The 2023–24 FA Women's League Cup was the thirteenth edition of the

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

and

Women's Championship The Women's Championship (formerly The FA Women's Championship) is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The division was established in 2014 as the FA Women's Super League 2 (WSL 2). WSL 2 replaced the previous level 2 d ...

's league cup competition. It was sponsored by

Continental AG Continental AG, commonly known as Continental or colloquially as Conti, is a German multinational automotive parts manufacturing company specializing in tires, brake systems, interior electronics, automotive safety, powertrain and chassis compo ...

, who have sponsored the competition since its creation in 2011, and was officially known as the FA Women's Continental Tyres League Cup for sponsorship reasons. All 24 teams from the WSL and Championship contested the competition.

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

were the defending champions.

Format

The competition kept the same format as the previous season, starting with a group stage split regionally. Teams competing in the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

group stage are exempt from the League Cup group stage, earning a provisional bye to the quarter-finals. As a result, the initial group stage draw made on 1 August 2023 featured 21 of the 24 teams: one Northern group had five teams drawn into it with the remaining Northern group and all three Southern groups initially featuring four teams each. The three teams excluded from the draw were Chelsea, who automatically entered the Champions League group stage and therefore joined the League Cup at the quarter-final stage, and Manchester United and Arsenal who took part in the Champions League qualifying rounds. If either team were eliminated during qualification, they would enter the League Cup group stage and be drawn into an existing group of four in their geographical region. Arsenal were eliminated from the Champions League in the first qualifying round and were drawn into Group D. Manchester United were eliminated from the Champions League in the second qualifying round and were automatically drawn into Group B. The first place team in each of the five groups qualified for the knock-out stage. As Arsenal and Manchester United both failed to progress in the Champions League, the two best-placed runners-up also progressed to make eight teams in the quarter-finals.

Group stage

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Group D

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Group E

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Ranking of second-placed teams

Due to Arsenal's and Manchester United's failure to progress from Champions League qualifying, they entered the League Cup group stage. With only one team receiving a bye to the League Cup quarter-finals, two best-placed runner-up teams progressed with the five group winners to make up the final eight. The ranking to determine which two second-placed teams progressed was calculated on a points-per-game basis.

Knock-out stage

Quarter-finals

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

entered the League Cup at the quarter-final stage, having been exempt from the group stage due to their participation in the Champions League group stage. The quarter-finals took place on 7 February 2024. The draw took place on 29 January 2024. ---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

The semi-finals took place on 6 and 7 March 2024. The draw took place on 9 February 2024. ----

Final

On 15 December 2023, it was announced that the 2024 FA Women's League Cup final would be held at

Molineux Stadium Molineux Stadium ( ) in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England, has been the home ground of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers since 1889. The first stadium built for use by a Football League club, it was one of the first British grounds ...

, the home of

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

, for the first time. The final took place on 31 March 2024.

Top goalscorers

Controversy

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

were docked three points in their group table after finding an illegible player in their game against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. This altered the standings with Aston Villa, originally first in the group, dropping down to second and Sunderland replacing them at the top. Before the points deduction, Sunderland's performance wasn't sufficient enough to qualify for the quarter finals as one of the best second place teams; however Aston Villa, now in second place, did qualify as one of the best second place teams. This came at the expense of

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

who took the FA's decision to an independent tribunal arguing they should not be dismissed from the quarter finals because a different club broke the competition rules however the tribunal ruled in favour of the FA. After the final,

manager

Emma Hayes Emma Carol Hayes (born 18 October 1976) is an English professional football manager. She is currently the manager of FA WSL club Chelsea Women. She previously served as the head coach and director of football operations for Chicago Red Stars o ...

was seen to have shoved

head coach Jonas Eidevall as they shook hands. Hayes claimed it was due to Eidevall's "unacceptable male aggression" on the touchline after an altercation with

Erin Cuthbert Erin Jacqueline Cuthbert (born 19 July 1998) is a Scottish footballer who plays for Chelsea in the FA WSL and is a member of the Scotland national team. She studied at University of the West of Scotland, combining graduation from the Open Uni ...

during the match. The FA later confirmed that Hayes will not face any action over the incident.

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2023-24 FA Women's League Cup FA Women's League Cup

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, ...