| 1960–61 League Cup | |
| Country: | England Wales |
| Num Teams: | 87 |
| Winners: | Aston Villa |
| Second: | Rotherham United |
| Matches: | 113 |
| Next Season: | 1961–62 |
The 1960–61 Football League Cup was the inaugural staging of the Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92 football clubs. The competition began on 26 September 1960, and ended with the two-legged final almost a year later on 22 August and 5 September 1961.
The tournament was won by Aston Villa, who beat Rotherham United 3–2 on aggregate after extra time. Rotherham won the first leg 2–0 at Millmoor, their home ground thanks to goals from Alan Kirkman and Barry Webster. In the second leg at Villa Park, Harry Burrows and Peter McParland levelled the tie on aggregate and Alan O'Neill scored in extra-time to win the cup for Aston Villa.
5 League teams did not compete (Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Sheffield Wednesday, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers). Of the other 87 teams, 41 received a bye to the second round and the other 46 played in the first round. Unlike in later seasons, the byes were assigned randomly; from 1962–63 onward the lower teams played in the first round while the upper division teams joined them in the second round onward.
| Round | Main date | Fixtures | Clubs | New entries this round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=55 | Original | width=55 | Replays | |||||
| align=left | First Round | align=left | 10 October 1960 | 23 | 8 | 87 → 64 | 46 | |
| align=left | Second Round | align=left | 24 October 1960 | 32 | 9 | 64 → 32 | 41 | |
| align=left | Third Round | align=left | 16 November 1960 | 16 | 3 | 32 → 16 | none | |
| align=left | Fourth round | align=left | 14 December 1960 | 8 | 3 | 16 → 8 | none | |
| align=left | Fifth round | align=left | February 1960 | 4 | 0 | 8 → 4 | none | |
| align=left | Semi-finals | align=left | 10 April 1961 | 4 | 1 | 4 → 2 | none | |
| align=left | Final | align=left | 22 August & 5 September 1961 | 2 | 0 | 2 → 1 | none | |
A total of 46 clubs played in the first round: 17 from Fourth Division (tier 4), 8 from Third Division (tier 3), and 10 from the Second Division (tier 2) and 11 from the First Division (tier 1).
| Home team | Score | Away team | Attendance | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol Rovers (2) | 2–1 | Fulham (1) | 20,022 | 26-09-1960 |
| Chester (4) | 2–2 | Leyton Orient (2) | 9.074 | 12-10-1960 |
| Colchester United (3) | 4–1 | Newcastle United (1) | 9,130 | 10-10-1960 |
| Coventry City (3) | 4–2 | Barrow (4) | 6,643 | 10-10-1960 |
| Darlington (4) | 2–0 | Crystal Palace (4) | 9,940 | 12-10-1960 |
| Everton (1) | 3–1 | Accrington Stanley (4) | 18,246 | 12-10-1960 |
| Exeter City (4) | 1–1 | Manchester United (1) | 19-10-1960 | |
| Hull City (3) | 0–0 | Bolton Wanderers (1) | 11,980 | 10-10-1960 |
| Ipswich Town (2) | 0–2 | Barnsley (3) | 11-10-1960 | |
| Leicester City (1) | 4–0 | Mansfield Town (4) | 7,070 | 12-10-1960 |
| Lincoln City (2) | 2–2 | Bradford Park Avenue (4) | 1,737 | 12-10-1960 |
| Middlesbrough (2) | 3–4 | Cardiff City (1) | 03-10-1960 | |
| Millwall (4) | 1–7 | Chelsea (1) | 15,007 | 10-10-1960 |
| Newport County (3) | 2–2 | Southampton (2) | 7,834 | 10-10-1960 |
| Oldham Athletic (4) | 2–1 | Hartlepools United (4) | 11-10-1960 | |
| Plymouth Argyle (2) | 2–0 | Southport (4) | 10,048 | 12-10-1960 |
| Preston North End (1) | 4–1 | Peterborough United (4) | 11-10-1960 | |
| Queens Park Rangers (3) | 2–2 | Port Vale (3) | 17-10-1960 | |
| Rochdale (4) | 1–1 | Scunthorpe United (2) | 4,274 | 10-10-1960 |
| Stockport County (4) | 2–0 | Carlisle United (4) | 7,000 | 10-10-1960 |
| Watford (3) | 2–5 | Derby County (2) | 11-10-1960 | |
| West Ham United (1) | 3–1 | Charlton Athletic (2) | 26-09-1960 | |
| York City (4) | 1–3 | Blackburn Rovers (1) | 10,933 | 10-10-1960 |
| Home team | Score | Away team | Attendance | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bolton Wanderers (1) | 5–1 | Hull City (3) | 19-10-1960 | |
| Bradford Park Avenue (4) | 1–0 | Lincoln City (2) | 3,415 | 19-10-1960 |
| Leyton Orient (2) | 1–0 | Chester (4) | 17-10-1960 | |
| Manchester United (1) | 4–1 | Exeter City (4) | 26-10-1960 | |
| Port Vale (3) | 3–1[1] | Queens Park Rangers (3) | 19-10-1960 | |
| Scunthorpe United (2) | 0–1 | Rochdale (4) | 5,727 | 20-10-1960 |
| Southampton (2) | 2–2[2] | Newport County (3) | 8,000 | 17-10-1960 |
| Home team | Score | Away team | Attendance | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aldershot (4) | 1–1 | Bristol City (3) | 5,700 | 10-10-1960 |
| Aston Villa (1) | 4–1 | Huddersfield Town (2) | 17,057 | 12-10-1960 |
| Bolton Wanderers (1) | 6–2 | Grimsby Town (3) | 26-10-1960 | |
| Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic (3) | 1–1 | Crewe Alexandra (4) | 3,208 | 12-10-1960 |
| Bradford City (3) | 2–1 | Manchester United (1) | 02-11-1960 | |
| Bradford Park Avenue (4) | 0–1 | Birmingham City (1) | 31-10-1960 | |
| Brentford (3) | 4–3 | Sunderland (2) | 25-10-1960 | |
| Bury (3) | 2–1 | Sheffield United (2) | 11-10-1960 | |
| Cardiff City (1) | 0–4 | Burnley (1) | 24-10-1960 | |
| Chelsea (1) | 4–2 | Workington (4) | 24-10-1960 | |
| Colchester United (3) | 0–2 | Southampton (2) | 31-10-1960 | |
| Darlington (4) | 3–2 | West Ham United (1) | 24-10-1960 | |
| Derby County (2) | 3–0 | Barnsley (3) | 19-10-1960 | |
| Doncaster Rovers (4) | 3–1 | Stoke City (2) | 18-10-1960 | |
| Everton (1) | 3–1 | Walsall (3) | 31-10-1960 | |
| Gillingham (4) | 1–1 | Preston North End (1) | 19-10-1960 | |
| Leeds United (2) | 0–0 | Blackpool (1) | 13,064 | 28-09-1960 |
| Leicester City (1) | 1–2 | Rotherham United (2) | 26-10-1960 | |
| Leyton Orient (2) | 0–1 | Chesterfield (3) | 14-11-1960 | |
| Liverpool (2) | 1–1 | Luton Town (2) | 10,502 | 19-10-1960 |
| Manchester City (1) | 3–0 | Stockport County (4) | 18-10-1960 | |
| Northampton Town (4) | 1–1 | Wrexham (4) | 18-10-1960 | |
| Norwich City (2) | 6–2 | Oldham Athletic (4) | 26-10-1960 | |
| Nottingham Forest (1) | 2–0 | Halifax Town (3) | 06-10-1960 | |
| Notts County (3) | 1–3 | Brighton & Hove Albion (2) | 20-10-1960 | |
| Plymouth Argyle (2) | 1–1 | Torquay United (3) | 02-11-1960 | |
| Portsmouth (2) | 2–0 | Coventry City (3) | 02-11-1960 | |
| Port Vale (3) | 0–2 | Tranmere Rovers (3) | 24-10-1960 | |
| Reading (3) | 3–5 | Bristol Rovers (2) | 8,323 | 12-10-1960 |
| Rochdale (4) | 5–2 | Southend United (3) | 25-10-1960 | |
| Swansea Town (2) | 1–2 | Blackburn Rovers (1) | 18-10-1960 | |
| Swindon Town (4) | 1–1 | Shrewsbury Town (4) | 10,840 | 12-10-1960 |
| Home team | Score | Away team | Attendance | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackpool (1) | 1–3 | Leeds United (2) | 05-10-1960 | ||
| Bristol City (3) | 3–0 | Aldershot (4) | 25-10-1960 | ||
| Crewe Alexandra (4) | 2–0 | Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic (3) | 19-10-1960 | ||
| Luton Town (2) | 2–5 | Liverpool (2) | 6,125 | 24-10-1960 | |
| Plymouth Argyle (2) | 2–1 | Torquay United (3) | 07-11-1960 | ||
| Preston North End (1) | 3–0 | Gillingham (4) | 25-10-1960 | ||
| Shrewsbury Town (4) | 2–2 | Swindon Town (4) | 5,343 | 24-10-1960 | |
| Wrexham (4) | 2–0 | Northampton Town (4) | 25-10-1960 |
| Home team | Score | Away team | Attendance | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham City (1) | 0–0 | Plymouth Argyle (2) | 14-11-1960 | |
| Blackburn Rovers (1) | 2–1 | Rochdale (4) | 21-11-1960 | |
| Brentford (3) | 1–1 | Burnley (1) | 22-11-1960 | |
| Brighton & Hove Albion (2) | 0–2 | Wrexham (4) | 16-11-1960 | |
| Chesterfield (3) | 0–4 | Leeds United (2) | 23-11-1960 | |
| Darlington (4) | 1–2 | Bolton Wanderers (1) | 14-11-1960 | |
| Derby County (2) | 1–4 | Norwich City (2) | 14-11-1960 | |
| Doncaster Rovers (4) | 0–7 | Chelsea (1) | 16-11-1960 | |
| Everton (1) | 3–1 | Bury (3) | 23-11-1960 | |
| Liverpool (2) | 1–2 | Southampton (2) | 14,036 | 16-11-1960 |
| Nottingham Forest (1) | 2–1 | Bristol City (3) | 15-11-1960 | |
| Portsmouth (2) | 2–0 | Manchester City (1) | 21-11-1960 | |
| Preston North End (1) | 3–3 | Aston Villa (1) | 7,677 | 15-11-1960 |
| Rotherham United (2) | 2–0 | Bristol Rovers (2) | 23-11-1960 | |
| Shrewsbury Town (3) | 2–1 | Bradford City (3) | 8,363 | 16-11-1960 |
| Tranmere Rovers (3) | 2–0 | Crewe Alexandra (4) | 16-11-1960 | |
| Home team | Score | Away team | Attendance | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aston Villa (1) | 3–1 | Preston North End (1) | 15,000 | 23-11-1960 |
| Burnley (1) | 2–1 | Brentford (3) | 06-12-1960 | |
| Plymouth Argyle (2) | 3–1 | Birmingham City (1) | 16-11-1960 | |
| Home team | Score | Away team | Attendance | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aston Villa (1) | 3–3 | Plymouth Argyle (2) | 12,117 | 13-12-1960 |
| Blackburn Rovers (1) | 1–1 | Wrexham (4) | 05-12-1960 | |
| Bolton Wanderers (1) | 0–2 | Rotherham United (2) | 20-12-1960 | |
| Burnley (1) | 2–1 | Nottingham Forest (1) | 10-01-1961 | |
| Portsmouth (2) | 1–0 | Chelsea (1) | 14-12-1960 | |
| Shrewsbury Town (3) | 1–0 | Norwich City (2) | 7,427 | 14-12-1960 |
| Southampton (2) | 5–4 | Leeds United (2) | 05-12-1960 | |
| Tranmere Rovers (3) | 0–4 | Everton (1) | 21-12-1960 | |
| Home team | Score | Away team | Attendance | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plymouth Argyle (2) | 0–0[3] | Aston Villa (1) | 11,006 | 19-12-1960 |
| Wrexham (4) | 3–1 | Blackburn Rovers (1) | 14-12-1960 | |
| Home team | Score | Away team | Attendance | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aston Villa (1) | 3–0 | Wrexham (4) | 19,500 | 22-02-1961 |
| Rotherham United (2) | 3–0 | Portsmouth (2) | 13-02-1961 | |
| Shrewsbury Town (3) | 2–1 | Everton (1) | 15,399 | 15-02-1961 |
| Southampton (2) | 2–4 | Burnley (1) | 06-02-1961 | |
The semi-final draw was made in February 1961 after the conclusion of the quarter-finals. Unlike the rounds up to that point, the semi-final ties were played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The matches were played in March, April and May 1961.
| Home team | Score | Away team | Attendance | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burnley (1) | 1–1 | Aston Villa (1) | 15,908 | 10-04-1961 |
| Rotherham United (2) | 3–2 | Shrewsbury Town (3) | 13,337 | 21-03-1961 |
| Home team | Score | Away team | Attendance | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aston Villa (1) | 2–2 | Burnley (1) | 23,077 | 26-04-1961 |
| Shrewsbury Town (3) | 1–1 | Rotherham United (2) | 16,722 | 10-04-1961 |
The 1961 League Cup Final was played on 22 August and 5 September 1961 and was contested between First Division side Aston Villa and Second Division team Rotherham United. Aston Villa won the game 3–2 on aggregate (after extra time).
Aston Villa wins 3–2 on aggregate.