1980–81 Football League Cup

1980–81 Football League Cup
League Cup
Tournament details
Country	England; Wales
Teams	92
Final positions
Champions	Liverpool (1st title)
Runner-up	West Ham United
	← 1979–80 1981–82 →

The 1980–81 Football League Cup was the 21st season of the Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92 football clubs. The competition started on 8 August 1980 and ended with the final replay on 1 April 1981.

The final was contested by First Division team Liverpool and Second Division West Ham United at Wembley Stadium in London and the replay was played at Villa Park in Birmingham.

First round

First leg

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Aldershot	2–0	Wimbledon	9 August 1980
Blackburn Rovers	0–0	Huddersfield Town	9 August 1980
Bournemouth	1–1	Swindon Town	9 August 1980
Brentford	3–1	Charlton Athletic	9 August 1980
Bury	2–2	Halifax Town	9 August 1980
Carlisle United	2–0	Rochdale	9 August 1980
Chester	1–1	Stockport County	9 August 1980
Chesterfield	1–0	Darlington	9 August 1980
Colchester United	0–2	Gillingham	9 August 1980
Doncaster Rovers	1–1	Mansfield Town	9 August 1980
Exeter City	1–1	Bristol Rovers	9 August 1980
Grimsby Town	1–0	Notts County	9 August 1980
Hereford United	1–0	Newport County	9 August 1980
Lincoln City	5–0	Hull City	8 August 1980
Northampton Town	0–2	Reading	9 August 1980
Peterborough United	3–2	Fulham	9 August 1980
Plymouth Argyle	0–1	Portsmouth	9 August 1980
Port Vale	2–3	Tranmere Rovers	9 August 1980
Rotherham United	1–3	Bradford City	9 August 1980
Scunthorpe United	0–1	Barnsley	9 August 1980
Sheffield Wednesday	2–0	Sheffield United	9 August 1980
Southend United	1–0	Oxford United	9 August 1980
Torquay United	0–0	Cardiff City	9 August 1980
Walsall	2–3	Blackpool	9 August 1980
Watford	2–1	Millwall	9 August 1980
Wigan Athletic	2–1	Crewe Alexandra	9 August 1980
Wrexham	1–3	Burnley	9 August 1980
York City	2–1	Hartlepool United	9 August 1980

Second leg

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date	Agg
Barnsley	2–1	Scunthorpe United	12 August 1980	3–1
Blackpool	3–1	Walsall	13 August 1980	6–3
Bradford City	0–0	Rotherham United	13 August 1980	3–1
Bristol Rovers	1–1^[1]^[2]	Exeter City	12 August 1980	2–2
Burnley	2–1	Wrexham	12 August 1980	5–2
Cardiff City	2–1	Torquay United	13 August 1980	2–1
Charlton Athletic	5–0	Brentford	12 August 1980	6–3
Crewe Alexandra	2–2^[1]	Wigan Athletic	13 August 1980	3–4
Darlington	1–2	Chesterfield	12 August 1980	1–3
Fulham	1–1^[1]	Peterborough United	12 August 1980	3–4
Gillingham	2–1	Colchester United	12 August 1980	4–1
Halifax Town	0–1	Bury	12 August 1980	2–3
Hartlepool United	0–0	York City	12 August 1980	1–2
Huddersfield Town	1–1^[1]^[3]	Blackburn Rovers	12 August 1980	1–1
Hull City	0–2	Lincoln City	12 August 1980	0–7
Mansfield Town	2–1^[1]	Doncaster Rovers	12 August 1980	3–2
Millwall	0–2	Watford	12 August 1980	1–4
Newport County	5–0	Hereford United	12 August 1980	5–1
Notts County	3–0	Grimsby Town	12 August 1980	3–1
Oxford United	2–0	Southend United	13 August 1980	2–1
Portsmouth	2–1	Plymouth Argyle	12 August 1980	3–1
Reading	2–3	Northampton Town	13 August 1980	4–3
Rochdale	1–1	Carlisle United	12 August 1980	1–3
Sheffield United	1–1	Sheffield Wednesday	12 August 1980	1–3
Stockport County	1–0	Chester	11 August 1980	2–1
Swindon Town	2–0^[1]	Bournemouth	12 August 1980	3–1
Tranmere Rovers	0–1^[1]^[4]	Port Vale	12 August 1980	3–3
Wimbledon	4–1	Aldershot	12 August 1980	4–3

Second round

First leg

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Aston Villa	1–0	Leeds United	27 August 1980
Birmingham City	2–1	Bristol City	26 August 1980
Blackburn Rovers	0–0	Gillingham	27 August 1980
Bolton Wanderers	0–3	Crystal Palace	26 August 1980
Bradford City	1–0	Liverpool	27 August 1980
Brighton & Hove Albion	3–1	Tranmere Rovers	26 August 1980
Burnley	0–2	West Ham United	26 August 1980
Cambridge United	3–1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	26 August 1980
Cardiff City	1–0	Chelsea	27 August 1980
Carlisle United	1–2	Charlton Athletic	26 August 1980
Chesterfield	3–1	Oxford United	26 August 1980
Everton	3–0	Blackpool	26 August 1980
Leyton Orient	0–1	Tottenham Hotspur	27 August 1980
Lincoln City	1–1	Swindon Town	27 August 1980
Manchester United	0–1	Coventry City	27 August 1980
Mansfield Town	0–0	Barnsley	26 August 1980
Middlesbrough	3–1	Ipswich Town	26 August 1980
Newcastle United	3–2	Bury	27 August 1980
Newport County	1–1	Notts County	26 August 1980
Nottingham Forest	3–0	Peterborough United	27 August 1980
Oldham Athletic	3–2	Portsmouth	26 August 1980
Preston North End	1–0	Wigan Athletic	26 August 1980
Queens Park Rangers	0–0	Derby County	26 August 1980
Reading	0–2	Luton Town	27 August 1980
Shrewsbury Town	1–1	Norwich City	26 August 1980
Southampton	4–0	Watford	26 August 1980
Stockport County	1–1	Sunderland	27 August 1980
Stoke City	1–1	Manchester City	27 August 1980
Swansea City	1–1	Arsenal	26 August 1980
West Bromwich Albion	1–0	Leicester City	26 August 1980
Wimbledon	2–1	Sheffield Wednesday	26 August 1980
York City	2–1	Bristol Rovers	27 August 1980

Second leg

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date	Agg
Arsenal	3–1	Swansea City	2 September 1980	4–2
Barnsley	4–2^[1]	Mansfield Town	2 September 1980	4–2
Blackpool	2–2	Everton	3 September 1980	2–5
Bristol City	0–0	Birmingham City	2 September 1980	1–2
Bristol Rovers	1–0^[1]^[5]	York City	3 September 1980	2–2
Bury	1–0^[1]^[6]	Newcastle United	2 September 1980	3–3
Charlton Athletic	2–1	Carlisle United	2 September 1980	4–2
Chelsea	1–1	Cardiff City	3 September 1980	1–2
Coventry City	1–0	Manchester United	2 September 1980	2–0
Crystal Palace	2–1	Bolton Wanderers	2 September 1980	5–1
Derby County	0–0^[1]^[7]	Queens Park Rangers	3 September 1980	0–0
Gillingham	1–2^[1]	Blackburn Rovers	2 September 1980	1–2
Ipswich Town	3–0	Middlesbrough	2 September 1980	4–3
Leeds United	1–3	Aston Villa	3 September 1980	1–4
Leicester City	0–1	West Bromwich Albion	3 September 1980	0–2
Liverpool	4–0	Bradford City	2 September 1980	4–1
Luton Town	1–1	Reading	2 September 1980	3–1
Manchester City	3–0	Stoke City	3 September 1980	4–1
Norwich City	2–0^[1]	Shrewsbury Town	3 September 1980	3–1
Notts County	2–0	Newport County	2 September 1980	3–1
Oxford United	3–0	Chesterfield	3 September 1980	4–3
Peterborough United	1–1	Nottingham Forest	3 September 1980	1–4
Portsmouth	1–0^[1]^[8]	Oldham Athletic	2 September 1980	3–3
Sheffield Wednesday	3–1	Wimbledon	2 September 1980	4–3
Sunderland	1–2	Stockport County	3 September 1980	2–3
Swindon Town	2–0	Lincoln City	2 September 1980	3–1
Tottenham Hotspur	3–1	Leyton Orient	3 September 1980	4–1
Tranmere Rovers	2–4	Brighton & Hove Albion	3 September 1980	3–7
Watford	7–1^[1]	Southampton	2 September 1980	7–5
West Ham United	4–0	Burnley	2 September 1980	6–0
Wigan Athletic	1–2	Preston North End	3 September 1980	1–3
Wolverhampton Wanderers	0–1	Cambridge United	2 September 1980	1–4

Third round

Ties

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Barnsley	3–2	Cardiff City	23 September 1980
Birmingham City	1–0	Blackburn Rovers	23 September 1980
Brighton & Hove Albion	1–2	Coventry City	23 September 1980
Bristol Rovers	0–0	Portsmouth	23 September 1980
Bury	0–7	Nottingham Forest	23 September 1980
Cambridge United	2–1	Aston Villa	23 September 1980
Charlton Athletic	1–2	West Ham United	23 September 1980
Everton	1–2	West Bromwich Albion	24 September 1980
Ipswich Town	1–1	Norwich City	23 September 1980
Liverpool	5–0	Swindon Town	23 September 1980
Luton Town	1–2	Manchester City	23 September 1980
Notts County	4–1	Queens Park Rangers	23 September 1980
Preston North End	1–0	Oxford United	23 September 1980
Sheffield Wednesday	1–2	Watford	23 September 1980
Stockport County	1–3	Arsenal	22 September 1980
Tottenham Hotspur	0–0	Crystal Palace	24 September 1980

Replays

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Crystal Palace	1–3^[1]	Tottenham Hotspur	30 September 1980
Norwich City	1–3	Ipswich Town	8 October 1980
Portsmouth	2–0	Bristol Rovers	30 September 1980

Fourth round

Ties

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Birmingham City	2–1	Ipswich Town	28 October 1980
Coventry City	1–1	Cambridge United	28 October 1980
Liverpool	4–1	Portsmouth	28 October 1980
Manchester City	5–1	Notts County	29 October 1980
Tottenham Hotspur	1–0	Arsenal	4 November 1980
Watford	4–1	Nottingham Forest	28 October 1980
West Bromwich Albion	0–0	Preston North End	29 October 1980
West Ham United	2–1	Barnsley	28 October 1980

Replays

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Cambridge United	0–1	Coventry City	4 November 1980
Preston North End	1–1^[1]	West Bromwich Albion	4 November 1980

2nd Replay

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
West Bromwich Albion	2–1^[1]	Preston North End	12 November 1980

Fifth round

Ties

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Liverpool	3–1	Birmingham City	2 December 1980
Manchester City	2–1	West Bromwich Albion	3 December 1980
Watford	2–2	Coventry City	2 December 1980
West Ham United	1–0	Tottenham Hotspur	2 December 1980

Replay

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Coventry City	5–0	Watford	9 December 1980

Semi-finals

First leg

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date
Coventry City	3–2	West Ham United	27 January 1981
Manchester City	0–1	Liverpool	14 January 1981

Second leg

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date	Agg
Liverpool	1–1	Manchester City	10 February 1981	2–1
West Ham United	2–0	Coventry City	10 February 1981	4–3

Final

14 March 1981

15:00 GMT

Liverpool	1–1 (a.e.t.)	West Ham United
Kennedy 118'		Stewart 120'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 100,000

Referee: Clive Thomas

Replay

1 April 1981

19:30 BST

Liverpool	2–1	West Ham United
Dalglish 25' Hansen 28'		Goddard 5'

Villa Park, Birmingham

Attendance: 36,693

Referee: Clive Thomas

References

General

"English League Cup 1980/1981". Soccerbase. Retrieved 3 February 2009.
"England League Cup Full Results 1960–1996". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2009.
"English League Cup 1980–1981 : Results". Statto. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
LFC History Match Report
LFC History Match Report (Replay)

Specific

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r After Extra Time
^ Bristol Rovers won 7–6 on penalties
^ Blackburn Rovers won on the Away Goals Rule
^ Tranmere Rovers won on the Away Goals Rule
^ Bristol Rovers won on the Away Goals Rule
^ Bury won on the Away Goals Rule
^ Queens Park Rangers won 5–3 on penalties
^ Portsmouth won on the Away Goals Rule

[aet-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r After Extra Time

[brw7-6op-2] Bristol Rovers won 7–6 on penalties

[3] Blackburn Rovers won on the Away Goals Rule

[trwotagr-4] Tranmere Rovers won on the Away Goals Rule

[5] Bristol Rovers won on the Away Goals Rule

[6] Bury won on the Away Goals Rule

[qprw5-3op-7] Queens Park Rangers won 5–3 on penalties

[prwtagr-8] Portsmouth won on the Away Goals Rule

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v t e EFL Cup
Seasons	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Finals	1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Finals Alan Hardaker Trophy Records

v t e 1980–81 in European football (UEFA)
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Domestic cups	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Faroe Islands '80 '81 Finland '80 '81 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '80 '81 Israel Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '80 '81 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania San Marino Scotland Soviet Union '81 Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Wales Yugoslavia
League cups	England Republic of Ireland Scotland
Super cups	Soviet Union '81
UEFA competitions	European Cup (Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final) Super Cup
Non-UEFA competitions	Intertoto Cup Balkans Cup

League Cup
Tournament details
Country	England Wales
Teams	92
Final positions
Champions	Liverpool (1st title)
Runner-up	West Ham United
← 1979–80 1981–82 →