The EFL Cup is an annual knockout football competition in men’s domestic English football. It is open to any club within the top four levels of the English football league system – 92 clubs in total. First held in 1960–61 as the Football League Cup, it is one of the three top-tier domestic football competitions in England, alongside the Premier League and FA Cup. The tournament is played over seven rounds, with single-leg ties throughout, except for the semi-finals. Winners also qualify for European football; up to the 2019–20 season, the winners received a place in the UEFA Europa League.
About EFL Cup in brief
The EFL Cup is an annual knockout football competition in men’s domestic English football. It is open to any club within the top four levels of the English football league system – 92 clubs in total. First held in 1960–61 as the Football League Cup, it is one of the three top-tier domestic football competitions in England, alongside the Premier League and FA Cup. The tournament is played over seven rounds, with single-leg ties throughout, except for the semi-finals. The current holders are Manchester City, who beat Aston Villa 2–1 in the 2020 final to win their third consecutive League Cup and seventh overall. Winners also qualify for European football; up to the 2019–20 season, the winners received a place in the UEFA Europa League. Starting in 2020–21, winners get a place at UEFA Europa Conference League. The competition’s future was regularly questioned, but recent years have seen a revival in respect for the trophy, as the larger Premier League clubs have come to dominate the competition again. Premier League giants Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea between them won 15 editions of the competition between 2000 and 2020. The original idea for a League Cup came from Stanley Rous who saw the competition as a consolation for clubs who had already been knocked out of the FA Cup, but Football League Secretary Alan Hardaker initially proposed it as a way for the clubs to make up on lost revenue, due to a reduction in matches played, for when the league was to be re-organised. The cup was introduced personally by Football League President Joe Richards, who had his own name engraved on the trophy.
He felt that the English game was losing prestige and that Football League should take the lead in revitalising the nation’s football in the modern era. The League Cup winners receive £100,000 prize money with the runners-up receiving £50,000, considered relatively insignificant to top-flight teams, compared to the £2 million prize money of theFA Cup. Some clubs have repeatedly fielded a weaker side in the competition, making the opportunity for giant-killing of the larger clubs more likely. However, in 2010, in response to Arsène Wenger’s claim that a League cup win would not end his trophy drought, Alex Ferguson described the trophy as \”a pot worth winning\”. The cup is of far lower prestige than the league championship or the FA cup, which is in turn eclipsed by Premier League’s television money and consequent participation in the Champions League. It was introduced by the league as a response to the increasing popularity of European football, and to also exert power over the FA. The first two rounds are split into North and South sections, and a system of byes based on league level ensures higher ranked teams enter in later rounds, to defer the entry of teams still involved in Europe. The final is held at Wembley Stadium which is the only tie in the tournament played at a neutral venue and on a weekend. The winner of the tournament is decided by a play-off to be held at the end of the season.
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This page is based on the article EFL Cup published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 25, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
