Teams 92 | Dates 22 Aug 2005 – 26 Feb 2006 | |
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The 2005–06 Football League Cup was the 46th staging of the Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92 football clubs. The competition name reflects a sponsorship deal with lager brand Carling.
Contents
The competition began on 22 August 2005, and ended with the final on 26 February 2006 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff while reconstruction work was still ongoing at Wembley Stadium.
The tournament was won by Manchester United, who beat surprise finalists, Wigan 4–0 in the final, thanks to two goals from Wayne Rooney and one each from Cristiano Ronaldo and Louis Saha. Wigan had only been promoted to the Premier League at the beginning of the season.
First round
The 72 Football League clubs 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 2004–05 season. Therefore, the clubs relegated from the Premier League in 2005, Norwich City, Crystal Palace and Southampton, were the top seeds, and the clubs newly promoted to the Football League, Barnet and Carlisle United, were bottom seeds.
Second round
The 36 winners from the First Round joined the 12 Premier League clubs not participating in European competition in Round Two. The draw was made on 27 August. The matches occurred on 20 and 21 September.
Third round
The 24 winners from the Second Round joined the eight Premier League clubs participating in European competition in Round Three. The draw was made on 24 September. Matches were played on 25 and 26 October.
Fourth round
The draw for the Fourth Round was made on 29 October 2005 and matches were played on 29 and 30 November. Doncaster caused the shock of the round, beating Aston Villa 3-0.
Quarter-finals
The draw for the quarter finals was made on 3 December 2005 and matches were played on 20 and 21 December. The only non-Premier League club, Doncaster Rovers gave Arsenal a scare by drawing 2-2 after extra-time but Arsenal made it through 3-1 on penalties
Semi-finals
The semi-final draw was made in December 2005 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 ties were played in the weeks beginning 9 January and 23 January 2006.
Second leg
Score level at 2-2 on aggregate. Wigan win on away goals rule.
Manchester United win 3–2 on aggregate
Final
The 2006 Carling Cup Final was played on 26 February 2006 and was contested between Premier League teams Wigan Athletic and Manchester United at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. The favourites Manchester United won the game comfortably 4–0 in normal time.