The 2008–09 Football League Cup (known as the Carling Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 49th season of the Football League Cup, a knock-out competition for the top 92 football clubs played in English football league system. The winners qualified for the

third qualifying round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

of the

2009–10 UEFA Europa League The 2009–10 UEFA Europa League was the first season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The competition was previously known as the UEFA Cup, which had been in existence for 38 years. Spai ...

, if not already qualified for European competitions. Manchester United won the competition by defeating holders

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

on penalties in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

on 1 March 2009.

First round

The draw for the First Round took place on 13 June 2008, with matches being played two months later in the week beginning 11 August 2008. The 72 Football League clubs competed from the First Round, which was divided into North and South sections. Each section was 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

Second round

Twelve

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

teams – including the eleven that were not involved in European competitions – entered at this stage, along with the winners from the First Round. The draw for the Second Round took place on 13 August 2008, and the matches were played in the week beginning 25 August 2008, with the exception of Manchester City's game against

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

, which was played on 24 September. ¹ Score after 90 minutes

Third round

Eight teams involved in European competition entered 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 A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

via the

UEFA Fair Play ranking The UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking was used by UEFA from 1995 to the 2015–16 season to grant three berths for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Since that time it has granted a monetary prize to winning associations. Qualific ...

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. The draw for the Third Round was held on 30 August 2008, and the matches were played on Tuesday, 23 September and Wednesday, 24 September 2008, with the exception of the match between

and

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

, which was played on 4 November. ¹ Score after 90 minutes

Fourth round

The Fourth Round draw took place on Saturday, 27 September, and the matches were played in the week commencing 10 November 2008. ¹ Score after 90 minutes

Fifth round

The Fifth Round draw took place on Saturday, 15 November and the matches were played week in the commencing 1 December 2008.

Semi-finals

The semi-final draw took place on Saturday, 6 December 2008. The first leg matches were played on Tuesday, 6 January 2009 and Wednesday, 7 January 2009, while the second legs were played on Tuesday, 20 January 2009 and Wednesday, 21 January 2009.

First leg

Second leg

''Manchester United won 4–3 on aggregate.'' ''Tottenham Hotspur won 6–4 on aggregate.''

Final

The final was played at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

, London, on Sunday, 1 March 2009.

Top scorers

The top scorers in the 2008–09 Football League Cup are as follows:

References

External links

Official Carling Cup website

at football-league.co.uk
Carling Cup
at bbc.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Football League Cup EFL Cup seasons Cup

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

Football League Cup, 2008-09