The 2003–04 Football League Cup (known as the Carling Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 44th staging of the

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

, a knockout competition for England's top 92

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

clubs. The competition name reflects a sponsorship deal with lager brand Carling. The competition began in August 2003 and ended with the final on 29 February 2004. The

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...

in Cardiff hosted the final match, as it had done since 2001 as the reconstruction was still taking place on Wembley Stadium in London. The winners were Middlesbrough who beat

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

in the final 2-1 and collected their first major piece of silverware in their history and as a result of their victory qualified for European football for the first time.

Joseph Desire-Job Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

gave Middlesbrough the lead with just 2 minutes gone and a

Bolo Zenden Boudewijn Zenden (; born 15 August 1976) also known by his nickname "Bolo", is a Dutch former footballer who played as a left winger or as an attacking midfielder. Named the 1997 Dutch Football Talent of the Year, Zenden played for four teams in ...

penalty five minutes later doubled their advantage. Kevin Davies pulled a goal back in the 21st minute but Middlesbrough held on. It was to be until 2008 when another English manager won a domestic tournament when

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In his ...

(then at Portsmouth) lifted the FA Cup.

First round

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Second round

The 36 winners from the First Round joined 16 of the 20 Premier League clubs not participating in the UEFA Champions League in Round Two. * The draw was made on 16 August 2003. * Matches occurred during the week commencing 22 August. * Extra time played when the scores were level after 90 minutes. ¹ Score after 90 minutes

Third round

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 ...

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 ...

, Liverpool, Chelsea and

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

joined the 24 winners from the Second Round. Matches were played on the week commencing 27 October 2003 ¹ Score after 90 minutes

Fourth round

* The draw was made on 30 November 2003. * Matches were played in the week commencing 1 December. * Extra time played when scores level at 90 minutes. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was made on 6 December 2003. Matches were played in the week beginning 15 December 2003. The only team from outside the Premier League competing in this round was West Bromwich Albion, who lost 2–0 to Arsenal. ---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

The semi-final draw was made on 20 December 2003 Unlike the other rounds, the semi-final ties were played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The ties were played in the weeks beginning 19 January and 26 January 2004, however the second leg of Middlesbrough v Arsenal was not played until 3 February 2004.

First leg

----

Second leg

''Bolton Wanderers won 5–4 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Middlesbrough won 3–1 on aggregate.''

Final

The 2004 Carling Cup Final was played on 24 February 2004 at the

, Cardiff. It was contested by

and Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough won the match 2-1 and in doing so collected their first major piece of silverware in their history and qualified for the European football in the UEFA Cup for the first time.

External links

Official Carling Cup website

Carling Cup
at bbc.co.uk
Results service
at soccerbase.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2003-04 Football League Cup EFL Cup seasons Cup, 2003-04