Five-Time League Cup Winners Trivia Quiz

Answer: Aston Villa

The inaugural League Cup took place in season 1960-61. Five of the 92 league teams did not participate in the competition, which lasted for nearly a year (the two-leg final between Rotherham United and Aston Villa was played in August and September 1961). The latter had played an extra game in the semi-finals stage against Burnley because both legs of their semi-final ended in a draw. The first leg of the final was played in Rotherham and the local team won 2-0. However, Aston Villa came back by scoring three goals at Villa Park (including one in extra time) to win the final.

Aston Villa was founded in 1874 and is nicknamed "the lions". Their club emblem also features a lion. The team is one of the two major professional football clubs of Birmingham, the other one being Birmingham City.

Answer: Leicester City

Chelsea is a London-based club founded in 1905. The "Blues" rapidly gained a fan base and had a few notable players in their ranks early in their history. However, the club was relatively unremarkable for the first half of the 20th century. Chelsea won their first league title in 1955. Ten years later, Chelsea defeated the reigning League Cup champions, Leicester City, to win their first-ever cup title.

Chelsea beat Leicester by 3-2 in the first leg, and "the Foxes" were unable to score in the second leg. A year earlier, Leicester City had won their first League Cup by beating Stoke City. Leicester was founded a little bit earlier than Chelsea (1884) and despite their long history, did not win the league title until their historic win in the 2015-16 season.

Answer: Manchester City

The two Manchester clubs were founded almost at the same time: Manchester United was formed in 1878 and Manchester City was founded in 1880. While Manchester City adopted that name in 1894, the Reds would not be known as Manchester United F.C. until 1902. Since these are the two major clubs in Manchester, they share a fierce rivalry.

Manchester United won many more league titles than Manchester City did in the 20th century. However, Manchester City was the first of the two to win a League Cup, when they beat West Bromwich Albion in 1970. Manchester United's first League Cup would not come until 1992.

Answer: The original match ended in a draw

For a while, League Cup matches that ended in a draw even after extra time would automatically go to a replay. That meant that a completely new match would need to be played to determine the winner. From 1998 onwards, this tiebreaker method was replaced by a penalty shootout at the end of a drawn match (after extra time).

In March 1981, Liverpool and West Ham United tied 1-1 in a dramatic final at Wembley where both goals were scored in the last minutes of extra time. A replay was scheduled for 1st April at Villa Park, where Liverpool won 2-1 in regular time. Referee Clive Thomas was in charge of both matches. This was Liverpool's first League Cup final victory.

Answer: Patrice Evra

Manchester United was in great shape in the mid-2000s decade, and the period between 2000 and 2013 was especially successful for the team. Manchester won the Premier League three times in a row in 2007, 2008, and 2009. The "Red Devils" also won the 2008 UEFA Champions League and the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup. With all this in mind, it is not surprising that Man U added another League Cup to their list of achievements in 2006 (their first was in 1992).

Wigan Athletic's starting goalkeeper Mike Pollitt had to be substituted early in the match due to an injury. Wayne Rooney scored the first and last goals of the match; Cristiano Ronaldo and Louis Saha scored one each. French defender Patrice Evra also played in that match for Manchester United, but only for a few minutes. After leaving Manchester, Evra played for Juventus, Marseille, and West Ham before announcing his retirement in 2018.

Answer: Chelsea v. Arsenal

The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff hosted the 2007 League Cup final between Chelsea and Arsenal. The match did not disappoint and was exciting from beginning to end. Arsenal's Theo Walcott scored first early in the match, but Didier Drogba would equalize for Chelsea very quickly. A second goal by Drogba towards the end of the match sealed Chelsea's victory and their fourth League Cup title (1965, 1998 and 2005 were their first three).

At the near end of the match, Mikel John Obi and Kolo Toure got involved in a fight that soon became much bigger. The coaches for both teams, Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger, entered the pitch to try to calm down their players. Referee Howard Webb sent off both Mikel and Toure, as well as Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor.

Answer: Liverpool

Though all of these clubs reached many League Cup finals and won many of them, Liverpool were the first to win two in a row. In fact, Liverpool had a fantastic streak - they won four straight in 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984! Their opponents, respectively, were West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, and Everton.

Aston Villa was close to achieving the same feat, as they won in 1975 and 1977. The 1976 final in between was won by Manchester City.

Answer: 6

Other than their wins in 1970 and 1976, Manchester City didn't find much success in the League Cup for much of its history. Things would change in the 2010s decade as the club became an even more powerful player in English football. Manchester City beat Sunderland in 2014 to win their third-ever League Cup, and won again in 2016 by defeating Liverpool after a penalty shootout. Between 2018 and 2021, Manchester City amazingly obtained four consecutive League Cup trophies by beating Arsenal, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.

With this string of victories, Manchester City became the second team to win eight League Cups. Liverpool was the first to do so, in 2012.

Answer: Manchester United

The 2009 League Cup final was played at Wembley Stadium. The match was between Manchester United and then-reigning League Cup champions Tottenham Hotspur. After 120 minutes of regular time and extra time, the match went to a penalty shootout. Ryan Giggs, Carlos Tevez, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Anderson all got the job done and scored Manchester's penalties. Unfortunately for the Spurs, Jamie O'Hara and David Bentley, missed their shots.

This final, which ended in Manchester United getting their third League Cup, was the first to end 0-0 since the Liverpool v Everton final in 1984.

Answer: Kepa

Chelsea and Liverpool faced off on 27th February 2022, at Wembley Stadium. The match ended after extra time without goals and went to a penalty shootout. Just before the end of extra time, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel substituted goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga for Edouard Mendy. Unfortunately, whatever Tuchel attempted didn't work since Liverpool scored all eleven of its penalties. Every Chelsea player also scored except for Kepa, whose miss ended a 22-shot series that gave Liverpool their ninth League Cup.

Kepa is a Spanish goalkeeper who started his professional career in the Basque Country. He was transferred from Athletic Bilbao to Chelsea for a record fee of 80 million in 2018. Kepa also attracted much attention at the end of the 2019 League Cup final between Manchester City and Chelsea, after he refused to leave the field even after his substitution was ordered by manager Maurizio Sarri.