The 2013–14 Football League Cup (known as the

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Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 54th season of the Football League Cup, a knock-out competition for the top 92 football clubs played in English football league system. Swansea City were the defending champions, but were eliminated by

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

in the 3rd round. Numbers within brackets represented a team's league level in the 2013–14 season, level 1 being the

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 ...

, level 2 the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

, and so on. On 16 December 2013, it was announced that

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would be used in three of the four quarter-finals and any subsequent matches in the Capital One Cup. The system was used the very next day, in the Sunderland –

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 ...

quarter-final, in which an own-goal from

Lee Cattermole Lee Barry Cattermole (born 21 March 1988) is an English former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. An England youth product, Cattermole has earned a reputation as a tough-tackling midfielder due to his lengthy disciplin ...

was allowed. The cup was won by Manchester City who defeated Sunderland 3–1 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 ...

. This was their first League Cup trophy since 1976 and their third win overall.

First round

The draw for the first round took place on 17 June 2013 at 09:30 BST. Ties were played during the week commencing 5 August 2013.

Second round

The draw for the second round took place on 8 August 2013 at 12:30 BST. All the Premier League clubs that were not partaking in European competition (

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

) entered in this round along with

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who were one of the two best relegated teams from the prior season.

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

, who were the other of the two best relegated teams did not enter in this round, due to winning the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

and thus a place in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

. They entered in the third round. All ties were played during the week commencing 26 August 2013.

Third round

The draw for the third round took place live on

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on 28 August 2013. All the clubs partaking in European competition (holders Swansea City, Manchester United, Manchester City,

, Arsenal,

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 ...

and

) entered here, as well as the winning teams from the second round. Only

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from the Premier League failed to make it to the third round, and only

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

and

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 ...

remained from League One.

Fourth round

The draw for the fourth round took place on 25 September 2013 live on Sky Sports. All ties were originally to be played during the week commencing 28 October 2013, but the game between Sunderland and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

was later moved to 6 November 2013.

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

and

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 ...

were the only teams outside of the

left in the competition, all three compete in the

Fifth round

The draw for the fifth round took place on 30 October 2013. All ties were played during the week commencing 16 December 2013.

, who compete in the

, were the only team outside of the

left in the competition.

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals took place on 18 December 2013 after the televised game between Stoke City and Manchester United.

First leg

Second leg

Final

Top scorers

Broadcasting rights

The domestic broadcasting rights for the competition were held by the subscription channel

, who have held rights to the competition since 1996–97. During this season Sky had exclusive live broadcasting rights. These matches were broadcast live by Sky Sports on television:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2013-14 Football League Cup EFL Cup seasons Football League Cup Football League Cup Cup