The 2002 Football League Cup Final was played between

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on Sunday, 24 February 2002. Blackburn won the match 2–1 in what was the club's first appearance in the competition's final. Tottenham were forced to produce a one-off yellow shirt for the final when

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

decided both of their home and away strips, respectively white and light blue, clashed with Blackburn's blue-and-white home strip. Blackburn were without defender

Craig Short Craig Jonathan Short (born 25 June 1968) is a former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Playing career Short was born in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England and after attending Amotherby primary school and Lady L ...

and midfielders

Gary Flitcroft Garry William Flitcroft (born 6 November 1972) is an English association football, football manager and former professional player who played as a midfielder. Between 1991 and 2006, Flitcroft spent four seasons in the Premier League with Manche ...

and Tugay Kerimoğlu due to suspension. This led to 38 year-old veteran striker

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City. During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, an ...

starting in central midfield. Blackburn were also without injured back-up goalkeeper Alan Kelly and cup-tied right-back

Lucas Neill Lucas Edward Neill (born 9 March 1978) is an Australian former soccer player. Neill played as a defender, often playing as a centre back as well as a full-back. Neill spent almost 15 years of his career playing in England. He represented Austr ...

. Blackburn opened the scoring with a goal from Matt Jansen, but

Christian Ziege Christian Ziege (; born 1 February 1972) is a German football manager and former player. He most recently coached FC Pinzgau. A defender, he started his playing career at FC Bayern Munich, where he won two Bundesliga titles and a UEFA Cup be ...

soon equalised for Spurs. Andy Cole scored the winner in the 68th minute with a typical instinctive strike after mistakes in the Spurs defence, mainly from

Ledley King Ledley Brenton King (born 12 October 1980) is a former player who was a one-club man, spending his entire career at Tottenham Hotspur and playing 323 competitive matches for the club from 1999 to 2012. He is currently a club ambassador for Tot ...

Les Ferdinand Leslie Ferdinand MBE (born 8 December 1966) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and television pundit, who is currently the director of football at Queens Park Rangers. A striker, his playing career included notable sp ...

could have made the match square after a close one-on-one chance with Friedel, but failed to make anything of it. In the final minute

Teddy Sheringham Edward Paul "Teddy" Sheringham, MBE (born 2 April 1966) is an English football manager and former player. He played as a forward, mostly as a second striker, in a 24-year professional career. Sheringham began his career at Millwall, where ...

had a claim for a penalty turned down by referee Graham Poll.

Road to Cardiff

Match

Details

References

{{Tottenham Hotspur F.C. matches Cup Final EFL Cup Finals League Cup Final 2002 League Cup Final 2002 2000s in Cardiff February 2002 sports events in the United Kingdom 2002 sports events in London