The Football League Cup, currently known as the Carling Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an English cup competition, played on a knockout basis with two-legged semi-finals leading to a one-off final. It is open to the 92 clubs of the Premiership and the 3 divisions of the Football League, with the winners qualifying for the UEFA Europa League. With many top English clubs acquiring floodlights in the late 1950s, the League Cup was introduced specifically as a midweek floodlit tournament in 1960-61. Shunned by many of the better teams early on, the introduction of UEFA Cup qualification resulted in all League members entering.

Following restructuring of the UEFA Champions League, the Carling Cup has been threatened with losing its winners' Europa League qualification because, along with France, England is the only country to offer European qualification to its secondary cup winners. However, it has been retained (at least, for the time being) so the Carling Cup keeps its importance and popularity, especially with lesser clubs for whom it offers a realistic chance of European qualification.

3-times winners Manchester United are the current holders, but not the most successful side, as Liverpool boast 7 successes.

Available Betting

In the early stages of the Carling Cup, especially between rounds, betting opportunities are somewhat limited. Bookmakers tend to focus on the Outright Winner betting market which is inevitably dominated by the leading Premiership sides. Indeed, one layer has a special bet offering odds of 4/6 on one of the Big 4 sides of Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal being successful and 11/10 about a non-Big 4 winner. With these teams often fielding weakened sides, the 11/10 looks the value bet. Prior to each round, a range of single-match odds will be on offer, including 90-minute betting, Correct Score, First / Last Goalscorer, etc.