The2003–04 Football League Cup (known as theCarling Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 44th staging of theFootball League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92football clubs. The competition name reflects a sponsorship deal with lager brandCarling.

The competition began in August 2003 and ended with thefinal on 29 February 2004. TheMillennium Stadium inCardiff hosted the final match, as it had done since 2001 as the reconstruction was still taking place onWembley Stadium in London.

The winners wereMiddlesbrough who beatBolton Wanderers in the final 2-1 and collected their first major piece of silverware in their history and as a result of their victory qualified forEuropean football for the first time.Joseph Desire-Job gave Middlesbrough the lead with just 2 minutes gone and aBolo Zenden penalty five minutes later doubled their advantage.Kevin Davies pulled a goal back in the 21st minute but Middlesbrough held on. It was to be until 2008 when another English manager won a domestic tournament whenHarry Redknapp (then at Portsmouth) lifted the FA Cup.

The 36 winners from the First Round joined 12 of the 20Premier League clubs not participating in theUEFA Champions League in Round Two.

• The draw was made on 16 August 2003.
• Matches occurred during the week commencing 22 August.
• Extra time played when the scores were level after 90 minutes.

¹ Score after 90 minutes

Manchester United,Arsenal,Chelsea,Newcastle United,Liverpool,Southampton,Blackburn Rovers andManchester City joined the 24 winners from the Second Round. Matches were played on the week commencing 27 October 2003

¹ Score after 90 minutes

• The draw was made on 30 November 2003.
• Matches were played in the week commencing 1 December.
• Extra time played when scores level at 90 minutes.

2003-12-03

Aston Villa	3–0	Crystal Palace
Symons 22' (o.g.) McCann 70' Ángel 79'

Villa Park,Birmingham

Attendance: 24,258

Referee:Mike Dean

2003-12-03

Liverpool	2–3	Bolton Wanderers
Murphy 66' Šmicer 88'		Jardel 4' Okacha 79' Djorkaeff 90' (pen.)

Anfield,Liverpool

Attendance: 33,185

Referee:Mike Riley

2003-12-03

Reading	0–1	Chelsea
		Hasselbaink 57'

Madejski Stadium,Reading

Attendance: 24,107

Referee:Steve Bennett

2003-12-03

Tottenham Hotspur	3–1	Manchester City
Anderton 9' Postiga 30' Kanouté 90'		Fowler 80'

White Hart Lane, London

Attendance: 31,727

Referee:Paul Durkin

2003-12-03

West Bromwich Albion	2–0	Manchester United
Haas 6' Dobie 56'

The Hawthorns,West Bromwich

Attendance: 25,282

Referee:Jeff Winter

2003-12-02

Arsenal	5–1	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Aliadière 24',71' Kanu 68' Wiltord 79' Fàbregas 88'		Rae 81'

Highbury, London

Attendance: 28,161

Referee:Dermot Gallagher

2003-12-02

Southampton	2–0	Portsmouth
Beattie 33',90'

St. Mary's Stadium,Southampton

Attendance: 29,201

Referee:Graham Poll

The draw for the quarter-finals was made on 6 December 2003. Matches were played in the week beginning 15 December 2003. The only team from outside the Premier League competing in this round was West Bromwich Albion, who lost 2–0 to Arsenal.

2003-12-16

20:00

West Bromwich Albion	0–2	Arsenal
		Kanu 25' Aliadière 57'

The Hawthorns,West Bromwich

Attendance: 20,369

Referee:Matt Messias

2003-12-16

20:00

Bolton Wanderers	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Southampton
Pedersen 115'

Reebok Stadium,Bolton

Attendance: 13,957

Referee:Phil Dowd

2003-12-17

19:45

Tottenham Hotspur	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Middlesbrough
Anderton 2'		M. Ricketts 86'
Penalties
	4–5

White Hart Lane, London

Attendance: 25,307

Referee:Mike Dean

2003-12-17

19:45

Aston Villa	2–1	Chelsea
Ángel 16' McCann 78'		J. Cole 69'

Villa Park,Birmingham

Attendance: 30,414

Referee:Neale Barry

The semi-final draw was made on 20 December 2003 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 19 January and 26 January 2004, however the second leg of Middlesbrough v Arsenal was not played until 3 February 2004.

2004-01-20

Arsenal	0–1	Middlesbrough
		Juninho 53'

Highbury, London

Attendance: 31,070

Referee:Steve Dunn

2004-01-21

Bolton Wanderers	5–2	Aston Villa
Okocha 2',80' Nolan 9' Giannakopoulos 17' Ngotty 74'		Ángel 20',56'

Reebok Stadium,Bolton

Attendance: 16,302

Referee:Paul Durkin

2004-01-27

Aston Villa	2–0	Bolton Wanderers
Hitzlsperger 10' Samuel 88'

Villa Park,Birmingham

Attendance: 36,883

Referee:Steve Bennett

Bolton Wanderers won 5–4 on aggregate.

2004-02-03

Middlesbrough	2–1	Arsenal
Zenden 69' Reyes 85' (o.g.)		Edu 77'

Riverside Stadium,Middlesbrough

Attendance: 28,781

Referee:Dermot Gallagher

Middlesbrough won 3–1 on aggregate.

The 2004 Carling Cup Final was played on 29 February 2004 at theMillennium Stadium,Cardiff. It was contested byBolton Wanderers andMiddlesbrough. Middlesbrough won the match 2-1 and in doing so collected their first major piece of silverware in their history and qualified for the European football in theUEFA Cup for the first time.

2004-02-29

14:00

Bolton Wanderers	1–2	Middlesbrough
Davies 21'	Report	Job 2' Zenden 7' (pen.)

Millennium Stadium,Cardiff

Attendance: 72,634

Referee:Mike Riley (West Yorkshire)

• Football League Cup

Wikimedia Commons has media related toFootball League Cup 2003-2004.

• Official Carling Cup website
• Carling Cup at bbc.co.uk
• Results service at soccerbase.com

• 2003–04 Football League Cup
• EFL Cup seasons
• 2003–04 in English football cups
• 2003–04 Football League

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