Carling Cup, League Cup | |||
Country | England Wales |
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---|---|---|---|
Teams | 92 | ||
Champions | Chelsea | ||
Runners-up | Arsenal | ||
Top goal scorer(s) |
Jermaine Easter Júlio Baptista (6 goals) |
||
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The 2006–07 Football League Cup was the 47th 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.
The competition began in August 2006 and ended with the final on 25 February 2007. The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff hosted the final match, as it has done since 2001 (the reconstruction of Wembley Stadium could not be completed in time to host the final).
The winners were Chelsea, beating Arsenal in the final 2-1 after two goals by Didier Drogba.
The competition consists of five single elimination rounds (taking place only on week-nights) before a two-legged semi-final and then a final match at a neutral venue. The venue for each fixture in round one to the finals will not be neutral. It will be the home ground of one of the two clubs in each fixture, and will be decided as part of the draw for each round.
There are no replays in the competition. If necessary, extra-time and penalties will decide each tie's winners on the night.
The 72 Football League clubs compete from the first round, which is divided into North and South sections. 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 2005-06 season. Therefore, the clubs relegated from the Premier League in 2006; Sunderland (North), Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion (South) are the top seeds, and the clubs newly promoted to the Football League — Accrington Stanley and Hereford United — are bottom seeds in north and south sections respectively.