1995–96 Football League Cup

The 1995–96 Football League Cup (known as the Coca-Cola Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 36th Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92 football clubs.

1995–96 Football League Cup

League Cup, Coca-Cola Cup
Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Teams	92
Defending champions	Liverpool
Final positions
Champions	Aston Villa (5th title)
Runners-up	Leeds United
Tournament statistics
Top goal scorer(s)	Ian Wright (7 goals)
← 1994–95 1996–97 →

The tournament was won by Aston Villa, who beat Leeds United 3–0 in the final at Wembley Stadium.^[1]

First round

56 of the First, Second and Third Division clubs compete from the First Round. 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 1994–95 season.

First leg

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Barnet	0–0	Charlton Athletic	15 August 1995
Birmingham City	1–0	Plymouth Argyle	15 August 1995
Bradford City	2–1	Blackpool	15 August 1995
Cambridge United	2–1	Swindon Town	15 August 1995
Chester City	4–1	Wigan Athletic	15 August 1995
Chesterfield	0–1	Bury	15 August 1995
Colchester United	2–1	Bristol City	15 August 1995
Crewe Alexandra	4–0	Darlington	23 August 1995
Doncaster Rovers	1–1	Shrewsbury Town	14 August 1995
Fulham	3–0	Brighton & Hove Albion	15 August 1995
Gillingham	1–1	Bristol Rovers	15 August 1995
Hereford United	0–2	Oxford United	15 August 1995
Huddersfield Town	1–2	Port Vale	15 August 1995
Hull City	1–2	Carlisle United	15 August 1995
Luton Town	1–1	Bournemouth	15 August 1995
Mansfield Town	0–1	Burnley	15 August 1995
Notts County	2–0	Lincoln City	15 August 1995
Portsmouth	0–2	Cardiff City	16 August 1995
Preston North End	1–1	Sunderland	15 August 1995
Rochdale	2–1	York City	15 August 1995
Scarborough	1–0	Hartlepool United	15 August 1995
Scunthorpe United	4–1	Rotherham United	15 August 1995
Stockport County	1–0	Wrexham	15 August 1995
Swansea City	4–1	Peterborough United	15 August 1995
Torquay United	0–0	Exeter City	15 August 1995
Walsall	2–2	Brentford	15 August 1995
West Bromwich Albion	1–1	Northampton Town	15 August 1995
Wycombe Wanderers	3–0	Leyton Orient	15 August 1995

Second leg

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date	Agg
Blackpool	2–3	Bradford City	22 August 1995	3–5
Bournemouth	2–1[2]	Luton Town	22 August 1995	3–2
Brentford	3–2	Walsall	22 August 1995	5–4
Brighton & Hove Albion	0–2	Fulham	22 August 1995	0–5
Bristol City	2–1[2][3]	Colchester United	22 August 1995	3–3
Bristol Rovers	4–2	Gillingham	23 August 1995	5–3
Burnley	3–1	Mansfield Town	22 August 1995	4–1
Bury	2–1	Chesterfield	5 September 1995	3–1
Cardiff City	1–0	Portsmouth	22 August 1995	3–0
Carlisle United	2–4	Hull City	22 August 1995	4–5
Charlton Athletic	2–0	Barnet	22 August 1995	2–0
Darlington	1–1	Crewe Alexandra	5 September 1995	1–5
Exeter City	1–1[2][4]	Torquay United	23 August 1995	1–1
Hartlepool United	1–0[2][5]	Scarborough	22 August 1995	1–1
Leyton Orient	2–0	Wycombe Wanderers	22 August 1995	2–3
Lincoln City	0–2	Notts County	22 August 1995	0–4
Northampton Town	2–4	West Bromwich Albion	22 August 1995	3–5
Oxford United	3–2	Hereford United	22 August 1995	5–2
Peterborough United	3–0[2][6]	Swansea City	22 August 1995	4–4
Plymouth Argyle	1–2	Birmingham City	22 August 1995	1–3
Port Vale	1–3	Huddersfield Town	22 August 1995	3–4
Rotherham United	5–0[2]	Scunthorpe United	22 August 1995	6–4
Shrewsbury Town	0–0[2][7]	Doncaster Rovers	22 August 1995	1–1
Sunderland	3–2	Preston North End	23 August 1995	4–3
Swindon Town	2–0	Cambridge United	23 August 1995	3–2
Wigan Athletic	1–3	Chester City	22 August 1995	2–7
Wrexham	2–2	Stockport County	5 September 1995	2–3
York City	5–1[2]	Rochdale	22 August 1995	6–3

Second round

First leg

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Aston Villa	6–0	Peterborough United	20 September 1995
Birmingham City	3–1	Grimsby Town	20 September 1995
Bolton Wanderers	1–0	Brentford	19 September 1995
Bradford City	3–2	Nottingham Forest	19 September 1995
Bristol City	0–5	Newcastle United	19 September 1995
Bristol Rovers	0–1	West Ham United	20 September 1995
Cardiff City	0–3	Southampton	19 September 1995
Coventry City	2–0	Hull City	20 September 1995
Crewe Alexandra	2–2	Sheffield Wednesday	19 September 1995
Hartlepool United	0–3	Arsenal	19 September 1995
Huddersfield Town	2–0	Barnsley	19 September 1995
Leeds United	0–0	Notts County	19 September 1995
Leicester City	2–0	Burnley	20 September 1995
Liverpool	2–0	Sunderland	20 September 1995
Manchester United	0–3	York City	20 September 1995
Middlesbrough	2–1	Rotherham United	20 September 1995
Millwall	0–0	Everton	20 September 1995
Norwich City	6–1	Torquay United	20 September 1995
Oxford United	1–1	Queens Park Rangers	19 September 1995
Reading	1–1	West Bromwich Albion	20 September 1995
Sheffield United	2–1	Bury	20 September 1995
Shrewsbury Town	1–3	Derby County	19 September 1995
Southend United	2–2	Crystal Palace	19 September 1995
Stockport County	1–1	Ipswich Town	19 September 1995
Stoke City	0–0	Chelsea	20 September 1995
Swindon Town	2–3	Blackburn Rovers	20 September 1995
Tottenham Hotspur	4–0	Chester City	20 September 1995
Tranmere Rovers	1–0	Oldham Athletic	19 September 1995
Watford	1–1	Bournemouth	19 September 1995
Wimbledon	4–5	Charlton Athletic	19 September 1995
Wolverhampton Wanderers	2–0	Fulham	20 September 1995
Wycombe Wanderers	0–0	Manchester City	19 September 1995

Second leg

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date	Agg
Arsenal	5–0	Hartlepool United	3 October 1995	8–0
Barnsley	4–0	Huddersfield Town	3 October 1995	4–2
Blackburn Rovers	2–0	Swindon Town	4 October 1995	5–2
Bournemouth	1–1[2][8]	Watford	3 October 1995	2–2
Brentford	2–3	Bolton Wanderers	3 October 1995	2–4
Burnley	0–2	Leicester City	3 October 1995	0–4
Bury	4–2	Sheffield United	3 October 1995	5–4
Charlton Athletic	3–3[2]	Wimbledon	3 October 1995	8–7
Chelsea	0–1	Stoke City	4 October 1995	0–1
Chester City	1–3	Tottenham Hotspur	4 October 1995	1–7
Crystal Palace	2–0	Southend United	3 October 1995	4–2
Derby County	1–1	Shrewsbury Town	4 October 1995	4–2
Everton	2–4[2]	Millwall	4 October 1995	2–4
Fulham	1–5	Wolverhampton Wanderers	3 October 1995	1–7
Grimsby Town	1–1	Birmingham City	3 October 1995	2–4
Hull City	0–1	Coventry City	4 October 1995	0–3
Ipswich Town	1–2[2]	Stockport County	3 October 1995	2–3
Manchester City	4–0	Wycombe Wanderers	4 October 1995	4–0
Newcastle United	3–1	Bristol City	4 October 1995	8–1
Nottingham Forest	2–2	Bradford City	4 October 1995	4–5
Notts County	2–3	Leeds United	3 October 1995	2–3
Oldham Athletic	1–3	Tranmere Rovers	4 October 1995	1–4
Peterborough United	1–1	Aston Villa	3 October 1995	1–7
Queens Park Rangers	2–1	Oxford United	3 October 1995	3–2
Rotherham United	0–1	Middlesbrough	3 October 1995	1–3
Sheffield Wednesday	5–2	Crewe Alexandra	4 October 1995	7–4
Southampton	2–1	Cardiff City	4 October 1995	5–1
Sunderland	0–1	Liverpool	4 October 1995	0–3
Torquay United	2–3	Norwich City	4 October 1995	3–9
West Bromwich Albion	2–4	Reading	3 October 1995	3–5
West Ham United	3–0	Bristol Rovers	4 October 1995	4–0
York City	1–3	Manchester United	3 October 1995	4–3

Third round

Most matches in the third round were played on 24 and 25 October with 1 match being played on 7 November.

Ties

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Aston Villa	2–0	Stockport County	25 October 1995
Barnsley	0–3	Arsenal	24 October 1995
Birmingham City	1–1	Tranmere Rovers	24 October 1995
Bolton Wanderers	0–0	Leicester City	24 October 1995
Crystal Palace	2–2	Middlesbrough	25 October 1995
Coventry City	3–2	Tottenham Hotspur	25 October 1995
Derby County	0–1	Leeds United	25 October 1995
Liverpool	4–0	Manchester City	25 October 1995
Millwall	0–2	Sheffield Wednesday	25 October 1995
Norwich City	0–0	Bradford City	25 October 1995
Queens Park Rangers	3–1	York City	25 October 1995
Reading	2–1	Bury	7 November 1995
Southampton	2–1	West Ham United	25 October 1995
Stoke City	0–4	Newcastle United	25 October 1995
Watford	1–2	Blackburn Rovers	24 October 1995
Wolverhampton Wanderers	0–0	Charlton Athletic	25 October 1995

Replays

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Tranmere Rovers	1–3	Birmingham City	8 November 1995
Leicester City	2–3	Bolton Wanderers	8 November 1995
Middlesbrough	2–0	Crystal Palace	8 November 1995
Bradford City	3–5	Norwich City	8 November 1995
Charlton Athletic	1–2	Wolverhampton Wanderers	8 November 1995

Fourth round

Most matches were played on 28–29 November with two replays being played on 20 December.

Ties

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Arsenal	2–1	Sheffield Wednesday	29 November 1995
Aston Villa	1–0	Queens Park Rangers	29 November 1995
Leeds United	2–1	Blackburn Rovers	29 November 1995
Liverpool	0–1	Newcastle United	29 November 1995
Middlesbrough	0–0	Birmingham City	29 November 1995
Norwich City	0–0	Bolton Wanderers	29 November 1995
Reading	2–1	Southampton	28 November 1995
Wolverhampton Wanderers	2–1	Coventry City	29 November 1995

Replays

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Birmingham City	2–0	Middlesbrough	20 December 1995
Bolton Wanderers	0–0[2][9]	Norwich City	20 December 1995

Quarter-finals

The four matches were played between 10 January with one replay being played on 24 January.

Ties

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Arsenal	2–0	Newcastle United	10 January 1996
Aston Villa	1–0	Wolverhampton Wanderers	10 January 1996
Leeds United	2–1	Reading	10 January 1996
Norwich City	1–1	Birmingham City	10 January 1996

Replay

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Birmingham City	2–1	Norwich City	24 January 1996

Semi-finals

The semi-final draw was made in January 1996 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 first leg matches were played on 11 and 14 February 1996, the second leg matches were played on 21 and 25 February 1996. Leeds United comfortably beat Birmingham City to reach their first domestic cup final for 23 years, while four-time winners Aston Villa only overcame Arsenal on away goals.

First leg

11 February 1996

Birmingham City	1–2	Leeds United
Francis 27'		Yeboah 53' Whyte 72' (o.g.)

St Andrew's, Birmingham

Attendance: 24,781

14 February 1996

Arsenal	2–2	Aston Villa
Bergkamp 26', 32'		Yorke 38', 72'

Highbury, London

Attendance: 37,562

Second leg

21 February 1996

Aston Villa	0–0	Arsenal

Villa Park, Birmingham

Attendance: 39,334

Aston Villa win on away goals

25 February 1996

Leeds United	3–0	Birmingham City
Masinga 54' Yeboah 56' Deane 86'

Elland Road, Leeds

Attendance: 35,435

Leeds United win 5–1 on aggregate

Final

Main article: 1996 Football League Cup Final

The 1996 Coca-Cola Cup Final was played on 24 March 1996 and was contested between Aston Villa and Leeds United at Wembley Stadium. Aston Villa won the final 3–0 to equal Liverpool's record of five League Cup titles.

24 March 1996

17:00

Aston Villa	3–0	Leeds United
Milošević 20' Taylor 55' Yorke 88'	Report

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 77,065

Referee: Robbie Hart (County Durham)