the First Round, which is divided into North and South sections. Each section is divided equally into a pot of seeded clubs and a pot of unseeded clubs. Clubs' rankings depend upon their finishing position in the 2007–08 season.

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Third Round

Eight teams involved in European competition enter at this stage along with the winners from the Second Round. Since nine English teams qualified for European competition in 2008, it was initially unclear precisely which eight teams would automatically enter the third round. Either Aston Villa, who had entered into European competition via the UEFA Intertoto Cup, or Manchester City, who qualified for the UEFA Cup via the UEFA Fair Play ranking would enter in the Third Round with the other entering in the Second Round instead. On 29 July 2008, it was announced that Aston Villa would enter the 2008–09 Carling Cup at the Third Round stage after reaching the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup. [cite news |title=Carling Cup Draw |url=http://www.avfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~1353234,00.html |publisher=AVFC |date=2008-07-29 |accessdate=2008-07-29 ]

The draw for the Third Round was held on 30 August 2008, [cite news |title=Carling Cup 3rd Round Draw |url=http://www.ntfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10425~1375123,00.html |publisher=ntfc.co.uk |date=2008-08-26 |accessdate=2008-08-26 ] and matches were played on Tuesday, 23 September and Wednesday, 24 September 2008, with the exception of the match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Derby County, which will be played on 4 November 2008.

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Fourth Round

The Fourth Round draw took place on Saturday, 27 September, [cite news |title=Tottenham face Liverpool in cup |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/7638456.stm |publisher=BBC Sport |date=2008-09-27 |accessdate=2008-09-27 ] and matches will be played in the week commencing 10 November 2008.

Fifth Round

The Fifth Round draw will take place on Saturday, 15 November and matches will be played week commencing 1 December 2008.

emi-finals

The semi-final draw will take place on Saturday, 6 December 2008. The first leg matches will be played on Tuesday, 6 January 2009, while the second legs will be played on Tuesday, 20 January 2009.

Final

The final will be played at Wembley Stadium, London, on Sunday, 1 March 2009.

References

External links

* [http://www.carlingcup.co.uk Official Carling Cup website]
* [http://www.football-league.co.uk/page/CarlingCupNews/0,,10794,00.html Carling Cup News] at football-league.co.uk
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/default.stm Carling Cup] at bbc.co.uk
* [http://football.uk.reuters.com/leaguecup/ League Cup news, match reports and pictures] on Reuters.co.uk