The Best League Cup Finals in History

The League Cup final holds a special place in the football calendar. It’s the first chance English clubs have to win a trophy each season. While the early rounds of the tournament are sometimes overlooked in favour of the Premier League and Champions League, the final is never one to miss.

From against-the-odds upsets to dramatic penalty shootouts, League Cup finals have produced some truly remarkable moments down the years.

Sometimes a team steamrolls their opposition to claim the trophy with ease. Just ask Wigan fans about their experience watching a 4-0 hammering to Manchester United in 2006. Sometimes the underdogs (hello Birmingham in 2011!) come out on top. EFL Cup betting also goes into hyperdrive for the final and BetMGM is the place to follow it all, with our in-play odds and bet builder available to everyone.

Newcastle face Liverpool in the League Cup final 2025 – 70 years since the Magpies last won a major trophy. Liverpool have claimed all 10 of their League Cup triumphs since then, including the 2024 EFL Cup final against Chelsea. You can bet on Newcastle vs Liverpool and trigger a £40 free bet welcome offer when you join BetMGM today!

So, what are the best League Cup finals in history? Let’s take a look…

Chelsea 3-2 Liverpool, 2005

Chelsea's 2005 League Cup final victory over Liverpool remains one of the best in the history of English football. The game had it all: a first-minute goal, extra time, Jose Mourinho in his pomp, and a Steven Gerrard own goal.

Liverpool were motoring on in Europe as well as the League Cup and fielded nine players at the Millennium Stadium who would also start the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul. Chelsea were in a league title race with Manchester United but had lost two on the bounce (to Newcastle and Barcelona) as they headed to Cardiff.

John Arne Riise opened the scoring in the first minute. Gerrard headed home an own goal with just 12 minutes remaining. Mourinho hushed the Liverpool fans, before Didier Drogba and Mateja Kezman bundled over the line for Chelsea. A minute later Antonio Nunez (remember him?) beat Petr Cech in the air to give Liverpool hope.

But it was too late for the Reds, who suffered the ignominy of losing one of the best League Cup finals of all time.

Fun Fact: Chelsea did the double that year, while Liverpool won the Champions League. It was fitting these two sets of players met in at least one final that season.

Luton Town 3-2 Arsenal, 1988

Recent history would suggest Luton Town’s 3-2 triumph over Arsenal in the 1988 League Cup final was a big giant killing. Plucky little Luton against the stars from north London. Yet, while Arsenal were favourites with the bookies heading into the final, Luton weren’t complete underdogs.

The Hatters were punching above their weight in Division One and ended the season in ninth – just three spots off Arsenal. So why is this final on our list of the greatest in League Cup history? Because it was a cracker!

Brian Stein gave Luton the lead after just 13 minutes and the Hatters fought toe-to-toe with Arsenal until midway through the second half, when two goals in three minutes for Martin Hayes and Alan Smith flipped the game. It looked like a sure-fire win for the defending League Cup holders when Nigel Winterburn stepped up to take a penalty at 2-1.

Andy Dibble tuned the penalty round the post. Moments later Danny Wilson scrambled home perhaps the messiest goal ever in a League Cup final, before Stein again found the net at the death.

Fun Fact: Luton won just one more game for the rest of the season after beating Arsenal at Wembley.

QPR 3-2 West Bromwich Albion, 1967

The League Cup was still in its infancy when the Football League decided to change the final from a two-legged affair to a single match at Wembley. West Brom glided through the competition and looked like comfortable favourites to defend the trophy they'd won the previous year when coming up against lowly QPR.

Rangers were on course to win promotion from Division Three when attention swung in early March to the League Cup final. They were the form team of that division but top-flight West Brom were still big favourites.

Clive Clark fired the Baggies into a 2-0 lead by the break and it looked as though manager Jimmy Hagan would be lifting the trophy once again. But something then clicked for QPR. Roger Morgan headed home just after the hour mark, before Rodney Marsh struck the leveller on 75 minutes.

By that stage it was all QPR and Mike Lazarus, who had set up Morgan's goal, scrambled the ball across the line following a mix-up in the Albion defence.

Fun Fact: QPR were subsequently denied entry into the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup the following season because they were not in the top flight, despite being cup winners.

Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Manchester United, 1991

The last time a non-top flight team won the League Cup was back in 1991, when Second Division Sheffield Wednesday rumbled Manchester United in a season that also saw them promoted.

Wednesday had come into the clash in shaky form, having suffered four defeats in six. United had never won the League Cup and were unbeaten in nine games. However, they also had the European Cup Winners' Cup to deal with and Alex Ferguson was still looking for his first trophy.

Wednesday were at it from the off. Boss Ron Atkinson had the likes of John Sheridan and Nigel Pearson at the heart of his side. Danny Wilson was back at Wembley, three years after winning the League Cup with Luton. Sheridan opened the scoring in the 37th minute but the big moment came in the second half when Wednesday goalkeeper Chris Turner pushed Brian McClair's header over the crossbar.

United weren't the famous Red Devils of the mid-1990s but nevertheless oozed class, with Bryan Robson captaining a side that included Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes, Paul Ince and a young Lee Sharpe. Yet they couldn't lay a glove on Wednesday that day as Atkinson outwitted Ferguson.

Fun Fact: Sheffield Wednesday's League Cup victory formed part of a six-game unbeaten streak against Manchester United between October 1989 and December 1992.

Birmingham 2-1 Arsenal, 2011

This one was just funny. Birmingham beating Arsenal in the 2011 League Cup wasn’t a classic 90 minutes but the result – coupled with Arsenal’s capitulation – was simply astonishing.

To put this final into context, Birmingham were struggling for their lives at the bottom of the Premier League and would, a few months later, be relegated. They had bundled their way into this final. Arsenal had conceded just one goal in the competition during a comprehensive 4-1 extra-time win over Tottenham.

But Arsenal's display in the EFL Cup final at Wembley was indicative of the Arsene Wenger years once the club had moved to the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal fans were getting desperate for a trophy after not winning anything since 2005 but Birmingham dictated the pace.

Nikola Zigic put Blues ahead when flicking a corner routine past the flapping Wojciech Szczesny, who had been lucky not to have already been sent off. Robin van Persie restored parity before the break but Arsenal couldn't find that second goal. Then, in the 89th minute, Laurent Koscielny and Szczesny bumped into each other to hand Obafemi Martins a tap-in.

Fun Fact: Birmingham headed into the final having beaten Arsenal just once since 1983 – a streak that covered 19 games.

Stoke City 2-1 Chelsea, 1972

Stoke endured a fairly tepid season in the 1971/72 First Division – but no one remembers their league campaign. Tony Waddington's men proved to be cup specialists instead. They reached the FA Cup semi-finals for the second year on the bounce and claimed the League Cup in 1972 – their first and only major trophy – at the expense of Chelsea.

This was the famous Chelsea side of the late '60s and early '70s. The fashionable King's Road Chelsea of Peter Osgood, Peter Bonetti, Ron Harris and Alan Hudson. In 1967 they were big favourites to win the League Cup but Stoke had other ideas.

They took the lead from a scrappy goal off a long throw (remind you of anyone?) after just five minutes – Terry Conroy heading home. Osgood equalised on the stroke of half time but George Eastham scrambled in a rebound on 73 minutes to nudge the Potters ahead again.

Peter Houseman's goal line clearance prevented John Ritchie from putting Stoke 3-1 up. They thoroughly deserved their victory.

Fun Fact: Chelsea didn't reach another final until the 1994 FA Cup final, which they lost to Manchester United. They didn't lift another trophy until 1997 (FA Cup final vs Middlesbrough).

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