The 2004–05 Football League Cup (known as the Carling Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 45th 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 2004 and ended with 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 cont ...

on 25 February 2005. 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 ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

hosted the final match, as it had done since 2001, with the new

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 ...

still not complete. The winners were

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 ...

, beating

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in the final 3–2 thanks to an own goal from

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player, who most recently managed club Aston Villa. Described by pundits and fellow professionals as one of his generation's greatest players, Ge ...

, and goals in extra-time from Didier Drogba and

Mateja Kežman Mateja Kežman ( sr-Cyrl, Матеја Кежман, ; born 12 April 1979) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Upon playing in his homeland, Kežman went on to play top-flight football in the Netherlands, Engla ...

in extra-time after the match finished 1–1.

First round

Second round

Third round

Fourth round

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Quarter-finals

---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

First leg

----

Second leg

''Chelsea win 2–1 on aggregate.'' ---- ''Liverpool win 2–0 on aggregate''

Final

External links

Official Carling Cup website

Carling Cup
at bbc.co.uk
Results service
at soccerbase.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2004-05 Football League Cup EFL Cup seasons

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, ...