English Football League Trophy Details

By: Rob Sedgwick
Date: 06/07/2016

GRIMSBY will play a minimum of three group games in the revamped English Football League Trophy competition. The regional four-team group with comprise at least one League 1 team, another League 1 or League 2 team and an "invited" Academy side.

The first 16 clubs with Category One Academies that have been invited to take part in the EFL Trophy 2016/17 are Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Leicester City, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United, Southampton, Stoke City, Sunderland, Swansea City, Tottenham, West Bromwich Albion and West Ham United.

The Football League sides have to field a minimum of 5 "First Team" players in the starting 11, and 6 of the invited club players have to be under 21.

The idea behind the competition is to give a chance for young English players to play competitive football, although many supporters see it as a first step towards Premier League B sides. The new format is a one year experiment. Each club will play at least one home group game, and one away group game, and the invited club will also play one home game.

A hypothetical group involving Grimsby would be: Grimsby, Scunthorpe, Doncaster and Leicester.