The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in

EFL League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

and

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

, with the addition of 16 under-21 teams from Premier League and

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

clubs since the 2016–17 season. It is the 3rd most prestigious knockout competition in English football after the FA Cup and the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

. Launched as the Associate Members' Cup during the 1983–84 season, the competition was renamed the Football League Trophy in 1992 after a reorganization following the formation of the Premier League and again as the current ''EFL Trophy'' in 2016 due to The Football League changing name to the English Football League. There had been an earlier but short-lived unrelated eponymous competition which changed name to the Football League Group Cup for one season in 1982–83. Every season, the competition begins with two sets of draws in August, then runs 16 regional groups, each containing 4 teams and divided between northern and southern sections depending on the clubs' geographic locations. The top two from each group qualify for the knockout stages before the two winners meet in late March or early April in the final at Wembley Stadium. Some

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

and

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

n clubs fluctuate between the north and south each season for every draw. Other details have varied over the years, including in some years inviting clubs from the semi-professional National League, and holding a round-robin group stage prior to moving into knockout rounds. The current champions are Rotherham United, who beat Sutton United 4–2 in the 2022 final after extra time. The most successful club is Bristol City, who have lifted the trophy three times, in 1986, 2003 and 2015, and were finalists in 1987 and 2000.

History

A similar but distinct competition of the same name existed until it changed name to the Football League Group Cup, which took place for the final time in the 1982–83 season. Launched as the ''Associate Members' Cup'' in the 1983–84 season, it rebranded as the ''Football League Trophy'' in 1992, coinciding with a reorganization following the decision of the First Division clubs at the time to break away and form the Premier League. The Football League became responsible for the remaining three professional divisions. The competition rebranded again in 2016 to the current ''EFL Trophy'' due to The Football League rebranding as the English Football League. The first season under the new name saw 16 Category One academies of Premier League and

clubs join the competition, a move which has been criticized for attempting to insert Premier League 'B' or academy U-21 teams into the

English football pyramid The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...

Format

Current format

64 teams enter from Round One, including all 48 teams from League One and League Two, along with 16 category 1 Premier League and

academy/under-21 sides. The competition now features 16 regional groups of four teams (with eight groups in each of Northern and Southern sections), with the top two from each group progressing to the knockout stages, the first two rounds of which remain regionalised before an open draw from the quarter-finals onwards. During the group phase, if the scores are level at the end of the match, then penalties are taken immediately without recourse to extra time. The winning team is awarded 2 points and the losing team 1 point. Similarly in the knock-out phase, except the final, if the scores are level at the end of the match the winner is decided by penalties. In the final, if the scores are equal after 90 minutes an extra 30 minutes are played and if still equal the winner is then decided by penalties.

Previous formats

On launch, the 48 eligible Third and

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

clubs were split into North and South sections of 24 teams each. The first round had 12 knockout ties in each section, and the second had six. In each section the two second-round losers with the 'narrowest' defeats were reprieved, and joined the six other clubs in the regional quarter-finals. A major change was introduced for the 1985–86 edition, with 8 three-team groups being set up in each of the two sections. Teams played one home and one away game and the group winners proceeded to the regional knockout stages. This format was tweaked the following season, with two teams qualifying from each group, resulting in an additional 'round of 16' knockout stage in each section. For a number of seasons in the early to mid-1990s, the competition ran with only seven 3-team groups, two teams in each section receiving a bye into the knockout stages. This was owing to League reorganization and the demise of Aldershot and

Maidstone United Maidstone United Football Club is a professional football club based in Maidstone, Kent, England. The team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league system. The current club filled the void left by the ol ...

, which resulted in there being fewer than 48 teams in the 3rd and 4th levels. The group phase was abolished for the 1996–97 edition; instead, 8 teams in each section received a bye to the second round, where they were joined by the 8 winners of the first-round ties. For the 2000–01 season, 8 Conference Premier sides also played in the tournament, resulting in 12 ties in each of the north/south sections in the first round, with only four teams in each section gaining a bye into the second round. The number of Conference Premier entrants increased to 12 from 2002–03, resulting in 14 first-round ties, and two teams in each regional section gaining a bye into the second round. Conference teams no longer participated from the 2006–07 tournament onward, and the format reverted to 8 first-round teams in each section, with 8 sides gaining byes to the second round.

Participants

The competition has always been contested by all teams at Levels Three and Four of the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...

. Since the 2016–17 season, sixteen Category One academies have taken part in the competition. Between 2000–01 and 2005–06 the competition was also open to a certain number of Football Conference sides. These are listed by season below: * 2000–01: Chester City, Doncaster Rovers, Dover Athletic, Hereford United,

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

, Rushden & Diamonds, Scarborough, Yeovil Town * 2001–02: Barnet,

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as Dag ...

, Doncaster Rovers, Leigh RMI, Scarborough, Southport, Stevenage Borough, Yeovil Town * 2002–03: Chester City, Dagenham & Redbridge, Doncaster Rovers, Halifax Town, Hereford United, Leigh RMI, Morecambe, Scarborough, Southport, Stevenage Borough,

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

, Yeovil Town * 2003–04: Barnet, Chester City, Dagenham & Redbridge, Exeter City, Forest Green Rovers, Halifax Town, Hereford United, Morecambe, Scarborough, Shrewsbury Town, Stevenage Borough, Telford United * 2004–05: Accrington Stanley, Aldershot Town, Barnet,

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

, Dagenham & Redbridge, Exeter City, Hereford United, Morecambe, Scarborough, Stevenage Borough, Woking, York City * 2005–06: Accrington Stanley, Aldershot Town, Cambridge United, Crawley Town, Dagenham & Redbridge, Exeter City, Halifax Town, Hereford United, Kidderminster Harriers, Morecambe, Stevenage Borough, Woking Since the addition of the Category One academies in 2016–17, the following sides have competed in the competition: * Current ( 2021–22):

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

(since 2018–19),

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

(since 2019–20), Brighton & Hove Albion, Chelsea, Crystal Palace (since 2021–22), Everton (2016–17 to 2019–20 and since 2021–22), Leeds United (since 2021–22), Leicester City, Liverpool (since 2019–20),

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

(since 2017–18),

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

(since 2019–20),

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

(since 2017–18), Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur (2017–18 to 2019–20 and since 2021–22), West Ham United, Wolverhampton Wanderers (2016–17 and since 2018–19) * Former: Blackburn Rovers (2016–17), Derby County (2016–17),

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

( 2017–18 to 2020–21), Norwich City (2016–17, 2019–20 to 2020–21), Middlesbrough (2016–17 to 2018–19), Reading (2016–17 and 2017–18),

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

(2016–17 to 2018–19),

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

(2016–17 and 2017–18),

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

(2016–17 to 2018–19), West Bromwich Albion (2016–17 to 2018–19 and 2020–21)

Finals

Venue

The final of the EFL Trophy is held at the 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium in London, the English national football stadium. The first final in 1984 was due to be played at the then Wembley Stadium, but owing to damage caused to the pitch during the

Horse of the Year Show The Horse of the Year Show - also known as HOYS (pronounced /hois/)- was founded to be a culmination of the British equestrian events year. The Show was the idea of Captain Tony Collings and was realised by the then Chairman of BSJA (now British ...

, it was moved to Boothferry Park in

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

. From 2001 to 2007, during the rebuilding of the former Wembley, the Football League Trophy finals were played at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...

in Cardiff.

Winners

* 1983–84:

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

* 1984–85: Wigan Athletic * 1985–86: Bristol City * 1986–87: Mansfield Town * 1987–88: Wolverhampton Wanderers * 1988–89:

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

* 1989–90: Tranmere Rovers * 1990–91: Birmingham City * 1991–92:

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

: Port Vale * 1993–94:

* 1994–95: Birmingham City (2) * 1995–96: Rotherham United * 1996–97:

* 1997–98: Grimsby Town * 1998–99: Wigan Athletic (2) * 1999–00:

(2) * 2000–01: Port Vale (2) * 2001–02:

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

* 2002–03: Bristol City (2) * 2003–04:

(2) * 2004–05: Wrexham * 2005–06:

(2) * 2006–07: Doncaster Rovers * 2007–08: Milton Keynes Dons * 2008–09: Luton Town * 2009–10: Southampton *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

(2) * 2011–12: Chesterfield *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

: Crewe Alexandra * 2013–14: Peterborough United * 2014–15: Bristol City (3) * 2015–16:

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

* 2016–17: Coventry City * 2017–18: Lincoln City * 2018–19: Portsmouth * 2019–20: Salford City *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

* 2021–22: Rotherham United (2) Source: NapIt (Only until 2010)

Records

Attendances

The overall record attendance for the final is 85,021, set at the Wembley Stadium in 2019 by Portsmouth and

. The record attendance for the final at the original Wembley Stadium was 80,841, set in the 1988 final between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burnley. The record attendance for the final at the

in Cardiff was 59,024, set in the 2007 final between Bristol Rovers and Doncaster Rovers. The 2020 and 2021 finals were played with no fans present, but clubs raised money for charity by selling supporters virtual tickets. The highest attendance for any game apart from the final came on 5 February 2013 for the Northern Area final, when Coventry City lost to Crewe Alexandra 3–0 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry (they later won the away leg 2–0, going down 3–2 on aggregate), in front of a crowd of 31,054. The lowest attendance in the history of the competition came during the 2018–19 season when just 202 attended a Middlesbrough academy team's 1–0 victory against Burton Albion in November 2018 at Burton's

Pirelli Stadium Pirelli Stadium is an association football stadium on Princess Way in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. It was built in 2005 and is the current home of Burton Albion FC, replacing the club's old Eton Park home, also on Princess Way, ...

. The low attendance can be attributed to a widespread boycott of the tournament by fans of the third and fourth tier clubs as a result of the competition format changes implemented in 2016–17. 'Category A' Academy teams, also known to fans as 'B teams', from the top level clubs in the Premier League and Championship were introduced to the competition, a change proven unpopular among football fans of the lower tier clubs.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:EFL Trophy EFL Trophy Football cup competitions in England English Football League 1984 establishments in England Recurring sporting events established in 1984 1984 establishments in Wales