| Founded | 2000 |
|---|---|
| Region | Trinidad and Tobago |
| Teams | 10 |
| Current champions | Central (3rd title) |
| Most championships | W Connection (8 titles) |
| Website | First Citizens Cup |
 2017 First Citizens Cup | |
TheTrinidad and Tobago League Cup, or commonly known as theFirst Citizens Cup for sponsorship reasons, is theLeague Cup stylefootball competition open forTrinidad and Tobago teams competing in the country'sTT Pro League.[1] Similar to theFA Trophy, it is played on a knockout (single elimination) basis in September and October towards the beginning of each Pro League season. Unlike the FA Trophy, where 36 teams enter each season from the top three tiers of theTrinidad and Tobago football league system and the Secondary Schools Football League, only teams from theTT Pro League compete in the league cup. The knockout tournament was inaugurated in 2000 and is currently sponsored byFirst Citizens Bank. Although the league cup is one of the three major domestic trophies attainable byTrinidad and Tobago league teams, it is perceived as a lower priority than theleague championship and theFA Trophy. The current theme isWhere Winners Reign, withTT$110,000 to the winner, TT$20,000 to the runners-up, semifinal winners receive TT$7,000, quarterfinal winners receive TT$5,000 and Play-off round winners receive TT$3,000.[2]
W Connection is the most successful club in the league cup having won the competition eight times, including five consecutive cup titles in 2004–08 and are the current holders of the league cup having defeatedDefence Force in the2017 final.[3]
The competition began in 2000, under the name of the League Cup, withSan Juan Jabloteh winning the inaugural tournament by defeatingDefence Force 1–0 atMarvin Lee Stadium. In 2001,First Citizens Bank began to sponsor the league cup and was officially branded the First Citizens Cup.W Connection andDefence Force claimed their club's first cup title in 2001 and 2002 respectively. TheSan Juan Kings became the first club to win the title twice having won the league cup again in 2003. W Connection were crowned champions for five consecutive years in 2004–08.[4][5] However, in2009, Defence Force claimed their second title and their first trophy in six years with a 1–0 win overJoe Public.[6] TheEastern Lions exacted revenge by defeatingDefence Force 3–0 onpenalties after the match ended 1–1 the following year in2010 to claim their first league cup title.Caledonia AIA claimed two consecutive league cup titles in2011 and2012.[7][8]
The competition is open to all clubs of theTT Pro League and is divided into three rounds consisting of single-legged matches. Along with the expansion of the league in 2003 and2009, the league cup added additional rounds of competition to narrow the number of teams to eight before the quarterfinals. During the first ten years of competition, teams were seeded as determined by their league position at the time of the quarterfinal pairings announcement. However, in2011, the competition underwent a major format change with the introduction of a group stage and knockout phase. The change was made due to having only six clubs able to enter the competition.Defence Force andPolice were unable to compete due to being called into service for increased crime in portions of the country.[9] The group stage featured two groups of three teams competing in a singleround-robin. The top two teams in each round advanced to the semifinals of the knockout phase. However, the group stage and knockout phase would only last one season. Beginning in2012, the competition returned to a knockout tournament with pairings for each round drawn at random. The draw for each round is held at theFirst Citizens corporate box at theQueen's Park Oval inPort of Spain and is not made until after the scheduled dates for the previous round.[2] The draw also determines which teams will play at home.
Matches in all rounds are single-legged played for 90 minutes duration, at the end of which if the match is still tied, apenalty shootout is used to determine the match winner. Although the current match rules have been place since2008, the competition began with the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds played as two-legged encounters, whereas the final was decided by a single match. In 2004 each round was converted into single-legged matches played intoextra time if the two teams were drawn following regulation.
The League Cup has been sponsored since 2001. The sponsor has been able to determine the competition's sponsorship name. The list below details who the sponsors have been and what they called the competition:
| Period | Sponsor | Name |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | No main sponsor | League Cup |
| 2001–2013 | First Citizens Bank | First Citizens Cup |
| Key | |
|---|---|
| * | Match decided inextra time |
| † | Match decided by apenalty shootout after regulation time |
| ‡ | Match decided by a penalty shootout after extra time |
| Club | Wins | Last final won | Runners-up | Last final lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W. Connection | 8 | 2017 | 2 | 2003 |
| Defence Force | 3 | 2016 | 7 | 2018 |
| Central FC | 3 | 2018 | 1 | 2015 |
| Caledonia AIA | 2 | 2012 | 2 | 2007 |
| San Juan Jabloteh | 2 | 2003 | 1 | 2005 |
| Joe Public | 1 | 2010 | 2 | 2009 |
| North East Stars | 0 | 2 | 2014 | |
| T&TEC | 0 | 1 | 2011 | |
| Ma Pau Stars | 0 | 1 | 2016 |
| National teams |
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| League system |
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| Domestic cups |
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| Awards | |||||
