The 2005–06 Football League Cup (known as the Carling Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 46th staging of the

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

, a knock-out competition for the top 92

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

clubs played in

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the ...

. The competition name reflects a sponsorship deal with lager brand Carling. The competition began on 22 August 2005, and ended with the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

on 26 February 2006 at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

while reconstruction work was still ongoing at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. The tournament was won by

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, who beat surprise finalists

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

4–0 in the final, thanks to two goals from

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who was most recently the head coach of EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle F.C., Pl ...

and one each from

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

and

Louis Saha Louis Laurent Saha (born 8 August 1978) is a French former professional footballer who played as a striker. Saha was capped 20 times for the France national team and scored four goals. Louis Saha was a former scholar at the Clairefontaine foo ...

. Wigan had only been promoted to the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

at the beginning of the season.

First round

The 72

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

clubs 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 2004–05 season. Therefore, the clubs relegated from the Premier League in 2005,

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

, Crystal Palace and

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, were the top seeds, and the clubs newly promoted to the Football League, Barnet and Carlisle United, were bottom seeds. *On 28 June 2005 seeded clubs and unseeded clubs were paired off to create the first-round draw. *Matches occurred on 22, 23 and 24 August 2005. *Extra time played when the scores were level after 90 minutes. *A penalty shoot-out took place if the scores were level after extra time.

Second round

The 36 winners from the first round joined the 12

clubs not participating in European competition in round two. The draw was made on 27 August. The matches occurred on 20 and 21 September.

Third round

The 24 winners from the second round joined the eight

clubs participating in European competition in round three. The draw was made on 24 September. Matches were played on 25 and 26 October.

Fourth round

The draw for the fourth round was made on 29 October 2005 and matches were played on 29 and 30 November. Doncaster caused the shock of the round, beating

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

3-0. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was made on 3 December 2005 and matches were played on 20 and 21 December. The only non-Premier League club,

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

gave

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 ...

a scare by drawing 2–2 after extra-time but Arsenal made it through 3–1 on penalties ---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

The semi-final draw was made on 21 December, 2005 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 ties were played in the weeks beginning 9 January and 23 January 2006.

First leg

----

Second leg

''Score level at 2-2 on aggregate. Wigan win on away goals rule.'' ---- ''Manchester United win 3–2 on aggregate''

Final

The 2006 League Cup final was played on 26 February 2006 and was contested between Premier League teams

and

at the

. The favourites Manchester United won the game comfortably 4–0 in normal time.
Match details on Soccerbase

References

External links

Official Carling Cup websiteCarling Cup
at bbc.co.uk
League Cup news, match reports and pictures
on Reuters.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:2005-06 Football League Cup EFL Cup seasons League Cup

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...