1999–2000 Football League Cup

1999–2000 Football League Cup

League Cup, Worthington Cup
Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Teams	92
Defending champions	Tottenham Hotspur
Final positions
Champions	Leicester City (3rd title)
Runner-up	Tranmere Rovers
Tournament statistics
Top goal scorer(s)	David Kelly (8 goals)
← 1998–99 2000–01 →

The 1999–2000 Football League Cup (known as the Worthington Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 40th staging of the Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92 football clubs.

The competition began on 10 August 1999, and ended with the final on 27 February 2000, the last final to be held at the old Wembley Stadium. For the first time in English football history, the entire draw for each round was made after the first round.^[1] This meant each team could plot their route to the final as well as predicting future opponents.

The tournament was won by Leicester City, who beat Tranmere Rovers 2–1 in the final, thanks to two goals from Matt Elliott, sandwiched by an equaliser from David Kelly.^[2]

First round

The 70 First, Second and Third Division clubs (with the exception of Blackburn Rovers and Charlton Athletic, who were relegated from the Premiership last season) 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 1998–99 season.

Tie no	Home team1	(1st Leg) (2nd Leg) Aggregate	Away team
1	Torquay United	(0–0) (0–3) 0–3	Portsmouth
2	Brentford	(0–2) (0–2) 0–4	Ipswich Town
3	Brighton	(0–2) (0–2) 0–4	Gillingham
4	Manchester City	(5–0) (1–0) 6–0	Burnley
5	Nottingham Forest	(3–0) (0–1) 3–1	Mansfield Town
6	Reading	(0–0) (2–1) 2–1	Peterborough United
7	Swansea City	(2–0) (1–1) 3–1	Millwall
8	Birmingham City	(3–0) (2–1) 5–1	Exeter City
9	Blackpool	(2–1) (1–3) 3–4	Tranmere Rovers
10	Bournemouth	(2–0) (2–3) 4–3	Barnet
11	Bury	(1–0) (0–2) 1–2	Notts County
12	Cambridge United	(2–2) (1–2) 3–4	Bristol City
13	Cardiff City	(1–2) (2–1) 3–3	Q.P.R.
After extra time – Cardiff City win 3 – 2 on penalties
14	Carlisle United	(0–0) (0–6) 0–6	Grimsby Town
15	Chester City	(2–1) (4–4) 6–5	Port Vale
16	Colchester United	(2–2) (1–3) 3–5	Crystal Palace
17	Darlington	(1–1) (3–5) 4–6	Bolton Wanderers
18	Halifax Town	(0–0) (1–5) 1–5	West Brom
19	Hartlepool United	(3–3) (0–1) 3–4	Crewe Alexandra
20	Lincoln City	(2–4) (2–2) 4–6	Barnsley
21	Luton Town	(0–2) (2–2) 2–4	Bristol Rovers
22	Macclesfield Town	(1–1) (0–3) 1–4	Stoke City
23	Northampton Town	(1–2) (1–3) 2–5	Fulham
24	Norwich City	(2–0) (1–2) 3–2	Cheltenham Town
25	Preston	(1–0) (2–0) 3–0	Wrexham
26	Rochdale	(1–2) (1–2) 2–4	Chesterfield
27	Rotherham United	(0–1) (0–2) 0–3	Hull City
28	Scunthorpe United	(0–2) (0–0) 0–2	Huddersfield Town
29	Sheffield United	(3–0) (3–0) 6–0	Shrewsbury Town
30	Southend United	(0–2) (0–1) 0–3	Oxford United
31	Stockport County	(2–0) (1–1) 3–1	Oldham Athletic
32	Swindon Town	(0–1) (1–1) 1–2	Leyton Orient
33	Walsall	(4–1) (4–1) 8–2	Plymouth Argyle
34	Wycombe Wanderers	(0–1) (4–2) 4–3	Wolverhampton Wanderers
35	York City	(0–1) (1–2) 1–3	Wigan Athletic

¹ Team at home in the 1st leg is denoted as the home team

Second round

The 35 winners from the first round joined the 13 Premier League clubs not participating in European competition, along with Blackburn Rovers And Charlton Athletic in round two. First leg matches were played on 14 and 15 September, second leg matches were played on 21 and 22 September.

Tie no	Home team1	(1st Leg) (2nd Leg) Aggregate	Away team
1	Manchester City	(0–0) (3–4) 3–4	Southampton
2	Nottingham Forest	(2–1) (0–0) 2–1	Bristol City
3	Barnsley	(1–1) (3–3) 4–4	Stockport County
Barnsley win on away goals
4	Birmingham City	(2–0) (1–0) 3–0	Bristol Rovers
5	Bradford City	(1–1) (2–2) 3–3	Reading
Bradford City win on away goals
6	Crystal Palace	(3–3) (2–4) 5–7	Leicester City
7	Cardiff City	(1–1) (1–3) 2–4	Wimbledon
8	Charlton Athletic	(0–0) (0–0) 0–0	Bournemouth
After extra time – Bournemouth win 3 – 1 on penalties
9	Chester City	(0–1) (0–5) 0–6	Aston Villa
10	Chesterfield	(0–0) (1–2) 1–2	Middlesbrough
11	Crewe Alexandra	(2–1) (1–1) 3–2	Ipswich Town
12	Gillingham	(1–4) (0–2) 1–6	Bolton Wanderers
13	Grimsby Town	(4–1) (0–1) 4–2	Leyton Orient
14	Huddersfield Town	(2–1) (2–2) 4–3	Notts County
15	Hull City	(1–5) (2–4) 3–9	Liverpool
16	Norwich City	(0–4) (0–2) 0–6	Fulham
17	Oxford United	(1–1) (1–0) 2–1	Everton
18	Portsmouth	(0–3) (1–3) 1–6	Blackburn Rovers
19	Sheffield United	(2–0) (0–3) 2–3	Preston
20	Stoke City	(0–0) (1–3) 1–3	Sheffield Wednesday
21	Sunderland	(3–2) (5–0) 8–2	Walsall
22	Swansea City	(0–0) (1–3) 1–3	Derby County
23	Tranmere Rovers	(5–1) (1–3) 6–4	Coventry City
24	Watford	(2–0) (1–3) 3–3	Wigan Athletic
Watford win on away goals
25	West Bromwich Albion	(1–1) (4–3) 5–4	Wycombe Wanderers

¹ Team at home in the 1st leg is denoted as the home team

Third round

The 25 winners from the second round joined the seven Premiership clubs participating in European competition in round three. Matches were played on 12 and 13 October.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team	Date
1	Aston Villa	3–0	Manchester United	13 October 1999
2	Chelsea	0–1	Huddersfield Town	13 October 1999
3	Derby County	1–2	Bolton Wanderers	13 October 1999
4	Leeds United	1–0	Blackburn Rovers	13 October 1999
5	Leicester City	2–0	Grimsby Town	13 October 1999
6	Middlesbrough	1–0	Watford	13 October 1999
7	Sheffield Wednesday	4–1	Nottingham Forest	13 October 1999
8	Southampton	2–1	Liverpool	13 October 1999
9	Tottenham Hotspur	3–1	Crewe Alexandra	13 October 1999
10	West Ham United	2–0	Bournemouth	13 October 1999
11	Arsenal	2–1	Preston	12 October 1999
12	Bradford City	2–3	Barnsley	12 October 1999
13	Wimbledon	3–2	Sunderland	12 October 1999
14	Birmingham City	2–0	Newcastle United	12 October 1999
15	Tranmere Rovers	2–0	Oxford United	12 October 1999
16	West Bromwich Albion	1–2	Fulham	12 October 1999

Fourth round

Most matches were played on 30 November 1 December with one played on 15 December.

Quarter-finals

The four matches were played between 14 December and 12 January.

NOTE: This match was a replay after West Ham were ordered to replay the match after fielding an ineligible player in the original tie. West Ham had won the original tie on penalties.^[3]

Semi-finals

The semi-final draw was made in December 1999 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 first leg matches were played on 12 and 25 January 2000, the second leg matches were played on 26 January and 2 February 2000. Tranmere Rovers reached the first major cup final of their history with a fine win over Bolton Wanderers, while Leicester City's victory over Aston Villa gave them their third appearance in the competition's final in four years.

First leg

Second leg

Tranmere Rovers won 4–0 on aggregate

Leicester City won 1–0 on aggregate

Final

The 2000 Worthington Cup Final was played on 27 February 2000 and was contested between Leicester City and Tranmere Rovers at Wembley Stadium. Leicester won the game 2–1.

References

External links

• Official Carling Cup website
• Carling Cup at bbc.co.uk
• League Cup news, match reports and pictures on Reuters.co.uk
• Results on Soccerbase