2010 Football League Cup Final

The 2010 Football League Cup Final will be the final match of the 2009–10 Football League Cup, the 50th season of the Football League Cup, a football competition for the 92 teams in the Premier League and The Football League. The match will be played at Wembley Stadium on 28 February 2010. The final and both semi-finals will be broadcast live on the BBC and on Sky Sports. The winner will be guaranteed a UEFA Europa League place for the 2010–11 season. It will be contested by Aston Villa and the holders, Manchester United.

Background
Out of the 172 previous meetings between the two sides, Manchester United had won 87 and Aston Villa had won 49, with the remaining 36 games finishing as draws; however, Villa's record in the League Cup against United was markedly better, with four wins in six matches between them. United's only League Cup win over Aston Villa came in October 1975, when they won 2–1 at Villa Park in the third round. The only previous meeting between the two teams in the final of the competition came in 1994, when Villa won 3–1 and United winger Andrei Kanchelskis became the first player to be sent off in a League Cup final.

Both Manchester United and Aston Villa have played in seven Football League Cup finals, but Manchester United have only won three compared to Villa's five. However, United's most recent victory came in 2009 – when they beat Tottenham Hotspur on penalties – whereas Villa's last League Cup title came in 1996, when they beat Leeds United 3–0.

Ticketing
Since 2008, the final of the Football League Cup has been played at Wembley Stadium in London. The stadium has a capacity of 90,000 spectators, and each team received an allocation of 31,750 tickets for their supporters. Both clubs chose to limit their initial applications to season ticket holders, with priority given to those supporters who had attended more cup games during the season so far.

Officials
Staffordshire-based referee Phil Dowd was named as the referee for the 2010 League Cup final on 1 February 2010. His only previous cup final experience came in 2006, when he was the fourth official for the 2006 FA Cup Final. His assistants for the match will be Shaun Procter-Green from Lincolnshire and David Richardson from West Yorkshire, with Lee Mason from Lancashire acting as fourth official.

Road to Wembley
-See also - Football League Cup 2009-10