Town U21s to Play in EFL Trophy
Tuesday, 23rd Jun 2026 13:06

Town have revealed that the U21s will compete in next season’s EFL Trophy having been invited to take part as one of 16 category one academy teams.

The young Blues will play all their fixtures away from home against teams in Leagues One and Two.

The regionalised draw for the group stage will take place on Thursday live on Sky Sports News at 2.30pm with former Blues skipper Luke Chambers among those selecting the ties. Town will be ball number seven in the Southern draw with the groups decided other than the U21s sides.

“Our involvement in this competition is an excellent example of the club’s progress in recent years and we’re looking forward to our academy players experiencing another new challenge and a fantastic platform to perform,” academy manager Ben Chenery said.

“Gaining senior experience against EFL sides will be hugely beneficial to our players’ development.

“They rose to new challenges superbly last season and this year will see more fixtures against senior and international opposition.”

The other clubs whose U21s sides will play in the competition are Arsenal, Aston Villa, Brentford, Brighton & Hove Albion, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur.

Alongside Town, Brentford and Sunderland weren't involved in last season's competition with Manchester United, West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers dropping out.

During their time in League One, the Town first team faced the likes of Arsenal and West Ham's U21s in the competition, then known as the Papa Johns Trophy.

Photo: Matchday Images

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MickMillsTash added 13:09 - Jun 23 Do matches in this competition count as Ground ticks toward the 92 ?
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Mark added 13:10 - Jun 23 While it is good to be on the right side of this after those League One days, I still think U21s playing senior teams is wrong.
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Saxonblue74 added 13:10 - Jun 23 Excellent. Proper competitivse football for our u21 is surely essential for development
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BeachBlue added 13:19 - Jun 23 We've come long way since losing to West Ham under 21's in that cup. James Norwood scoring within three minutes. Losing to a last minute penalty. Dark days indeed
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trncbluearmy added 13:31 - Jun 23 Excellent news, can only be good for their development
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Monkey_Blue added 13:39 - Jun 23 Can’t imagine why we wouldn’t. This is a great addition to their schedule that can only aid player development.
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blueoutlook added 13:45 - Jun 23 Don’t agree with this at all. But that’s football nowadays. All the cups have become worthless add ons to the big boys and the rest of us go along with it.
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runningout added 13:45 - Jun 23 our so called first team do not compete in cup competitions. So I am scratching my head at this… Whole new outlook towards cups required. Plus sensible physicality in U21’s and full squad
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jas0999 added 13:46 - Jun 23 Excellent news. Perfect for the U21 teams development. Nothing not to like here.
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blues1 added 13:52 - Jun 23 Runningout. What are you on about? Just bcse we havent won that many cup games of late, doesnt mean we dont compete in the cups. . And whycwoupd you be scratching ur head at this? Will give the youngsters a chamce of real competitive football. Something they've been starved off for some time. And can only help us in the long run.
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Bazza8564 added 13:54 - Jun 23 It would be really good if season ticket holders could attend these for free
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Chalk_Cheese added 13:58 - Jun 23 have we only been "invited" on the back of man utd pulling their team out?!??!
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MoscowBlueMule added 13:59 - Jun 23 I for one think this is great news. Not only does it give the young lads much needed competitive experience, it is also means more football when we can go weeks in the Prem without a game.
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armchaircritic59 added 14:14 - Jun 23

blueoutlook, I don't think you can describe any League One/Two teams as " big boys ". I think it's a great chance for the youngsters to pit their wits against more senior pro's and see where they currently stand in the scheme of things. It will only aid their development. I don't see a downside. If it was yet another meaningless competition involving regular first team squad members, that would be very different.

Rsj13 added 14:14 - Jun 23

I wonder, is this the quickest turnaround from the senior squad being in the competition to the U21s?

It's pretty wild to think that what, 4 years ago the first team was playing this tournament, and losing to U21 squads!

That said, even being the "right" side of the line on this now, it still feels wrong and pretty disrespectful to the other clubs that this is even allowed.

Hermann_eats_puffin added 14:24 - Jun 23

This is really great news for the U21 team and can only aid their development playing against L1 and L2 teams.

I was a bit surprised because I had expected us to enter a team in the National League Cup ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ ) in order to give our U21 team their first experience in this type of cup competition but at a slightly lower level.

I think that this will be tough for our U21 team and a bit of a baptism of fire for some but that can only be good for their long term development and great in terms of experience for the likes of Ryan Doherty, Somto Boniface, Luca Fletcher, Tudor Mendel-Idowu, Josh Pitts, Frankie Runham, Tom Taylor and others (if not out on loan) to get some extra experience of football at a different level than PL2 (in which our U21 team did very well last season!).

People often ask how close our U21 team players are to the first team and this will give people a much better idea of that than via watching them in PL2.

Paulc added 15:26 - Jun 23 Great, as many have said, development for our youngsters. @Bazza8564 - They're all away games, why should season ticket holders attend for free?
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IpswichToon added 15:51 - Jun 23 Haha what on earth. Could anyone have imagined, a little over a year ago, that this coming season our U21's would be competing against Leicester's Senior team in a competitive tournament! Any more info on why Manchester United have dropped out? Are they no longer category 1 or something?
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NITFC added 16:03 - Jun 23 As most have said on here, this is great news for the young lads. And also potentially good for those of us that haven't been to Newport, Barnet or Northampton. Group E, F or G please.
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slobfeatures added 16:17 - Jun 23 MickMilsTash I hope so and we get Goup E! I’ve missed all these grounds so far!
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Perublue added 19:36 - Jun 23 @Hermann_eats_puffin .. I agree the national league cup could well have been a good stepping stone to the pizza cup … but it does seem that cup has a few problems maybe even not going ahead with senior teams…several and growing by the hour have pulled out ,Yeovil and Forest Green to name two.
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StowTractor added 17:45 - Jun 24 Less than 4 years since I was sat at PR watching us play Arenal U21s in the final group match and then go on to lose at home to Pompey in the second round. remembered an unprintable song about not caring about the cup because we were going up. Always wondered if our U21s would one day play in the competition. Didn't expect it to be that quickly.
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