The Alan Hardaker Trophy is an annual association football award presented to the Man of the Match in the

EFL 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 ...

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 ...

(also currently known as the

Carabao The carabao ( es, Carabao; tgl, Kalabaw; ceb, Kabaw; ilo, Nuang) is a domestic swamp-type water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis'') native to the Philippines. Carabaos were introduced to Guam from the Spanish Philippines in the 17th century. They ...

Cup). The trophy is named after

Alan Hardaker Alan Hardaker OBE (29 July 1912Biographical details
such as date of birth, wife's ...

, the EFL's former secretary who conceived the League Cup.The Alan Hardaker Trophy
EFL The Alan Hardaker Trophy was first awarded in 1990,

Des Walker Desmond Sinclair Walker (born 26 November 1965) is an English football coach and former player, who played as a defender. At club level he played in seven cup finals for Nottingham Forest at Wembley, winning five of them. He was Forest's pla ...

was the inaugural recipient. Ben Foster,

John Terry John George Terry (born 7 December 1980) is an English professional football coach and former player who played as a centre-back. He was previously captain of Chelsea, the England national team and Aston Villa. He was most recently the assi ...

and Vincent Kompany have won the award on two occasions, the most wins by an individual.

Manchester City 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 Salford to the west. The t ...

have received the award six times, more than any other club. English players have won the trophy seventeen times, which is a record; the only other nations with multiple wins are Scotland, Belgium, and the Netherlands, with two recipients.

Winners

;Key to score column : – Indicates the match was decided by a replay : – Indicates the match went to

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

Awards won by nationality

Awards won by club

References

{{EFL Cup English football trophies and awards EFL Cup