2021–22 EFL Trophy

The 2021–22 EFL Trophy, known as the Papa Johns Trophy for sponsorship reasons, the 41st season in the history of the competition, was a knock-out tournament for clubs in EFL League One and League Two, the third and fourth tiers of the English football league system, as well as the " Academy teams" of 16 Premier League clubs with Category One status.

Rotherham United won the title after beating Sutton United 4–2 after extra time in the final on 3 April 2022. Sunderland were the defending champions, but they were knocked out in the Second Round by Oldham Athletic.

Participating clubs

*48 clubs from League One and League Two.
*16 invited Category One Academy teams.

Eligibility criteria for players

;For EFL clubsEFL: "EFL Trophy Rules Season 2021/22"
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*Minimum of four qualifying outfield players in their starting XI. A qualifying outfield player was one who met 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 has made the most starting appearances in league and domestic cup competitions this season.
**Any player with forty or more first-team starting appearances in their career, including International matches.
**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.
*Any player out on a long loan term at a National League, National League North, or National League South team can play as long as the loaning team agree to allow the player to return for the match.

;For invited teams
*Minimum of six players in the starting line-up who are aged under 21 on 30 June 2021.
*Maximum of two players on the team sheet who are aged over 21 and have also made forty or more senior appearances.

Competition format

;Group stage
* Sixteen groups of four teams were organised on a regionalised basis.
* All groups included one invited club.
* All clubs played each other once, either home or away (Academies played all group matches away from home).
* Clubs were awarded three points for a win and one point for a draw.
* In the event of a drawn game (after 90 minutes), a penalty shoot-out was held with the winning team earning an additional point.
* Clubs expelled from the EFL were knocked out of the tournament automatically.
* The top two teams in each group progressed to the knockout stage.

;Knockout stage
* Round 2 and 3 of the competition were drawn on a regionalised basis.
* In Round 2, the group winners were seeded and the group runners-up were unseeded in the draw.
* In Round 2, teams who played in the same group as each other in the group stage were kept apart from each other.

Group stage

Northern Section

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Southern Section

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Round 2

The draw for the Second Round took place on Saturday 13 November 2021.

Northern section

Southern section

Round 3

Northern section

Southern section

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-final stage took place live on Talksport on 6 January 2022 with games taking place during the week commencing 24 January. From this stage onwards, the competition is no longer split between a northern section and a southern section.

Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-final stage took place live on Sky Sports on 29 January 2022 with games taking place during the week commencing 6 March.

Final

External links

EFL Trophy section of official English Football League website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2021-22 EFL Trophy

EFL Trophy seasons
EFL Trophy
Trophy