Glentoran were the defending champions after their sixth League Cup win last season; a 1–0 victory over Cliftonville in the previous final.
This season Glentoran went out at the semi-final stage to Crusaders, who were then defeated 3–2 by Linfield in the final.
This was a record ninth League Cup win for Linfield, and would be their last one for 11 years until they won the 2019 final.
The top two clubs from each group then advanced to the quarter-finals where they played a single knock-out tie against another quarter-finalist.
The semi-finals were played in the same format with the two winners of the ties advancing to the single match final.