The Carling Cup

The Carling Cup was first created by Alan Hardaker, secretary of the Football League from 1957 to 1978, and known as the 'Godfather of Football'. He realised that a tournament that is based on two-legged ties would be much more attractive financially for the clubs in the lower football leagues - in comparison to the FA Cup, in which a small club could often play for many seasons without ever achieving the benefits of a money-spinning home tie. The idea for the Carling Cup did was not initially popular with clubs in the top divisions, and shortly after it was announced six of them refused to take part. The name of the Carling Cup comes from it's sponsorships - in 2004 Carling took over as sponsors of the cup, with Middlesbrough winning the cup that year with a 2-1 score against Bolton. The rules and method of the Carling Cup are simple - it's a knock-out stage competition, and in the first round teams from all the leagues except the Premier League are divided (by northern and southern sections) with half the teams seeded and half not seeded. A draw is then made to decide who will be playing who, home or away. The Carling Cup offers extra time in tie game situations, as well as penalty shoot-outs if needed. Premier League clubs are invited to take part in the Carling Cup in the second round of the game, when half of the original teams have been knocked out, but Premier League teams that are playing UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup games join the Carling Cup tournament in the third round, to ensure that lower league players are not eliminated without a fair fight.

Carling Cup Facts

The Carling Cup final is always played at Wembley Stadium in one single match, and often has thrilling extra time and penalty shoot-outs if they are needed. When it comes to football sponsorship, the Carling Cup has paved the way for lucrative deals - in 1982, after a tie-up with the Milk Marketing Board, it became the Milk Cup. The year after that, the photographic firm Canon also joined their list of sponsors. It wasn't until some time after the Carling Cup proved the success of sponsorship that the FA Cup followed suit, sponsored by the insurance firm AXA. Season after season, the Carling cup adopted a good number of famous sponsorship deals, changing it's name to match, and became the Littlewoods Cup, Rumbelows Cup and the Coca-Cola Cup consecutively.

Carling Cup Greats

The Carling Cup has had more than it's fair share of football legends and greats - with the big teams battling it out for the lucrative title. Often there are surprise winners, as well as unexpected choices of players from the teams. When it comes to the most Carling Cup wins, Liverpool is currently on top - lifting the trophy an incredible seven times. Second to them is Aston Villa with five wins, followed close behind by Nottingham Forest, Chelsea and Tottenham all with four wins each. The highest amount of goals record scored in the Carling Cup is currently held by Geoff Hurst, who has scored over 43 goals playing with West Ham, and 6 with Stoke City - making 49 goals scored in total.