As a Category One development academy, Everton U21s will play in next season’s EFL Trophy against first-team opponents from Leagues One and Two, the eighth time the competition has been staged in its current form.
It represents a unique opportunity each season for the top academy teams in the Premier League to test themselves against often seasoned professionals in the first teams of clubs from the lower divisions of the English Football League (EFL).
This upcoming season, Everton U21s will play in Group H with three away fixtures against:
Doncaster Rovers (League Two), Tuesday 19 September, 7 pm
Burton Albion (League One), Tuesday 26 September, 7 pm
Mansfield Town (League Two), Tuesday 7 November, 7 pm.
For sponsorship reasons. the competition was previously known as the Papa Johns Trophy and briefly as the Leasing.com Trophy after the Checkatrade Trophy since 2016-17, when Premier League academy teams were first invited to compete.
In March 2023, Papa Johns opted not to renew the 3-year sponsorship deal they had signed in 2020. According to the Daily Mail, EFL Chiefs have begun a search for new backers, but ahead of the draw for the group stage of the 2023–24 season, no agreement has been announced.
The current competition begins with 16 regional groups, each containing three EFL teams and one Academy team, and divided between northern and southern sections. The top two from each group qualify for the knockout stages before the two regional winners meet in the final at Wembley Stadium.
Last season, Everton U21s topped Group A and went on to beat Mansfield Town in the Round of 32 before falling to Lincoln City in the Round of 16, when the only remaining Academy teams from Man Utd and Chelsea also went out.
That’s the furthest Everton have progressed in the competition, which has proven to be a substantial challenge for almost all of the Premier League academy sides since the Football League Trophy was rebranded with its current format in 2016-17. Over that time, Chelsea U21s have progressed the furthest, reaching the semi-finals in 2018.