2020–21 EFL Trophy

2020–21 EFL Trophy
Tournament details
Country	England; Wales
Teams	64
Tournament statistics
Matches played	2
Goals scored	7 (3.5 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Harvey Saunders (2 goals)
	← 2019–20 2021–22 →; All statistics correct as of 01 September 2020.

The 2020–21 EFL Trophy will be the 37th season in the history of the competition, a knock-out tournament for English football clubs in League One and League Two of the English football system, and also including 16 Premier League and Championship "Academy teams" with Category One status.^[1]

Participating clubs

Source: EFL.com^[2]

Forty-eight clubs from League One and League Two.
Sixteen invited Category One Academy teams.
Expelled clubs will be automatically eliminated from the tournament.
Category One teams Relegated to League One will miss out on having academies participating in the following tournament.

Five Premier League clubs with Category One academies did not participate: Burnley and Crystal Palace, both in their first full season of Category One status, and Everton, Sheffield United and Tottenham Hotspur, who both played in the previous year's competition but declined to participate in this one. As a result, the academy of Championship-side Norwich City was invited instead.

	League One	League Two	Academies
Clubs	Accrington Stanley AFC Wimbledon Blackpool Bristol Rovers Burton Albion Crewe Alexandra Doncaster Rovers Fleetwood Town Gillingham Hull City Ipswich Town Lincoln City Milton Keynes Dons Northampton Town Oxford United Peterborough United Plymouth Argyle Portsmouth Rochdale Shrewsbury Town Sunderland Swindon Town Wigan Athletic	Barrow Bolton Wanderers Bradford City Carlisle United Cheltenham Town Colchester United Crawley Town Exeter City Forest Green Rovers Grimsby Town Harrogate Town Leyton Orient Mansfield Town Morecambe Newport County Oldham Athletic Port Vale Salford City Scunthorpe United Southend United Stevenage Tranmere Rovers Walsall	Arsenal Aston Villa Brighton & Hove Albion Chelsea Fulham Leeds United Leicester City Liverpool Manchester City Manchester United Newcastle United Norwich City Southampton West Bromwich Albion West Ham United Wolverhampton Wanderers
Total	24	24	16

Eligibility criteria for players

For EFL clubs^[3]

Minimum of four qualifying outfield players in their starting XI. A qualifying outfield player will be one who meets any of the following requirements:
- Any player who started the previous or following first-team fixture
- Any player who is in the top 10 players at the club, who have made the most starting appearances in league and domestic cup competitions that season
- Any player with 40 or more first-team appearances in their career
- Any player on loan from a Premier League club or any EFL Category One Academy club.
A club can play any eligible goalkeeper in the competition

Competition format

Group stage

Sixteen groups of 4 teams would be organised on a regionalised basis.
All groups would include one invited club.
All clubs would play each other once, either home or away (Academies play all group matches away from home).
Clubs would be awarded three points for a win and one point for a draw.
In the event of a drawn game (after 90 minutes), a penalty shootout would be held with the winning team earning an additional point.
Clubs expelled from the EFL will be knocked out of the tournament automatically.
The top two teams would progress to the Knockout Stage.

Knockout stage

Round 2 and 3 of the competition will be drawn on a regionalised basis.
In Round 2, the group winners shall be seeded and the group runners-up shall be unseeded in the draw.
In Round 2, teams who played in the same group as each other in the Group Stage shall keep apart from each other.
Academy teams from Round 2 to the semi-finals keep apart.^[4]

Group stage

Northern Section

Group A

Pos	Div	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	L1	Sunderland	1	1	0	8	1	+7	3	Advance to Round 2
2	L1	Fleetwood Town	1	1	0	3	1	+2	3	Advance to Round 2
3	L2	Carlisle United	1	0	1	1	3	−2	0
4	ACA	Aston Villa U21	1	0	1	1	8	−7	0

Updated to match(es) played on 1 September 2020. Source: EFL.com

1 September 2020 (2020-09-01)	Carlisle United	1–3	Fleetwood Town	Brunton Park
19:00 BST	Toure 36' 90'	Report	Camps 44' Saunders 57', 68'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Ben Speedie

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Sunderland	8-1	Aston Villa U21	Stadium of Light
19:00 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Fleetwood Town	v	Aston Villa U21	Highbury Stadium
19:45 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Sunderland	v	Carlisle United	Stadium of Light
19:45 BST

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Carlisle United	v	Aston Villa U21	Brunton Park
19:45 GMT

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Fleetwood Town	v	Sunderland	Highbury Stadium
19:45 GMT

Group B

Pos	Div	Team	Qualification
1	ACA	Manchester United U21	Advance to Round 2
2	L2	Morecambe	Advance to Round 2
3	L1	Rochdale
4	L2	Salford City

Source: EFL.com

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Morecambe	v	Rochdale	Globe Arena
19:45 BST

9 September 2020 (2020-09-09)	Salford City	v	Manchester United U21	Moor Lane
19:45 BST

29 September 2020 (2020-09-29)	Salford City	v	Morecambe	Moor Lane
19:45 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Rochdale	v	Manchester United U21	Spotland Stadium
19:45 BST

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Morecambe	v	Manchester United U21	Globe Arena
19:45 GMT

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Rochdale	v	Salford City	Spotland Stadium
19:45 GMT

Group C

Pos	Div	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	L2	Bolton Wanderers	1	0	1	2	3	−1	0	Advance to Round 2
2	L1	Crewe Alexandra	1	1	0	3	2	+1	3	Advance to Round 2
3	ACA	Newcastle United U21	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	L1	Shrewsbury Town	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Source: EFL.com

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Bolton Wanderers	2–3	Crewe Alexandra	University of Bolton Stadium
19:00 BST	Delaney 53' Miller 75'	Report	Mandron 15', 89' (pen.) Dale 66'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Anthony Backhouse

22 September 2020 (2020-09-22)	Shrewsbury Town	v	Newcastle United U21	New Meadow
17:30 BST

29 September 2020 (2020-09-29)	Crewe Alexandra	v	Newcastle United U21	Gresty Road
19:00 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Shrewsbury Town	v	Bolton Wanderers	New Meadow
19:00 BST

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Crewe Alexandra	v	Shrewsbury Town	Gresty Road
19:00 GMT

17 November 2020 (2020-11-17)	Bolton Wanderers	v	Newcastle United U21	University of Bolton Stadium
19:00 GMT

Group D

Pos	Div	Team	Qualification
1	ACA	Liverpool U21	Advance to Round 2
2	L2	Port Vale	Advance to Round 2
3	L2	Tranmere Rovers
4	L1	Wigan Athletic

Source: EFL.com

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Port Vale	v	Tranmere Rovers	Vale Park
19:00 BST

22 September 2020 (2020-09-22)	Wigan Athletic	v	Liverpool U21	DW Stadium
19:45 BST

29 September 2020 (2020-09-29)	Tranmere Rovers	v	Liverpool U21	Prenton Park
19:00 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Wigan Athletic	v	Port Vale	DW Stadium
19:45 BST

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Port Vale	v	Liverpool U21	Vale Park
19:00 GMT

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Tranmere Rovers	v	Wigan Athletic	Prenton Park
19:45 GMT

Group E

Pos	Div	Team	Qualification
1	ACA	Manchester City U21	Advance to Round 2
2	L2	Mansfield Town	Advance to Round 2
3	L1	Lincoln City
4	L2	Scunthorpe United

Source: EFL.com

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Mansfield Town	v	Manchester City U21	Field Mill
18:00 BST

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Lincoln City	v	Scunthorpe United	Sincil Bank
19:00 BST

29 September 2020 (2020-09-29)	Scunthorpe United	v	Manchester City U21	Glanford Park
19:00 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Mansfield Town	v	Lincoln City	Field Mill
19:00 BST

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Scunthorpe United	v	Mansfield Town	Glanford Park
19:30 GMT

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Lincoln City	v	Manchester City U21	Sincil Bank
19:45 GMT

Group F

Pos	Div	Team	Qualification
1	L2	Bradford City	Advance to Round 2
2	L1	Doncaster Rovers	Advance to Round 2
3	L2	Oldham Athletic
4	ACA	Wolverhampton Wanderers U21

Source: EFL.com

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Doncaster Rovers	v	Bradford City	Keepmoat Stadium
19:30 BST

15 September 2020 (2020-09-15)	Oldham Athletic	v	Wolverhampton Wanderers U21	Boundary Park
19:45 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Bradford City	v	Wolverhampton Wanderers U21	Valley Parade
19:30 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Oldham Athletic	v	Doncaster Rovers	Boundary Park
19:45 BST

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Doncaster Rovers	v	Wolverhampton Wanderers U21	Keepmoat Stadium
19:00 GMT

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Bradford City	v	Oldham Athletic	Valley Parade
19:30 GMT

Group G

Pos	Div	Team	Qualification
1	L1	Accrington Stanley	Advance to Round 2
2	L2	Barrow	Advance to Round 2
3	L1	Blackpool
4	ACA	Leeds United U21

Source: EFL.com

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Accrington Stanley	v	Leeds United U21	Crown Ground
19:00 BST

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Blackpool	v	Barrow	Bloomfield Road
19:00 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Accrington Stanley	v	Blackpool	Crown Ground
19:45 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Barrow	v	Leeds United U21	Holker Street
19:45 BST

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Barrow	v	Accrington Stanley	Holker Street
19:45 GMT

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Blackpool	v	Leeds United U21	Bloomfield Road
19:45 GMT

Group H

Pos	Div	Team	Qualification
1	L2	Grimsby Town	Advance to Round 2
2	L2	Harrogate Town	Advance to Round 2
3	L1	Hull City
4	ACA	Leicester City U21

Source: EFL.com

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Grimsby Town	v	Harrogate Town	Blundell Park
19:45 BST

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Hull City	v	Leicester City U21	KCOM Stadium
17:30 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Harrogate Town	v	Leicester City U21	Wetherby Road
19:45 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Hull City	v	Grimsby Town	KCOM Stadium
19:45 BST

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Grimsby Town	v	Leicester City U21	Blundell Park
19:45 GMT

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Harrogate Town	v	Hull City	Wetherby Road
19:45 GMT

Southern Section

Group A

Pos	Div	Team	Qualification
1	L2	Colchester United	Advance to Round 2
2	L1	Portsmouth	Advance to Round 2
3	L2	Southend United
4	ACA	West Ham United U21

Source: EFL.com

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Portsmouth	v	Colchester United	Fratton Park
19:00 BST

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Southend United	v	West Ham United U21	Roots Hall
17:30 BST

29 September 2020 (2020-09-29)	Colchester United	v	West Ham United U21	Colchester Community Stadium
19:00 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Southend United	v	Portsmouth	Roots Hall
19:45 BST

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Colchester United	v	Southend United	Colchester Community Stadium
19:30 GMT

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Portsmouth	v	West Ham United U21	Fratton Park
19:45 GMT

Group B

Pos	Div	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	L1	Gillingham	1	1	0	2	1	+1	3	Advance to Round 2
2	ACA	Arsenal U21	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to Round 2
3	L1	Ipswich Town	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	L2	Crawley Town	1	0	1	1	2	−1	0

Updated to match(es) played on 8 September 2020. Source: EFL.com

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Gillingham	v	Crawley Town	Priestfield Stadium
17:30 BST

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Ipswich Town	v	Arsenal U21	Portman Road
19:45 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Ipswich Town	v	Gillingham	Portman Road
19:45 BST

13 October 2020 (2020-10-13)	Crawley Town	v	Arsenal U21	Broadfield Stadium
19:45 BST

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Crawley Town	v	Ipswich Town	Broadfield Stadium
19:45 GMT

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Gillingham	v	Arsenal U21	Priestfield Stadium
19:45 GMT

Group C

Pos	Div	Team	Qualification
1	L1	Milton Keynes Dons	Advance to Round 2
2	L1	Northampton Town	Advance to Round 2
3	ACA	Southampton U21
4	L2	Stevenage

Source: EFL.com

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Milton Keynes Dons	v	Northampton Town	Stadium MK
19:00 BST

22 September 2020 (2020-09-22)	Stevenage	v	Southampton U21	Broadhall Way
19:45 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Northampton Town	v	Southampton U21	Sixfields Stadium
19:45 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Stevenage	v	Milton Keynes Dons	Broadhall Way
19:45 BST

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Northampton Town	v	Stevenage	Sixfields Stadium
19:30 GMT

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Milton Keynes Dons	v	Southampton U21	Stadium MK
19:45 GMT

Group D

Pos	Div	Team	Pld	W	PW	PL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	L1	Oxford United	1	1	0	0	0	2	1	+1	3	Advance to Round 2
2	L2	Walsall	1	0	1	0	0	2	2	0	2	Advance to Round 2
3	L1	Bristol Rovers	1	0	0	1	0	2	2	0	1
4	ACA	Chelsea U21	1	0	0	0	1	1	2	−1	0

Source: EFL.com

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Bristol Rovers	2-2 (3-1 p)	Walsall	Memorial Stadium
19:45 BST	Jules 29' Gordon 64'		Mehew 16' Ayunga 71'	Attendance: 0

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Oxford United	2-1	Chelsea U21	Kassam Stadium
19:45 BST

29 September 2020 (2020-09-29)	Walsall	v	Chelsea U21	Bescot Stadium
19:45 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Oxford United	v	Bristol Rovers	Kassam Stadium
19:45 BST

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Walsall	v	Oxford United	Bescot Stadium
19:45 GMT

18 November 2020 (2020-11-18)	Bristol Rovers	v	Chelsea U21	Memorial Stadium
19:45 GMT

Group E

Pos	Div	Team	Qualification
1	L2	Exeter City	Advance to Round 2
2	L2	Forest Green Rovers	Advance to Round 2
3	L1	Swindon Town
4	ACA	West Bromwich Albion U21

Source: EFL.com

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Exeter City	v	Forest Green Rovers	St James Park
17:30 BST

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Swindon Town	v	West Bromwich Albion U21	County Ground
19:45 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Forest Green Rovers	v	West Bromwich Albion U21	The New Lawn
19:45 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Swindon Town	v	Exeter City	County Ground
19:00 BST

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Forest Green Rovers	v	Swindon Town	The New Lawn
19:00 GMT

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Exeter City	v	West Bromwich Albion U21	St James Park
19:45 GMT

Group F

Pos	Div	Team	Qualification
1	L2	Cheltenham Town	Advance to Round 2
2	L2	Newport County	Advance to Round 2
3	ACA	Norwich City U21
4	L1	Plymouth Argyle

Source: EFL.com

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Newport County	v	Cheltenham Town	Rodney Parade
19:00 BST

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Plymouth Argyle	v	Norwich City U21	Home Park
19:45 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Newport County	v	Norwich City U21	Rodney Parade
19:00 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Cheltenham Town	v	Plymouth Argyle	Whaddon Road
19:45 BST

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Plymouth Argyle	v	Newport County	Home Park
19:00 GMT

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Cheltenham Town	v	Norwich City U21	Whaddon Road
19:00 GMT

Group G

Pos	Div	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	L1	AFC Wimbledon	1	1	0	2	1	+1	3	Advance to Round 2
2	ACA	Brighton & Hove Albion U21	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to Round 2
3	L2	Leyton Orient	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	L1	Charlton Athletic	1	0	1	1	2	−1	0

Updated to match(es) played on 1 September 2020. Source: EFL.com

1 September 2020 (2020-09-01)	AFC Wimbledon	2–1	Charlton Athletic	Loftus Road^[5]
17:30 BST	Roscrow 46' Thomas 58'	Report	Oztumer 21'	Attendance: 0 Referee: Carl Brook

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Leyton Orient	v	Brighton & Hove Albion U21	Brisbane Road
19:00 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Charlton Athletic	v	Brighton & Hove Albion U21	The Valley
19:45 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Leyton Orient	v	AFC Wimbledon	Brisbane Road
19:00 BST

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	AFC Wimbledon	v	Brighton & Hove Albion U21	Loftus Road^[6]
19:45 GMT

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Charlton Athletic	v	Leyton Orient	The Valley
19:45 GMT

Group H

Pos	Div	Team	Qualification
1	L1	Burton Albion	Advance to Round 2
2	L2	Cambridge United	Advance to Round 2
3	ACA	Fulham U21
4	L1	Peterborough United

Source: EFL.com

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Peterborough United	v	Burton Albion	London Road Stadium
19:00 BST

8 September 2020 (2020-09-08)	Cambridge United	v	Fulham U21	Abbey Stadium
19:45 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Burton Albion	v	Cambridge United	Pirelli Stadium
19:45 BST

6 October 2020 (2020-10-06)	Peterborough United	v	Fulham U21	London Road Stadium
19:45 BST

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Burton Albion	v	Fulham U21	Pirelli Stadium
19:45 GMT

10 November 2020 (2020-11-10)	Cambridge United	v	Peterborough United	Abbey Stadium
19:45 GMT

References

^ "About The Competition". EFL.com. Retrieved 1 September 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ "EFL Trophy Line-Ups". EFL Trophy. Retrieved 1 September 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ The Bolton News: "Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt plans changes for Crewe EFL Trophy clash"
^ "EFL Trophy explained". Premier League. Retrieved 1 September 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ https://www.afcwimbledon.co.uk/news/2020/august/dons-to-start-new-season-at-qpr/
^ "Dons to start new season at QPR". AFC Wimbledon Official Site. 25 August 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[1] "About The Competition". EFL.com. Retrieved 1 September 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[2] "EFL Trophy Line-Ups". EFL Trophy. Retrieved 1 September 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[3] The Bolton News: "Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt plans changes for Crewe EFL Trophy clash"

[4] "EFL Trophy explained". Premier League. Retrieved 1 September 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[5] ttps://www.afcwimbledon.co.uk/news/2020/august/dons-to-start-new-season-at-qpr/

[loftus-6] "Dons to start new season at QPR". AFC Wimbledon Official Site. 25 August 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

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