Portal:English football/Selected competition/8

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Opening Ceremony at the 2014 final

The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup, is an English football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout (single elimination) basis, but unlike the FA Cup, where almost 700 or more teams enter through the preliminaries, only the 92 professinal league clubs —the 20 clubs of the Premiership, and the 72 clubs of The Football League — participate in the competition. Another difference from the FA Cup is that the semi-finals are played over two legs. Currently, apart from the final, if the match ends in 90 minutes with the scores level, the tie would be decided via penalties immediately. Back then, the winners would qualify for the UEFA Cup (Now named the Europa League), if they have not qualified for European competition in some other way. The same format applies, but the winners now would qualify for the UEFA Europa Conference League. If the winner qualifies for the Champions League, the Conference League spot is given to the team that finishes highest in the Premiership, that has not already qualified for a European competition.