The 1999–2000 Football League Cup (known as the Worthington Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 40th 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 t ...

, 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 ...

clubs. The competition began on 10 August 1999, and ended with the final on 27 February 2000, the last final to be held at the

old Wembley Stadium The original Wembley Stadium (; originally known as the Empire Stadium) was a stadium in Wembley, London, best known for hosting important football matches. It stood on the same site now occupied by its successor. Wembley hosted the FA Cup fin ...

. For the first time in English football history, the entire draw for each round was made after the First Round. This meant each team could plot their route to the final as well as predicting future opponents. The tournament was won by

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

, who beat

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

2–1 in the final, thanks to two goals from Matt Elliott, sandwiched by an equaliser from David Kelly.

First round

The 70 First,

Second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ea ...

and Third Division clubs (with the exception of Blackburn Rovers and Charlton Athletic, who were relegated from the Premiership last season) compete from the First Round. 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 1998–99 season. ¹ Team at home in the 1st leg is denoted as the home team

Second round

The 35 winners from the First Round joined the 13

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 ...

clubs not participating in European competition, along with Blackburn Rovers And Charlton Athletic in Round Two. First leg matches were played on 14 and 15 September, second leg matches were played on 21 and 22 September. ¹ Team at home in the 1st leg is denoted as the home team

Third round

The 25 winners from the Second Round joined the seven Premiership clubs participating in European competition in Round Three. Matches were played on 12 and 13 October.

Fourth round

Most matches were played on 30 November 1 December with one played on 15 December.

Quarter-finals

The four matches were played between 14 December and 12 January. NOTE: This match was a replay after West Ham were order to replay the match after fielding an ineligible player in the original tie. West Ham had won the original tie on penalties.League order replay
– ''The Independent''

Semi-finals

The semi-final draw was made in December 1999 after the conclusion of the quarter finals. Unlike the other rounds, the semi-final ties were played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The first leg matches were played on 12 and 25 January 2000, the second leg matches were played on 26 January and 2 February 2000. Tranmere Rovers reached the first major cup final of their history with a fine win over Bolton Wanderers, while Leicester City's victory over Aston Villa gave them their third appearance in the competition's final in four years.

First leg

Second leg

''Tranmere Rovers won 4–0 on aggregate'' ''Leicester City won 1–0 on aggregate''

Final

The 2000 Worthington Cup Final was played on 27 February 2000 and was contested between

and

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 Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. Leicester won the game 2–1.

References

External links

Official Carling Cup website

Carling Cup
at bbc.co.uk
League Cup news, match reports and pictures
on Reuters.co.uk
Results on Soccerbase
{{DEFAULTSORT:Football League Cup 1999-2000 1999–2000

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, cl ...