The 2000–01 season was Port Vale's 89th season of football in the English Football League, and first season back in the Second Division. A season of two halves, Vale were struggling at the bottom of the table when Isthmian League minnows Canvey Island knocked the Vale out of the FA Cup with a 2–1 victory at Vale Park in 'one of the great shocks in FA Cup history'. They also exited the League Cup at the First Round. Things turned round in the second half of the season, as a twelve-game unbeaten run in the league was complemented with a Football League Trophy final win over Brentford – the second time the club lifted the trophy. In the background of this was a financial crisis at the club, which motivated fan protests against Chairman Bill Bell.

The 2001 Football League Trophy final was a football match between Port Vale and Brentford on 22 April 2001 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was the final match of the 2000–01 Football League Trophy, which was in its 18th season, a cup competition for teams from the Second Division and Third Division of the Football League. The match was played at the Millennium Stadium, due to the ongoing reconstruction of its usual venue, Wembley Stadium. Each club had one previous appearance in the final of the Football League Trophy, Port Vale winning the competition in 1993 and Brentford beaten finalists in 1985.