The 2001–02 Football League Cup (known as the Worthington Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 42nd staging of the Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92 football clubs.

The competition began on 20 August 2001, and ended with the final on 26 February 2002 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff as Wembley Stadium had been closed for a rebuild.

The tournament was won by Blackburn Rovers, who beat Tottenham Hotspur 2–1 in the final, thanks to single strikes from Matt Jansen and Andy Cole, sandwiched by an equaliser from Christian Ziege. Blackburn had only just returned to the Premier League at the beginning of the season after relegation several years earlier.

First round The 70 First, Second and Third Division clubs compete from the First Round, except Manchester City and Coventry. 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 2000–01 season.

Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamDate1Birmingham City3–0Southend United22 August 20012Cambridge United1–1 West Bromwich Albion22 August 2001West Bromwich Albion won 4–3 on penalties3Stoke City0–0 Oldham Athletic22 August 2001Oldham Athletic won 6–5 on penalties4Wolverhampton Wanderers1–2Swindon Town22 August 20015Barnsley2–0Halifax Town21 August 20016Blackpool3–2Wigan Athletic21 August 20017Bournemouth0–2Torquay United21 August 20018Brentford1–0Norwich City21 August 20019Brighton & Hove Albion2–1Wimbledon21 August 200110Bristol City2–1Cheltenham Town21 August 200111Burnley2–3Rushden & Diamonds21 August 200112Bury1–3Sheffield Wednesday21 August 200113Exeter City0–1Walsall21 August 200114Grimsby Town2–1Lincoln City21 August 200115Huddersfield Town0–1Rochdale21 August 200116Kidderminster Harriers2–3 Preston North End21 August 200117Leyton Orient2–4Crystal Palace21 August 200118Macclesfield Town1–2 Bradford City21 August 200119Mansfield Town3–4Notts County21 August 200120Millwall2–1Cardiff City21 August 200121Northampton Town2–1 Queens Park Rangers21 August 200122Oxford United1–2 Gillingham21 August 200123Port Vale2–1Chesterfield21 August 200124Portsmouth1–2Colchester United21 August 200125Reading4–0Luton Town21 August 200126Stockport County3–0Carlisle United21 August 200127Swansea City0–2Peterborough United21 August 200128Tranmere Rovers3–1Shrewsbury Town21 August 200129Watford1–0Plymouth Argyle21 August 200130Wrexham2–3Hull City21 August 200131Wycombe Wanderers0–1Bristol Rovers21 August 200132York City2–2 Crewe Alexandra21 August 2001Crewe Alexandra won 6–5 on penalties33Darlington0–1Sheffield United20 August 200134Hartlepool United0–2Nottingham Forest20 August 200135Scunthorpe United0–2Rotherham United20 August 2001

Second round The 35 winners from the First Round joined the 13 Premier League, clubs not participating in European competition in the Second Round, plus Manchester City and Coventry (who received byes for their league position the previous season). Matches were played on 10–13 September.

Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamDate1Tottenham Hotspur2–0Torquay United13 September 20012Blackburn Rovers2–0Oldham Athletic12 September 20013Bristol City2–3Watford12 September 20014Charlton Athletic2–0Port Vale12 September 20015Derby County3–0Hull City12 September 20016Everton1–1 Crystal Palace12 September 2001Crystal Palace won 5–4 on penalties7Newcastle United4–1 Brentford12 September 20018Nottingham Forest1–1 Stockport County12 September 2001Nottingham Forest won 8–7 on penalties9Sheffield Wednesday4–2 Sunderland12 September 200110Bolton Wanderers4–3 Walsall11 September 200111Brighton & Hove Albion0–3Southampton11 September 200112Bristol Rovers0–3Birmingham City11 September 200113Colchester United1–3Barnsley11 September 200114Crewe Alexandra2–0 Rushden & Diamonds11 September 200115Gillingham2–1Millwall11 September 200116Grimsby Town3–3 Sheffield United11 September 2001Grimsby Town won 4–2 on penalties17Middlesbrough3–1Northampton Town11 September 200118Notts County2–4 Manchester City11 September 200119Peterborough United2–2 Coventry City11 September 2001Coventry City won 4–2 on penalties20Reading0–0 West Ham11 September 2001Reading won 6–5 on penalties21Rochdale2–2 Fulham11 September 2001Fulham won 6–5 on penalties22Rotherham United0–4Bradford City11 September 200123Tranmere Rovers4–1Preston North End11 September 200124West Bromwich Albion2–0 Swindon Town11 September 200125Blackpool0–1Leicester City10 September 2001

Third round The 25 winners from the Second Round joined the seven Premiership clubs participating in European competition in the Third Round. Matches were played on 8–10 October.

Tie noHome teamScoreAway teamDate1Arsenal4–0Manchester United5 November 20012Aston Villa1–0Reading10 October 20013Blackburn Rovers2–1 Middlesbrough10 October 20014Fulham5–2Derby County10 October 20015Manchester City6–0Birmingham City10 October 20016Sheffield Wednesday2–2 Crystal Palace10 October 2001Sheffield Wednesday won 3–1 on penalties7Barnsley0–1Newcastle United9 October 20018Coventry City0–2Chelsea9 October 20019Crewe Alexandra2–3Ipswich Town9 October 200110Gillingham0–2Southampton9 October 200111Leicester City0–6Leeds United9 October 200112Liverpool1–2 Grimsby Town9 October 200113Tranmere Rovers0–4Tottenham Hotspur9 October 200114Watford4–1Bradford City9 October 200115West Bromwich Albion0–1Charlton Athletic9 October 200116Bolton Wanderers1–0Nottingham Forest8 October 2001

Fourth round The matches were played on 27–29 November.

Fifth round The four matches were played on 11–12 and 19 December.

Semi-finals The semi-final draw was made in December 2001 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 7 and 21 January 2002.

First leg

Second leg

Blackburn Rovers won 6–3 on aggregate.

Tottenham Hotspur won 6–3 on aggregate

Final

The 2002 Worthington Cup Final was played on 24 February 2002 and was contested between Premier League teams Tottenham Hotspur and Blackburn Rovers at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Blackburn Rovers 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