The 2002 Football League Cup Final was played between

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

and

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 ...

at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on Sunday, 24 February 2002. Blackburn won the match 2–1 in what was the club's first appearance in the competition's final. Tottenham were forced to produce a one-off yellow shirt for the final when

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

decided both of their home and away strips, respectively white and light blue, clashed with Blackburn's blue-and-white home strip. Blackburn were without defender Craig Short and midfielders

Gary Flitcroft Garry William Flitcroft (born 6 November 1972) is an English football manager and former professional player who played as a midfielder. Between 1991 and 2006, Flitcroft spent four seasons in the Premier League with Manchester City, winning t ...

and

Tugay Kerimoğlu Tugay Kerimoğlu (born 24 August 1970) is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent the majority of his career for Galatasaray and Blackburn Rovers; winning silverware at Rangers F.C. in-between. He was the coo ...

due to suspension. This led to 38 year-old veteran striker

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City. During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, an ...

starting in central midfield. Blackburn were also without injured back-up goalkeeper Alan Kelly and cup-tied right-back

Lucas Neill Lucas Edward Neill (born 9 March 1978) is an Australian former soccer player. Neill played as a defender, often playing as a centre back as well as a full-back. Neill spent almost 15 years of his career playing in England. He represented Aus ...

. Blackburn opened the scoring with a goal from Matt Jansen, but Christian Ziege soon equalised for Spurs.

Andy Cole Andrew Alexander Cole (born 15 October 1971) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. His professional career lasted from 1988 to 2008, and is mostly remembered for his time with Manchester United, who paid a Briti ...

scored the winner in the 68th minute with a typical instinctive strike after mistakes in the Spurs defence, mainly from

Ledley King Ledley Brenton King (born 12 October 1980) is a former player who was a one-club man, spending his entire career at Tottenham Hotspur and playing 323 competitive matches for the club from 1999 to 2012. He is currently a club ambassador for Tot ...

. Les Ferdinand could have made the match square after a close one-on-one chance with Friedel, but failed to make anything of it. In the final minute

Teddy Sheringham Edward Paul "Teddy" Sheringham, MBE (born 2 April 1966) is an English football manager and former player. He played as a forward, mostly as a second striker, in a 24-year professional career. Sheringham began his career at Millwall, where ...

had a claim for a penalty turned down by referee Graham Poll.

Road to Cardiff

Match

Details

References

{{Tottenham Hotspur F.C. matches Cup Final EFL Cup Finals League Cup Final 2002 League Cup Final 2002 2000s in Cardiff February 2002 sports events in the United Kingdom 2002 sports events in London